Drew McManus on the orchestra business.
All things being equal, we should have some good articles coming up soon. This includes the deeper look into the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s recent stop-gap agreement as well as the follow-up article about the LA Opera’s program to put opera into popular media culture. The folks from LA Opera have been great about getting info on that program but there’s been a bit of a lull in communication due to…shall we …
Back in August, I posted something pointing out the arts admin conference resource Ceci Dadisman was building and earlier this week, she announced it is ready from prime time. As of now, there are 43 entries and she ended up expanding the criteria to include conferences outside the US and those that specialize in specific regions inside the US. In addition to the usual suspects, I was pleased to see a …
In the wake of all the messages from colleagues and readers asking when I’m writing about Anne-Sophie Mutter’s mexican standoff with a patron during a recent performance of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with the Cincinnati Symphony, it looks like there’s no avoiding the topic. Spoiler alert: I’m not thrilled with the way she handled the situation. That doesn’t mean I don’t empathize with her frustration, but this isn’t the last time an …
How important is equal pay for equal work in today’s unionized orchestra environment? We examine this issue on a regular basis as it relates to substitute musicians, but the recent Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) work stoppage highlights a growing inequality at living wage orchestras between veteran and new-hire musicians by forcing the latter into a retirement program that provides markedly lower benefits. The impact on solidarity is self-apparent. In turn, degraded …
Today’s a good day because all the 2016-2017 season files have been processed and added to the downloadable Orchestra 990s at the Adaptistration Store. This brings the total number of seasons up to 18. A big thank you to everyone who has already purchased copies and keep in mind, the more you buy, the less it costs thanks to automatic quantity discounts (no need to muck about with coupons or discount codes): purchase …