I ran across an interesting blog post at evancarmichael.com about Akio Morita, founder of Sony. Within a series of installments that chronicle the growth of Morita’s company, there is one post called "Create the Market Where There Is None." The article goes on to examine some specific components where Sony profited by focusing on creating a market as opposed to meeting a perceived demand and although those examples don’t necessarily apply to the business of creating live orchestra classical music, the strategic thinking behind those ideas fit like a glove…
The Future
A Commanding Grasp Of The Obvious
Ever since it released earlier this week, the topic of The Economic Environment of American Symphony Orchestras by Robert Flanagan occupies a good 30% of my incoming email. Admittedly, I’m only about half way through the report and won’t post anything comprehensive until I’m finished reading it. Nevertheless, after some good advice from more than a few sources, it made sense to post a little something about it here today. If …
NyPhil Poll Results
Last Friday’s New York Philharmonic poll generated some interesting data, although not so much in the final results as the change in responses ratios throughout the voting period…
Some Additional Thoughts About The NYPhil In North Korea
I’m writing this just after finishing up yesterday’s radio appearance at WNYC’s Soundcheck and I wanted to get some additional thoughts out before they become blurred by the rest of my day. First off, many thanks to the staff at Soundcheck for inviting me to take part in the discussion; it was a sincere honor to talk about such a momentous event in a live, national forum. Additional thanks to Norman …
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…