There hasn’t been much news about the Louisville Orchestra (LO) work stoppage in the past several weeks following the board’s empty gesture for arbitration and the subsequent musician rejection, but it seems that the LO is forging ahead with a previous plan to hire replacement musicians. Following a rocky start with advertisements in a series of craigslist outlets and direct appeals, the latest incarnation comes in the form of Facebook and Google ads.
Month: March 2012
CSO Fistfight Instigator Revealed!
Who knew concertmasters could moonlight as investigative cultural reporters? But as it turns out, Frank Almond, Milwaukee Symphony concertmaster and author of non divisi, does exactly that and he apparently tracked down the now infamous “younger man” from last week’s Chicago Symphony Orchestra bare knuckled seating brawl and published an exclusive interview with the patron.
Ethics And Internal Culture
There’s a fascinating op-ed piece in the 3/14/2012 New York Times by Greg Smith, the former Goldman Sachs executive director and head of United States equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The author pours out his heart about the erosion of ethics and internal culture within the infamous firm since he joined 12 years ago (H/T Bruce Hembd), and it got me thinking about similar issues inside this business.
Fighting For Seats In Chicago
Who said classical music was dying? In Chicago, it looks like the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) with Riccardo Muti is such a big hit that the patrons are fighting for seats. In case you haven’t heard, a fistfight broke out in one of the boxes during last Friday’s concert. As reported by Stefano Esposito in the 3/9/2012 edition of the Chicago Sun-Times, the fight broke out between a man in his 30s and a 67-year-old man.