Year: 2005

Meet Me In St. Louis

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Thanks to the generosity of some bighearted fans of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, I’ve been offered an opportunity to attend the mass orchestra concert which the musicians of the SLSO organized as a way to say thank you to their supporters. The musicians of the SLSO will be joined by a host of professional orchestra musicians from 14 other orchestras for a one time only performance.  You can learn more …

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Getting Up To Speed In Utah

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Over the past week, there’s been a flurry of media attention in the Salt Lake are about the Utah Symphony & Opera (US&O) organization.  Salt Lake Tribune music critic, Celia Baker, has written a few articles about the issues.  They’re both excellent examples of reporting the facts; you can read them here, and here. Much of the attention is the result of consultant’s report which examines the internal organization and the …

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Applying Some Perspective In St. Louis

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In a recent article published in the 03/05/05 edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the article’s author, Sarah Bryan Miller, challenges one of the basic concepts which have successfully driven the increased artistic and financial accomplishment of orchestras since the early 1960’s.  The concept of having musicians set financial goals for the organization via contract negotiations.

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Harvest, Build, And Destroy – Part 3

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Part 2 of this series included examining the goals for developing a system whereby the musicians in any given orchestra can maintain an ongoing active participation in organizational affairs without that work overloading their artistic responsibilities.  One astute reader wrote in with a wonderfully concise summary of the goals: “The ultimate goal seems to be to give the musicians and their negotiating committees better information in real time, so they don’t …

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What’s up With Destroying Things

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For those of you stopping by today to read the final installment in the Harvest, Build, and Destroy series, I have to offer my apologies.  Due to some last minute preparations for meeting with my accountant (taxes!), I wasn’t able to put the finishing touches on the article; however, it will be published on Monday Nevertheless, allow me take this time to further explain some of the concepts from Part1 and …

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