The second of the Grant Park Music Festival’s Take a Friend to the Orchestra concerts went over wonderfully. The weather simply couldn’t have been better and just like Wednesday evening’s concert, the park was filled to capacity (12,000) with a few thousand more spilling over to the walkways and adjacent grassy areas. This performance featured a pre-concert CoffeeTalk discussion that had close to 200 in attendance who listened to festival’s Artistic and General Director James Palermo (2007 TAFTO contributor), music director Carlos Kalamar (2008 TAFTO contributor), and me discuss the concert, the ideals behind the “Take a Friend” concept, and answer patron’s questions.
Knowing When To Quit
The 6/19/2008 edition of the Wall Street Journal published an article by Janelle Gelfand (the Cincinnati Enquirer music critic) that asks whether or not this is truly the end of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra (CSO). Currently, the CSO executive board continues to rebuff calls for mediation, has fired the staff (although executives continue to work with full pay and benefits), cancelled the summer season, and failed to pay the musician’s for …