Robert Levine, president of the Milwaukee Musicians Association, International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians (ICSOM) chairman emeritus, former editor of Senza Sordino (ICSOM’s newsletter), and principal violist of the Milwaukee Symphony [Robert must have an industrial sized business card], posted an intriguing article at his blog about the Jacksonville Symphony negotiations. In his post, Robert compares current events in Jacksonville with his own experiences in Milwaukee when faced with a refusal to move from a pre-set final offer at the onset of negotiations…
Governance
Who Owns A Symphony Orchestra?
Earlier this week, Paul Alter submitted a comment and asked “Who owns a symphony orchestra?” Although the simplistic answer to that question is “no one” perhaps a more complete answer is to look at ownership from the perspective of control. Within that context, Paul’s question is much easier to answer…
Enough Already With The Audition Nonsense!
The 11/11/2007 edition of the New York Times published an article by Anthony Tommasini’s which features an interview between the author and Marin Alsop. Since its publication, the article has been making the usual rounds inside the business due to Alsop’s comments regarding auditions. In that article Tommasini quotes Alsop as saying the process of blind auditions (where candidates perform behind a screen) is “fundamentally flawed.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, her comments have …
In San Antonio, Mike Greenberg Couldn’t Be More Right
You don’t have to have to be a genius to realize that San Antonio Symphony President & CEO, David Green, is down for the count… Ever since announcing the decision not to renew the contract for SAS music director, Larry Rachleff, Green and the SAS executive board have been pummeled with bad press as SAS insiders and outsiders alike point out the gaping holes in the logic they presented explaining their …
The Mouse That Roared Part 2
At the conclusion of Part 1, the community advocates at Save Richmond were just beginning to discover apparent discrepancies in the financial information claimed by the Virginia Performing Arts Foundation (VAPAF). In an attempt to verify the VAPAF’s financial status, they took an unusual step of filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the VAPAF… Unfortunately, Save Richmond’s first FOIA request was rejected by the VAPAF (you can download …