Drew McManus on the orchestra business.
Even though I’m taking the week off, that doesn’t mean we’re skipping the annual Memorial Day post. So whether you’re home all day staying safe and healthy enjoying the holiday with family and friends or your orchestra is putting on a performance today, try to take a few moments to remember the reason for the holiday. To that end, I wanted to include a little something special today in the form …
I’m turning 50 this week and as a little gift to myself, I decided to take the week off. I’m not much into birthdays but they do serve as a nice reminder to step back and take a look around. For instance: Just over 4,500 posts have been published. I was 32 when this blog was launched. Adaptistration has spawned four spinoff sites: Who’s Minding The Score? a cartoon about orchestra …
Holly Mulcahy recently published an article at Neo Classical that references a long-standing crisis management guideline from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that stresses the importance of fundamental priorities. Here’s an excerpt from the FAA’s advice that came to fruition after a December 1972 crash of Eastern Airlines Flight 401. The entire cockpit crew was so focused on a non-critical task of investigating a malfunction of a landing gear position indicator …
While the post-pandemic environment may not seem like an opportune time for musician stakeholders to think about overscale, rest assured, it is. If you aren’t familiar with individual overscale agreements, these are the contracts that certain orchestra musicians utilize to negotiate terms above and beyond those set forth in the collective bargaining agreement (CBA). They are negotiated outside the auspices of the CBA between the musician and the association. In short, …
The more attention we focus on the processes used to enter the post-pandemic period of concert activity, the better. Case in point, there’s an excellent article from Jim Farber in the 5/24/2021 edition of San Francisco Classical Voice that includes interviews with the CEOs from New York Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony about how both groups are approaching the return to more in-person events. A few things caught my eye such …