The Partial Observer published an article of mine today about orchestras and competition. Although I doubt we’ll ever see direct competition between orchestras, the business already has quite a few similarities to professional athletics, especially in the realm of attracting and retaining talent. It’s worth your time to give the article a read, plus you’ll get to listen to some really funny material by Peter Schickele on orchestra competition; although instead of pitting orchestras against each other he imagined pitting conductors against players (after all, the best comedy is nothing more than a derivative of real life).
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I remember a piece by Joseph Robinson, former Principal Oboist of the New York Philharmonic, in the now defunct “Harmony” magazine, issued by the Symphony Orchestra Institute, a few years back. He argued for having a concert with two orchestras on the same bill, duking it out. He said that the quasi compeition aspect of the “Three Tenors” concerts (from the audience perspecitive at least!) made those concerts attractive to the average Joe. I think such a concert involving orchestras would be terrific fun, especially among regional orchestras vying for respect and growth.
In short order, the Harmony archives will be hosted at polyphonic.org but you’ll still be able to download every article from every edition on Harmony.
Joe Robinson (NY Phil oboist) proposed some interesting thoughts about “competition among symphony orchestras” in his article in Harmony #8. See http://www.soi.org.
Are you making a distinction between orchestral competitions (few?) and soloist/chamber competitions (many)?
Drew,
I remember a piece by Joseph Robinson, former Principal Oboist of the New York Philharmonic, in the now defunct “Harmony” magazine, issued by the Symphony Orchestra Institute, a few years back. He argued for having a concert with two orchestras on the same bill, duking it out. He said that the quasi compeition aspect of the “Three Tenors” concerts (from the audience perspecitive at least!) made those concerts attractive to the average Joe. I think such a concert involving orchestras would be terrific fun, especially among regional orchestras vying for respect and growth.
Ravi: yes, the article does make a distinction on those points.
the article Thomas refers to can be downloaded (in .pdf format) at the SOI website: http://www.soi.org/harmony/archive/10/Raising_Demand_Robinson.pdf
In short order, the Harmony archives will be hosted at polyphonic.org but you’ll still be able to download every article from every edition on Harmony.
Joe Robinson (NY Phil oboist) proposed some interesting thoughts about “competition among symphony orchestras” in his article in Harmony #8. See http://www.soi.org.