Drew McManus on the orchestra business.
The news arrived early Monday morning that Lynn Harrell passed away. It was devastating. I’ve been fortunate enough to know and work with Lynn for more than a decade. Our work literally took us to the other side of the world and throughout those journeys, the best part was getting to know Lynn. Regular readers know that one of my pet peeves is how often “beloved” is used in marketing copy. …
I enjoyed a good laugh the other day with a colleague about her tendency to be misinterpreted via her written communication. Personally, I find it analytical and concise, but interpretation is far from a universal trait. If you’re like me and want to avoid succumbing to the evil that is using emojis in business communication, it pays to check the tone of your written communication. To that end, I’ve been using …
“Overnight we went from being a producer of live performance events to a digital content provider.” Those words were from a colleague back in March around the time it became clear the pandemic was more than a few weeks of disrupted event activity. And while those words are uneasy, he was saving the really dark part for effect. “And we have no f**king idea how to do that.” Don’t worry, this …
Since the onset of coronavirus related shutdowns, orchestras have been laying off and reducing hours for administrators and musicians alike. This weekly poll is designed to help provide a snapshot of stakeholder employment status. Since this weekly poll covers the beginning of a new month, it is the first genuine threshold where some of the impending cutbacks I’ve been hearing about would kick in. Fortunately, I’m hearing more and more instances …
The third week of figures tracking responses from orchestra managers and musicians about their employment status during coronavirus shutdowns are showing similar trends for admins and salaried musicians but a larger ratio of per-service musicians indicated they are not being paid for any cancelled services. At the time this article was written, the ratio of salaried musicians indicating they are being paid their regular salary and benefits held stead at 70 …