Drew McManus on the Orchestra business | est. 2003

Conductors Are To Waiters As Composers Are To What?

Mon, Jun 6, 2014
Adaptistration People 169
The 11/29/2013 edition of BBC News published an article by Alison Feeney-Hart where she interviewed conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen and asked about his tips for becoming a great conductor. By and large, Salonen’s advice is superb; it’s not only grounded but downright populist when compared to the traditional Maestro Mystique. Having said that, there was one

Always Leave Them Wanting More

Fri, Jun 6, 2014
ADAPTISTRATION-GUY-112
She may be on the way out to run the Kennedy Center for the Arts but Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) President Deborah Rutter certainly knows how to leave them wanting more. The organization announced they had secured the two largest gifts in their history during a 6/12/2014 board meeting. The 6/12/2014 edition of the Chicago

Enough Already!

Thu, Jun 6, 2014
If you’ve been away for the past week you may have missed the hoopla surrounding the YouTube video of Seattle Symphony Orchestra’s (SSO) performing Baby Got Back with Seattle rapper Sir Mix-A-Lot. The video has racked up nearly two million hits on YouTube as well as a great deal criticism and praise and it’s that

FREE Twitter Profile Survival Kit for Arts Organizations 2014

Wed, Jun 6, 2014
It’s time to update your Twitter skills and keep up with the learning curve. For those unaware, Twitter updated their user profile layouts to include a profile background image that looks a lot like Facebook profile headers. However, it functions differently than its Facebook peer in that it is responsive, meaning it will get resized

Borrowed Advice

Tue, Jun 6, 2014
I wanted to take a moment to pull together a few threads from different sources all discussing, to one degree or another, marketing and patron interaction amidst the digital age. And when you tie them together, they create a fascinating counterproductive cycle that ensnares too many groups: ex post facto planning > trying too hard