Drew McManus on the orchestra business.
Not unlike many across the country, I became absorbed with current events yesterday so today’s original topic will have to wait. It’s been an absorbing 24 hours and if nothing else, it may provide some with a fresh perspective on yesterday’s post.
If you’re not familiar with the Santa Monica Symphony Orchestra, it’s a community orchestra with an annual budget in the low $100k range. Their concerts are free of charge and apart from a few paid ringers, the musicians are volunteers and students. At the same time, that hasn’t stopped the group from becoming the focus of controversy. Norm Lebrecht has been following developments since July at slippedisc.com and since then, several …
I can say with a great deal of confidence that the 2017 orchestra compensation reports are (finally) coming out…wait…for…it…Monday 7/31 through Friday 8/4. Thanks to everyone for your patience, even the one reader who wrote in yesterday to ask with the subject line “where the [redacted] are the compensation reports!?!” (you know who you are). In the meantime, watch this and you’ll forget all about wondering when the reports are coming …
If you find news coming out of the San Antonio Symphony (SAS) confusing, you’re not alone. The 501(c)3 which operates the SAS, Symphony Society of San Antonio (SSSA), has decided to cease operations and is turning over its mission driven activity to a brand-new nonprofit, Symphonic Music for San Antonio (SMSA). SSSA isn’t filing bankruptcy nor are the organizations merging. This is even different than the pseudo-hostile takeover scenarios we’ve seen …
According to an article by David Hendricks in the 7/19/2017 edition of the San Antonio Express-News, the Symphony Society of San Antonio (SSSA), which operates the San Antonio Symphony (SAS), will dissolve at the end of August, 2017. But here’s where things get unusual: a new 501(c)3 has announced they will replace the SSSA. Hendricks’ report indicates the new nonprofit organization, Symphonic Music for San Antonio (SMSA), will assume the SSSA’s …