Drew McManus on the orchestra business.
Or, that’s how the story went back in the October, 1918 edition of The Etude, A monthly journal for the musician, the music student, and all music lovers. In “The World of Music” column, the journal ran the following bit about labor issues at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, It was reported a few months ago that the Boston Symphony Orchestra (the only large organization of the kind which has remained non-union) …
Executive oversight is an issue which is high on the minds of the Utah Symphony & Opera (US&O) stakeholders. The two Salt Lake organizations officially merged at the beginning of this decade with the promise from their now CEO, Anne Ewers, that the new organization would be greater then the sum of its parts. Prior the merger, Ms. Ewers served as the Utah Opera General Director and had built a positive …
Part 1 left off with the promise of examining how the musicians from 14 American orchestras performed a grand concert to thank the St. Louis community for their support over the recent months. The best way to fully understand just how much of an impact this concert had, you will need to hear from the musicians. In Their Own Words Nicolae Bica, Violinist, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (pictured right in the blue …
On Sunday, March 13, 2005 the musicians of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra along with colleagues from 14 orchestras* joined together to present a free concert to the greater St. Louis community. In all, there were 109 musicians led by Maestro Benjamin Zander in a performance of works by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, and Elgar**. The musicians gathered for a single, two hour rehearsal and then performed to an overflow audience at …
The Partial Observer published an article of mine today which examines the media industry and how it’s been adapting to fundamental changes in its business. There are some intriguing parallels between that business and orchestras: http://www.partialobserver.com/ArticleDisplay.cfm?ArticleID=1424 I had a fantastic time in St. Louis, the free concert was a HUGE success on a variety of different levels. I’ll begin publishing some articles about those effects tomorrow.