There’s something to be said for the Jerry Seinfeld model of leaving at the top of your game and yesterday’s announcement from the Seattle Symphony Orchestra (SSO) that music director Gerard Schwarz will step down after the 2010/11 season prompted quite a few email messages which referenced the Seinfeld model. However, given the lightning rod quality and quantity of attention the conductor has garnered over the past several years (much of which has been examined in previous articles), most of the email authors were wondering if Mr. Schwarz’s decision is a day late and a dollar short…
Artistic Administration
The Return Of Orchestra Radio
In his blog post from 4/14/2008, Scanning The Dial co-author, Mike Janssen, examined the idea of arts organizations owning a radio station, or more precisely the FM radio license. In particular, Mike recounted some recent work assisting the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra apply for such a license and his article reminded me that this topic prompted several articles here at Adaptistration back in 2004. As such, it’s high time to take a look at the topic once again…
A Conductor’s View Of The Orchestra: Junichi Hirokami
Given the fact that the Columbus Symphony Orchestra is currently considering drastic cuts to the organization’s budget and numbers of full time musicians, it is poignant to hear about how the orchestra’s Music Director, Junichi Hirokami, feels about the musicians and the musical product they produce. It also provides some insight as to why he has publicly stated that any downsizing of the orchestra would be ‘catastrophic’. By chance Hirokami had a business meeting with Mr. Tamotsu Shinotsuka, the Consul General of Japan from Detroit, on the same day the Columbus Symphony board of director’s announced a proposed 25 percent budget reduction. The following is a transcription of Hirokami’s description of what an orchestra is and how the musicians and conductor function within that environment…
Junichi Hirokami: Leading From The Front In Columbus
Before everyone starts to draw parallels between recent events at the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra and what is unfolding at the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, I think it is worthwhile to point out one significant distinction with regard to the approach each orchestra’s respective music director has opted to pursue following a series of proposed budget cuts… In the case of Jacksonville, their music director, Fabio Mechetti, decided to remain out of the …
Is There Room In The CBA For Composers?
Stemming from the Orchestra Summit 2006 discussion panel I moderated for New Music Box, the issue of including composers in the collective bargaining agreement became in intriguing topic. That topic will be explored in more detail at Polyphonic.org from June 19-23 during their June Virtual Discussion Panel, but in the meantime I wanted to find more out about what composers thought of the idea…