Things That Keep Me Up At Night

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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.

About Drew McManus

"I hear that every time you show up to work with an orchestra, people get fired." Those were the first words out of an executive's mouth after her board chair introduced us. That executive is now a dear colleague and friend but the day that consulting contract began with her orchestra, she was convinced I was a hatchet-man brought in by the board to clean house.

I understand where the trepidation comes from as a great deal of my consulting and technology provider work for arts organizations involves due diligence, separating fact from fiction, interpreting spin, as well as performance review and oversight. So yes, sometimes that work results in one or two individuals "aggressively embracing career change" but far more often than not, it reinforces and clarifies exactly what works and why.

In short, it doesn't matter if you know where all the bodies are buried if you can't keep your own clients out of the ground, and I'm fortunate enough to say that for more than 15 years, I've done exactly that for groups of all budget size from Qatar to Kathmandu.

For fun, I write a daily blog about the orchestra business, provide a platform for arts insiders to speak their mind, keep track of what people in this business get paid, help write a satirical cartoon about orchestra life, hack the arts, and love a good coffee drink.

View all posts by Drew McManus | Website

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