Current Events – Page 76

Another Major Newspaper Critic Position Enters Limbo

Wednesday, July 29th, 2015 by Drew McManus

Continuing the decade-long trend of traditional newspapers eliminating cultural reporters, the Dallas Morning News may eliminate the full time music critic position following the departure of the current professional occupying that spot, Scott Cantrell. Cantrell recently accepted a buyout from the paper and ArtAndSeek.net published an article on 7/28/2015 by Jerome Weeks that details the transition along with examining where the field of cultural criticism is headed. Cantrell’s articles have been …

Atlanta Sees A Sliver Of Sunshine

Monday, July 20th, 2015 by Drew McManus

The 7/16/2015 edition of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution published an article by Howard Prousner that reports on some good news for the beleaguered Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) in the form of an undisclosed six figure surplus for the 2014/15 season that started off with a nine week lockout. Though final fiscal 2015 figures will not be known until later this summer when financial records are complete for the Woodruff Arts Center — …

Listen To Star Wars: The Force Awakens Director JJ Abrams Talk About The Importance Of Orchestral Music

Monday, July 13th, 2015 by Drew McManus

If you’re feeling down over the impending death of classical music (don’t worry, it’s not dying) then take a moment to watch this clip of the 7/10/2015 Star Wars: The Force Awakens comic-con panel featuring director JJ Abrams talk about the importance of orchestral music. If that weren’t enough, Abrams just turned a live orchestra concert by the San Diego Symphony into the biggest fan event in the history of Comic-Con; …

Let’s Talk Arts Advocacy

Wednesday, May 27th, 2015 by Drew McManus

Toward the end of April, I had the pleasure of participating in a series of hosted conversations by Arts Alliance Illinois (AAI); they invited Illinois artists and arts professionals to talk about arts advocacy and the issues that are most important today. Hosted by AAI Executive Director, Ra Joy, and actor Joey Bland (of Improvised Shakespeare fame), they broke the group into eight unique groups and had HMS Media film the …

Happy Memorial Day!

Monday, May 25th, 2015 by Drew McManus

Whether you’re home all day enjoying the holiday with family and friends or your orchestra is putting on a performance today, try to take a few moments to remember the reason for the holiday. Furthermore, take a moment to remember that the single largest employer of full-time professional musicians is the United States Armed Forces… Happy Memorial Day! The United States Air Force Band The United States Army Band “The Presidents …