It’s A Little Kitschy But I’ve Heard Worse

Just in case you haven’t seen it already, you really should check out the video of Lithuanian conductor/composer Mindaugas Piečaitis’ piece he composed to accompany one of Nora, the piano-playing cat’s videos. It’s actually a lovely tune and he does an excellent job at extracting the harmonic structure based on Nora’s playing and turning it into a piece for chamber orchestra….

Watch the video and see what you think but I have to say, given all the publicity surrounding Nora, I’m surprised the Steinway folks haven’t approached Nora to sign her as a sanctioned “Steinway Artist” for no other reason than to get their name in front of all those eyeballs as opposed to Yamaha.

About Drew McManus

"I hear that every time you show up to work with an orchestra, people get fired." Those were the first words out of an executive's mouth after her board chair introduced us. That executive is now a dear colleague and friend but the day that consulting contract began with her orchestra, she was convinced I was a hatchet-man brought in by the board to clean house.

I understand where the trepidation comes from as a great deal of my consulting and technology provider work for arts organizations involves due diligence, separating fact from fiction, interpreting spin, as well as performance review and oversight. So yes, sometimes that work results in one or two individuals "aggressively embracing career change" but far more often than not, it reinforces and clarifies exactly what works and why.

In short, it doesn't matter if you know where all the bodies are buried if you can't keep your own clients out of the ground, and I'm fortunate enough to say that for more than 15 years, I've done exactly that for groups of all budget size from Qatar to Kathmandu.

For fun, I write a daily blog about the orchestra business, provide a platform for arts insiders to speak their mind, keep track of what people in this business get paid, help write a satirical cartoon about orchestra life, hack the arts, and love a good coffee drink.

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4 thoughts on “It’s A Little Kitschy But I’ve Heard Worse”

  1. Actually, we have approached Yamaha (Nora’s piano of choice is a Yamaha Grand) about signing her as a Yamaha Artist. As I understand it, local Yamaha folks liked the idea, but the men in suits in Japan did not go for it. That was before the CATcerto, however. Perhaps it’s time to revisit that option.

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