Month: June 2018

There’s A Reason Why You Pay Musicians

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Adaptistration People 153

The 6/27/2018 edition of the Boston Globe published an article by Malcom Gay that reports on what appears to be a sizeable purge of the all-volunteer Tanglewood Festival Chorus. Orchestra chorus’ have always occupied a peculiar stakeholder position inside the larger orchestra field. In many orchestras, chorus musicians are unpaid volunteers, which stands in stark contrast to their instrumental peers. That’s how the Boston Symphony’s Tanglewood Festival Chorus is structured so …

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#TBT What Topics Would You Like To See On A Sacred Cow Barbeque Agenda?

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Since the concert experience has been the focus of several recent posts, it made sense to highlight some of the more popular articles on that topic over the years for today’s #TBT. But perhaps more importantly, I’m curious to know what topics you think should be at the top of the sacred cow barbeque discussion list. Credit for that idea goes out to composer and educator David MacDonald and a comment …

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Chicago Concertgoers Get A Dose Of Moody Muti

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The Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times published articles on 6/25/18 reporting on an incident at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) that involved music director Riccardo Muti stopping a performance due to coughing. According to the Sun-Times report by Mitch Dudek, Muti “castigated the audience” while the Tribune article by Morgan Greene relayed audience reactions. But one common thread through both versions is Muti didn’t seem concerned about projecting his displeasure …

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An Example Of Technology Straightjackets

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Adaptistration People 132

Last week’s post about limitations in many of the box office and customer relationship management (CRM) platforms that specialize in the performing arts field place artificial limitations on customer experience and revenue potential garnered some interesting direct feedback. Admittedly, I can get ahead of myself when it comes to creating a common frame of reference and several readers sent direct messages saying they couldn’t imagine what I was describing. Let’s take …

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That’s Right, Miami Still Doesn’t Have A Resident Living Wage Orchestra

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Adaptistration People 123

In the same year Adaptistration was launched, the Florida Philharmonic ceased to exist and not long after its dissolution, the Cleveland Orchestra started their Miami residency program. At the time, one of the talking points from Cleveland’s leadership pushing back against the notion they were nothing more than an opportunistic cultural carpetbagger was the residency would serve as a catalyst for forming a new year-round professional orchestra. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there was …

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