Drew McManus on the orchestra business.
If you’ve ever been responsible for creating a concert program in Microsoft Word, you probably know how tricky it is to align everything in a way that conforms with traditional program layouts. The harder you try; the more elusive alignment becomes but you can’t figure out why. Here’s a tip to know when things start snowballing toward word processor hell: you’re using a lot of consecutive spaces. Fear not! There is …
With 13 Shop Talk episodes recorded and more planned, it’s high time for some organization. To that end, there’s a dedicated landing page with links to the main episode archives, guest list with episode links, and a Last Call archive. It’s available 24/7 from the navigation menu under “Archives.” I’m very happy to see the series is growing in popularity with each new episode, so thank you for finding the content …
I decided to move the articles originally scheduled for yesterday and today to next week. Considering the insurrection in Washington D.C., they are simply too disconnected. Instead, I want to focus today’s post on the need for wellness. If there was ever a time to remember music’s value as a coping mechanism, it’s now. To that end, I want to highlight an initiative in development at the Wichita Symphony that focuses …
Over my holiday break, there wasn’t much change among groups embroiled in labor disputes. The key word there is “much” and one positive change that transpired came from the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra (KSO). On 12/28/2020 the employer and musicians issued a joint press statement announcing they reached an agreement that covers the remainder of the 20/21 season. While details surrounding the specific issues at the root of the dispute are not …
Being funny is hard. Learning the array of digital platforms needed for content creation is hard. Doing all of that at the same time with tools from 15 years ago in the classical music field is insane, but that’s exactly what Jeff Curnow did. If doing all of that weren’t enough, Curnow is also the associate principal trumpet of the Philadelphia Orchestra and former member of the Empire Brass Quintet. This …