Last week, the news about a certain west coast orchestra with plans on performing one of the most demanding Mahler symphonies as their post-pandemic season opener arrived in my inbox. Earlier this month I launched a mini-series examining the dangers of musician injuries if an orchestra attempts this type of programming without first allocating time to allow musicians to reacclimate to those types of demands.
Think of it as a type of orchestra spring training.
The first two episodes in this series are out and I sincerely hope the deciders at the west coast orchestra in question take a moment to watch before setting their current plans in stone.
Part 1 included artistic decision makers while Part 2 included musicians. As it stands, I’m having difficulty securing guests for Part 3, which features executives. All things being equal, it will go up next Tuesday but at this rate, it may need to be pushed back. I don’t want to read into anything here but suffice to say, between that and the programming announcement, it’s probably a good idea to post both of the existing episodes as a reminder of what orgs should be considering before finalizing these decisions.
If you've been watching any of the early efforts from orchestras experimenting with socially distanced concerts, you've probably noticed that on-stage musicians are wearing…