Now that the country has spoken and Barak Obama is the president elect, I’m curious to know if this has any impact on your economic outlook for orchestra/opera/ballet organizations. Since we started tracking these issues a month ago, the economic outlook has been quite grim; however, can these election results change attitudes?…
Year: 2008
Election Day Necessities
In anticipation of long lines at polling stations across the country, here are a few lists to help you persevere over the wait…
Yep, It’s Time For Conductor Finishing School
Holly Mulcahy published the first in a series of articles today entitled “How To Alienate Your Audience In 10 Easy Steps.” Although written from a satirical point of view, the article does an excellent job at identifying some of the fundamental problems that turn good conductors into not-so-good conductors, all of which leads to alienating the audience for classical music. The article reminded me of my time with the post-graduate orchestral conducting students at Arizona State University (ASU) in 2007 when we had a frank discussion about pitfalls that ensnare many conductors…
Ross And Ma Are Tops. Maazel, Not So Much
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…
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…