Drew McManus on the orchestra business.
It isn’t often that I take time to promote a specific concert event but today is an exception to the rule. On Sunday, 5/11/2014, The MET Orchestra is performing an all Dvořák concert conducted by James Levine and featuring Lynn Harrell performing Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B Minor; to top it off, it’s at Carnegie Hall. Personally, I’m eating myself up over the fact that I can’t be there but if you’re …
The New York Times published an article by Michael Cooper on 5/5/2014 that reports on the official opening of negotiations between The Metropolitan Opera (The Met) and the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA), the chorus, dancer, singer, and stage manager union. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that bargaining started off in the worst way; in fact, it appeared to simply be an extension of the public theatrics …
Normally, organizations and individuals don’t want to begin receiving visitors at their new site until after all the t’s are crossed and i’s dotted and who can blame them? There are all sorts of concerns over branding and image projection, etc., etc., etc. and yes, those are all genuine concerns but imagine how much you could learn and just how much fun it would be to watch a site being developed …
Where there’s a will, there’s a way and the folks at Leipzig’s Mendelssohn Museum decided to bring simulated conducting to the next level with an interactive exhibit that allows visitors to genuinely conduct a virtual orchestra. Designed for the museum by interactive design studio, WhiteVOID, the system was featured in the 5/2/14 edition of wired.com in an article by Liz Stinson. The system relies on a Leap Motion controller to accomplish …
Arguably, the orchestra field’s two nastiest labor disputes at larger budget orchestras since the economic downturn have been the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Minnesota Orchestra; and now that the latter has seemingly tied up the last of the most prominent loose ends, it will be interesting to juxtapose how each organization manages to cope with post dispute activity. Although these organizations represent some of the worst in labor disputes, it …