This week’s poll asking readers to vote for whether Yo-Yo Ma, Lorin Maazel, or Alex Ross best represents classical music to the general public based on their respective Colbert Report appearances generated a great deal of interest. The results (as of the evening of 10/30/08) were intriguing…
Month: October 2008
Some Mid-Week Cross Blogging
The week has been filled with some excellent cross-blogging between a few of my Inside The Arts blogging neighbors. First off, Ron Spigelman offers some first-person perspective on the dynamic impact of the Kansas City Symphony (KCS) lawsuit on local Missouri orchestras. Next, Joe Patti posted a blog about the Yo-Yo Ma appearance on The Colbert Report a day before I posted yesterday’s poll (if you haven’t voted yet, there’s still time). I always enjoy Joe’s take on orchestra-centric stuff…
Take Your Pick: Ma, Maazel, Or Ross
After watching Yo-Yo Ma’s appearance earlier this week on the Colbert Report it dawned on me that throughout 2008, that program featured three prominent classical music figures: Yo-Yo Ma, Lorin Maazel, and (classical music’s newest G-Man) Alex Ross. Each appearance left me with a distinctly different impression and I’m curious to know if readers think any of the personalities projects a better image for classical music in the United States. Fortunately, the Colbert Nation website makes judging easy by providing clips for each appearance. So have some fun in your day and take a moment to watch each clip and vote for which personality you feel best represents classical music to the general public…
Cultural Confidence Update
The latest cycle in the ongoing Cultural Confidence poll finished up this weekend and the Cultural Confidence Indicator has been updated accordingly. Results from that poll cycle indicate the current mood toward cultural institution’s finances is an uneasy wait-and-see whereas the economic outlook is bordering on organized panic…
We Still Need To Get Over Our Bad Selves
The Music Critics Association of North America (MCANA) released a letter on October 21, 2008 addressed of the editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer urging her to rescind her decision to reassign the paper’s long time music critic, Don Rosenberg. The details about the issue have been written about throughout a wide range of blogs and traditional media outlets (such as Baltimore music critic Tim Smith’s blog) so I won’t bother rehashing the details here. Nevertheless, the letter contains a few points that every orchestra manager should consider…