More Clever Aussie’s

I wasn’t planning to post anything today, but I just ran across this article today in the Adelaide Advertiser about a new software program that allows music students to play along with an orchestra.  For those of us who remember a play along with a recording system called Music Minus one, it seems to be much like that.  But instead of being limited to only performing concertos, you can play an actual …

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A Constructive Side To Controversy

They say everything happens in groups of threes, and to help fulfill that adage we have this season’s third brouhaha surrounding dismissal issues for a music director. This time we go to the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra in La Crosse, WI where according to an article by Terry Rindfleisch in the La Crosse Tribune the LCSO’s conductor, Amy Mills, will serve her last season as music director following next year’s concert …

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Too Many Notes

Awhile back I was disagreeing with a statement from Michael Kaiser, president of the Kennedy Center.  Michael asserted that there is currently an oversupply of performances in many cities throughout the country.  At the time, I thought that this was a bizarre statement to make and I essentially feel the same way today.

However, there is a situation where this statement may have some validity.  There’s a glut of orchestras across the country’s metropolitan areas that aren’t necessarily amateur but aren’t necessarily professional either (I know, that’s another discussion which has been covered here too).  Sometimes you even have orchestras in metropolitan areas that literally overlap communities.

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Finding A Music Director In Kansas City

In the Sunday, May 23rd edition of the Kansas City Star, music critic Paul Horsley wrote an excellent article entitled Decision Time.  It’s about how orchestras set about selecting a new music director and it focuses on the current music director search being undertaken by the Kansas City Symphony.  It’s a well written article that’s worth your time to read and in the spirit of full disclosure; it includes a few …

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Reader Response: Insufficient Communication

A frequent reader sent an email pointing out an ambiguity from last Thursday’s article entitled The Downside Of Insufficient Communication.  They pointed out that I failed to mention that the Charleston Symphony orchestra musicians recently accepted a nearly 20% pay cut in order to help keep the orchestra’s finances stable. Although I did refer to the musician pay cuts by mentioning that the Charleston Symphony Orchestra had to institute large cuts …

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