There aren’t a lot of things you can count on in this business but one thing that’s sure to deliver a dazzling display of passionate pyrotechnics is getting people to talk about programming. Case in point, conductor Bill Eddins recently published a pair of articles at Sticks and Drones suggesting the predominance of Second Viennese School compositions throughout the course of the 20th Century may not have been the best thing for classical music; especially large performing arts organizations, like orchestras. And thus the gates of Hell flew open.
Artistic Administration
And The Winner Is…No One
The 6/11/2012 edition of the Washington Post reports that the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO) failed to find an acceptable candidate as the winner of its YouTube powered soloist competition. For those unaware, the PSO’s program was not entirely unlike many reality television driven talent competitions, the goal of the competition was to locate up and coming talent not already represented by established agencies (CAMI, OPUS3, etc.).
There's Buy-In and Then There's Buy-In
I had a fascinating conversation with a colleague several weeks ago that focused on the current trend for orchestras in dire financial straits to adopt artistic activities that rely heavily on expanding into new territories. Typical jargon for this sort of behavior is “getting out of the concert hall” or “getting into the community.”
There’s Buy-In and Then There’s Buy-In
I had a fascinating conversation with a colleague several weeks ago that focused on the current trend for orchestras in dire financial straits to adopt artistic activities that rely heavily on expanding into new territories. Typical jargon for this sort of behavior is “getting out of the concert hall” or “getting into the community.”
Skinning A Cat, Beethoven Style
Conductor Bill Eddins posted a terrific blog on 2/22/2012 that lambasts the concept of right and wrong interpretations via recordings. Coincidentally, regular Adaptistration guest author, Chris Blair, sent me an email on the same day with a link to a YouTube video that provides a chronological survey of the opening chords of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3; from 1924 through 2011.