Sex, Drugs, And Classical Music?


A few weeks ago I published an article at The Partial Observer about some of the ways classical music uses sex to sell itself.  This week I’m following up on that idea by discussing the growing drug use debate (no, not that kind of drug use).


The article, Performance Enhancing Drugs for Musicians?, will be available after 9:30AM EST.


Today I’m off to Eastman and when I return we’ll see how well the students fare in their contract negotiations.  Later in the week, we’ll continue the examination of Concert Companion and Orbit, take another look at the Milwaukee Symphony, listen to some feedback from the website rankings, and look at the profit ratio for some orchestra websites, and return to the next article in the series about contract negotiations.


Plus there’s always a steady stream of recent events and some captivating news that’s happened over the weekend.

About Drew McManus

"I hear that every time you show up to work with an orchestra, people get fired." Those were the first words out of an executive's mouth after her board chair introduced us. That executive is now a dear colleague and friend but the day that consulting contract began with her orchestra, she was convinced I was a hatchet-man brought in by the board to clean house.

I understand where the trepidation comes from as a great deal of my consulting and technology provider work for arts organizations involves due diligence, separating fact from fiction, interpreting spin, as well as performance review and oversight. So yes, sometimes that work results in one or two individuals "aggressively embracing career change" but far more often than not, it reinforces and clarifies exactly what works and why.

In short, it doesn't matter if you know where all the bodies are buried if you can't keep your own clients out of the ground, and I'm fortunate enough to say that for more than 15 years, I've done exactly that for groups of all budget size from Qatar to Kathmandu.

For fun, I write a daily blog about the orchestra business, provide a platform for arts insiders to speak their mind, keep track of what people in this business get paid, help write a satirical cartoon about orchestra life, hack the arts, and love a good coffee drink.

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