Rounding out this week’s contributions is Lynn Sislo, a classical music enthusiast who also hosts the very popular culture blog, "Reflections in d minor".   It’s easy for people who are intertwined deeply in the creation of live classical music to get overwhelmed by their surroundings.  As such, Lynn’s contribution is refreshing and quite poignant. Not

"Walking a mile in another man’s shoes" is the theme for oboist, journalist, and author Blair Tindall’s Take a Friend to Orchestra contribution.  Helping patrons over any anxiety or self consciousness issues are critical elements in building tomorrow’s audience today. Blair’s first book, Mozart in the Jungle, comes out in late June. Composer William Bolcom

Although she claims to be a technical writer, self described opera geek Lisa Hirsch’s writing reads like anything but dry, technical, stereo instructions.  Instead, her blog, The Iron Tongue of Midnight (I like it when people use some of the more obscure quotes from Shakespeare) is a veritable clearinghouse of fantastic ideas and discussions on

Conductor and pianist William (Bill) Eddins has been a really popular guy this past year. Most notably, he was appointed as the music director for the Edmonton Symphony and as such has been the focus of dozens of newspaper articles worldwide and oh yes, he’s also the principal guest conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra

The good folks at WNYC’s Soundcheck came up with a great idea for participating in Take a Friend to Orchestra month.  From their website today: May is “Take a Friend to Orchestra Month,” a new initiative started by Drew McManus, author of the blog “Adaptistration” at Artsjournal.com, in order to bring newcomers to the concert

I consider myself fortunate to come across individuals like Frank Manheim during my lifetime.  Frank is the benchmark for a “knowledgeable nonprofessional classical music activist”.  His passion for the art moves him well beyond pontification into that realm of activism. His personal research and effort into a variety of endeavors to benefit classical music in

What can I say about Sam Bergman?  Well, the facts are he’s a violist in the Minnesota Orchestra, serves in a leadership position with the musician’s orchestra committee, the news editor for Arts Journal, mini-blogger extraordinaire, rabid baseball fan, and proprietor of Urtext v2.0.  Plus, he’s funny.  Sam’s Take a Friend to Orchestra contribution utilizes