Drew McManus on the orchestra business.
We’ve enjoyed an unusually long stretch of time where there wasn’t a labor dispute brewing but that seems to becoming rapidly to an end and the culprit this time around is the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO). With a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that expires Sunday, 9/4/2016 the group has yet to reach a new deal. The PSO’s soon to expire agreement was a three-year term covering the 2013/14, 2014/15, and 2015/16 …
Last week’s survey designed to learn more about what influenced your decision to change jobs and how satisfied they are with the change has generated a terrific number of replies, just over 400 so far. The response is strong enough, I published a similar version at ArtsHacker but geared toward the broader arts and culture field. And since replies have been consistent from one day to the next, I’m going to …
Thanks to everyone who took the time to participate in last week’s poll asking readers to weigh-in on whether or not they thought certain types of artistic activity could help or hurt a conductor’s prospects at landing a music director position at a professional US orchestra. There were just under 300 respondents and the results were fascinating. If nothing else, they indicate the potential value in studying this issue in a …
American Public Media’s (APM) Performance Today with Fred Child is publishing an episode today that commemorates 100th birthday (today!) of the National Parks system. It’s tough to miss the similarities between the APM and National Park missions even though one focuses on facilitating nature while the other focuses on art and culture. As part of the celebration, the entire show packed up and headed out to the Grand Teton National Park …
Being a conductor is a funny business; prestige and presenting an aura of authority and success are very much part of the overall package for success. If you want to start a conversation fire when you’re with a group of orchestra stakeholders, ask them if they think a conductor with an adjunct or tenure track academic position hurts or helps his/her chances for landing a music director gig at a professional …