Northern Invasion

I’m happy to report that the Canadian installment of the Annual Orchestra Website Review is making a return this year. The reviews have all been completed and the data is in the process of being compiled. I don’t want to give away all the surprises but I can say that, on average, Canadian orchestra websites improved by approximately 14% since their last evaluation in 2005 (a larger increase than their U.S. …

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An Extended Look At Top-Tier Musician Compensation

As several of the larger budget orchestras have successfully completed collective bargaining agreement negotiations, it is high time to take a look at how the minimum base musician compensation in those ensembles has evolved over the past several years. When examining compensation data as far back as 1999-2000 season is examined, some intriguing patterns begin to take shape…   For this exercise, the larger budget orchestras consist of the “Big 5+2”; …

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The Best Orchestra Website For 2007 Is In Nashville (& Chicago)

For the second year in a row, the Nashville Symphony Orchestra (NSO) and Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) websites have secured the #1 and #2 spots, respectively, in the Annual Orchestra Website Review. However, the difference between their scores in 2007 was even less than the marginal difference in 2006.

How marginal? For example, one subcategory where both groups failed to secure 100% of available points was posting “Institutional Transparency” documents. Although both groups posted copies of their Annual Reports, neither posted copies of the IRS Form 990 but if the CSO had posted the IRS Form 990, they would have moved ahead of the NSO by more than a full point. Add to that, both organizations managed to increase their score from 2006 and it seems fitting to feature both groups…

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The 2007 Orchestra Website Review: Best & Worst

iding on the coat-tails of the Adaptistration Orchestra Website Review Special Recognition Awards, the Best & Worst of 2007 highlights groupings of orchestras on specific issues as well as reporting on the largest increase/decrease in score among ensembles since the 2006 Review.

Continuing with the policy initiated in 2006, there will be no indication for orchestras that have updated their website since the evaluation period. Instead, each orchestra was provided an opportunity to communicate any information about their respective website via the detailed ratings, which allowed them to communicate with readers in their own voice…

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