Drew McManus on the orchestra business.
To continue where Part 1 left off, this article will examine more of the NJSO Internal Review Report to help determine why the NJSO decided to buy the Axelrod string instrument collection. A Review The Short Version The Trustees responsible for the report, Bill Baroni, Alan Danzis, John Forrest, labored to produce a document that is concise and very easy to read; it says exactly what is needed without unnecessary pontification. …
Since publishing the last article about the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra instrument purchase a number of readers sent in some additional points of view, once came from a professional orchestra violinist (not in New Jersey). They said that historically, the media may be a contributing reason for the decision to buy the instruments, “There is no doubt a better player is more important than a better instrument. Especially in reference to …
Yesterday’s article examined the decision by the St. Louis Symphony management to cancel the musician’s health insurance because of the current contract negotiation impasse. Historically, the situation during the 1996 strike by the San Francisco Symphony musicians demonstrated that this approach to force an end to a work stoppage has never been very successful. By all accounts, the decision to cancel the musician’s health insurance was made without much examination of …
Sunday’s issue of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch contained an article by music critic Sarah Bryan Miller. Sara’s article does a good job at showing the latest development in the contract negations between SLSO management and musicians that is turning into a quagmire before our very eyes. This latest development has to do with health insurance. According to the Post-Dispatch article, the SLSO management has canceled the musicians’ health insurance benefits on …
The Partial Observer published an article of mine today which expands on the concept of whether or not there are limits to how much a community can support an orchestra. The piece examines how the past year’s round of negotiations and the current SLSO situation may be a preview of things to come.