Drew McManus on the orchestra business.
Alix Krista authored a detailed account of the rise and fall of violin dealer Dietmar Machold which appeared in the 10/19/2012 edition of businessinsider.com. It will be surprising if Machold emerges from the legal process without some jail time but even though he’s is, for all intents and purposes, out of the game that doesn’t mean the rare instrument trade is clear of bad guys.
Where would this business be without the reality show circus that is the world of buying and selling rare string instruments? Probably better off, but that isn’t the case. Nonetheless, an article by Carsten Holm (and translated from the German by Christopher Sultan) in the 5/10/2012 of Spiegel Online International brings us the latest (and incredibly detailed) installment in the life and times of the notorious Dietmar Machold (spoiler alert: it …
If the name Dietmar Machold doesn’t immediately register in your mind, no worries. That likely mans you aren’t involved or watch the high end string market very closely. But long time readers might recognize his name from the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO) golden instrument debacle from 2006 where Machold played a key role in those developments. As it turns out, Mr. Machold was recently arrested to face charges of fraud …
There’s a superb video from violinists Brett Yang and Eddy Chen of TwoSet Violin where the duo takes the bold step of calling out a pair of dubious practices inside the world of string instrument dealers. Yang and Chen deserve a great deal of credit for speaking out on this topic and while issues run far deeper than their video examines, the topics they focus on are certainly of paramount importance. …
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (MSO) concertmaster, Frank Almond, was one of the first new voices introduced at InsideTheArts.com via his blog, non divisi. His very first post was from January 7, 2008 and since then, he has been a bold voice when examining difficult issues and providing unique insights from a stakeholder role that often treads a razor thin line. Yesterday, Frank announced that he was putting the blog on indefinite hiatus …