Drew McManus on the orchestra business.
It isn’t often we get to revisit a topic more than eight years later but it looks like the long running legal dispute between composer Nathan Currier and the now defunct Brooklyn Philharmonic is finally resolved. When we last examined the dispute in 4/14/2009, we discovered a debacle of a new music commission project that ended up with the orchestra stopping the premier of Currier’s Gaian Variations without performing the entire work. …
Over the weekend, composer and arts administrator Rob Deemer sent along the latest update to his list of programming data for the 2017/18 season and the ratio of works (both percent and number) of dead-white-guys to living, women, and non-white composers. The latest figures includes an update for the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra figures. See the updated charts at the original article. Granted, Deemer’s data is for a sample of ensembles …
Yesterday’s post examining the ratio of programming between living/deceased, male/female, and ethnicity for the 2017/18 season has generated a good deal of discussion throughout social media. Consequently, I’m curious to know what readers think when it comes to diversity in programming. In order to help keep things straightforward, please consider the questions within the context of mainstage programming only, so nothing from pop, chamber, etc. We could easily continue down this …
Hot off the heels of his Women Composer Database Project, composer and arts administrator Rob Deemer has been pouring through much of the recently released programming data for the 2017/18 season to see how often US orchestras are programming works from composers who aren’t dead, white, or male. I have been concerned for years about how narrow orchestral programming has been, especially in the professional arena,” said Deemer. “Inspired by Brian …
Recently, my wife, Holly Mulcahy, wrote an article for violinist.com that chronicles her recent work preparing for the concertmaster solo in Mahler’s 4th Symphony. What makes the solo unusual is it requires the concertmaster to prepare an additional violin tuned higher than the instrument’s regular tuning and use that in addition to his/her regular instrument. The article contains plenty of artistic insight goodies but one item that flies under the radar …