It’s not an uncommon practice for orchestras to subcontract out the services of their ensemble to the local opera companies.  Orchestras from smaller budget ROPA ensembles, like Richmond (VA) through larger ICSOM groups, like St. Louis, do it on a regular basis.  However, what works in one locale does not necessarily transfer equally to another.  

I returned from Caracas very late last evening and am just getting acclimated back from the wonderful hospitality of my Venezuelan and New England Conservatory Youth Philharmonic orchestra hosts. I’ll be taking a few days to catch up on everything but there’s much to discuss about what I encountered during the past four days.  The

I’m off to Caracas for a few days for my excellent Venezuelan adventure (details of which were posted a few days ago).  If I can wrangle some internet access while I’m away I’ll post a play by play of the events. I received a note from Ben Zander, who is already on site, this morning

Starting Thursday, I’ll be away for several days as I’ve been invited to Caracas, Venezuela to follow Benjamin Zander and the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra at the New England Conservatory as they perform along side the Venezuelan National Youth Orchestra. Although the trip has been put together last minute, I’m fully expecting it to be a

Charles Noble, the Oregon Symphony’s assistant principal viola, has a beef with newspapers who think “viola” is a typo.  At his blog, he points out one of the latest offenses by from the Minnesota Star Tribune, who called violist Sam Bergman (Art’s Journal’s very own news editor) a violinist. I think the problem demonstrates just

In an apparent effort to gear up for their upcoming Washington D.C. conference, the American Symphony Orchestra League has been pounding the pavement and beating up the PR drums in efforts to paint a pleasant picture on the current state of the American orchestra business. Not that this sort of behavior is a bad thing