Drew McManus on the Orchestra business | est. 2003

Current Events

Juilliard Students to Admin: We’re Not Gonna Take It

Wed, Jun 6, 2021
Getting a music degree from a name brand conservatory or school of music is mind-numbingly expensive. Investing in this type of career carries more risk now than I can remember and given the amount of debt students absorb chasing those degrees, it wasn’t unusual to see them do the comparative math and opt to take

Happy Memorial Day

Mon, May 5, 2021
Even though I’m taking the week off, that doesn’t mean we’re skipping the annual Memorial Day post.  So whether you’re home all day staying safe and healthy 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

Time For A Little Milestone R&R

Mon, May 5, 2021
I’m turning 50 this week and as a little gift to myself, I decided to take the week off. I’m not much into birthdays but they do serve as a nice reminder to step back and take a look around. For instance: Just over 4,500 posts have been published. I was 32 when this blog

I Feel Like I May Have To Say This A Lot Over The Next Several Weeks

Tue, May 5, 2021
We’re only a month or so away from this year’s installment of the Orchestra Compensation Reports, where we take a deep dive into compensation trends among orchestra executives, music directors, and concertmasters at more than 65 professional U.S. orchestras. Each year, there are always some readers that presume the figures are for the most recent

The Latest Take A Friend To The Orchestra Archive Update Is Live

Mon, May 5, 2021
Thanks to a recent tweet from Sam Bergman, I decided to comb through the Take A Friend To The Orchestra archives: https://twitter.com/violanorth/status/1393923571445948425 Turns out, it’s been four years since the site had a design update so I decided to put some time in over the weekend to give it a new logo, bring it into
Previous Next