Drew McManus on the orchestra business.
Among the most valuable responses that come in each year from the reader segmentation are the topics readers would like to see more of in the coming year. My favorite from the most recent bunch simply said “improved marketing in an environment of utter chaos” (I edited out a colorful adjective, you can have fun inserting one on your own). And once you get past the entertaining phrasing and really think …
Pop quiz: do smaller budget orchestras classify musicians as employees or independent contractors? Regardless how you answered, you’re both right and wrong. But that question is beginning to move toward something more straightforward following a recent decision by the District of Columbia Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals to uphold a ruling by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that determined musicians of the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra (LSO) were decidedly …
We usually save fun posts for the end of the week but for whatever reason, it feels like the end of the week and that’s good enough for me. First up is a video from the Berlin Philharmonic horn section, playing he Hunting Chorus from Freischütz* inside a cable car. On the surface, that would seem to be a remarkably loud setting but they don’t seem to mind. The really fun part …
What a treat to talk shop with Andrew Hitz from The Entrepreneurial Musician podcast. We managed to cover a great deal of ground thanks to the luxury of time Hitz dedicates to each production; working with professionals who care enough about production values and have genuine hosting skills to never gets old. One unique component of this interview is how it kicks off via a musician connection. Hitz is a professional tubist …
The New Haven Independent published an article by Paul Bass on 4/20/2016 which reports that the New Haven Symphony (NHS) may lose its primary venue, Yale University’s Woolsey Hall, where the orchestra has performed for 114 years (not a typo). According to the article, the NHS is being used as a pawn in a larger political battle over a proposal in the state legislature that would impact a 182-year-old law (again, …