Drew McManus on the orchestra business.
In case you’ve been buried under a mountain of work lately, you’ve probably seen the hubbub surrounding Michael Tilson Thomas’ (MTT) encounter with a mother and eight year old child during a 10/17/2014 performance with the New World Symphony. In short, there’s plenty of talk about whether MTT acted appropriately and accounts of the actual event vary depending on which source you read. The story originally broke in the South Florida …
In an interesting twist to the ongoing Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiations, it appears that the orchestra’s primary conductors (Music Director Robert Spano and Principal Guest Conductor Donald Runnicles) have decided to become involved via a joint letter to ASO’s stakeholders (board, management, and musicians) outlining the pair’s views on the intersection of artistic standards and sustainability. Published by Norman Lebrecht at Slippedisc.com on 9/3/2014, the letter …
The 11/29/2013 edition of BBC News published an article by Alison Feeney-Hart where she interviewed conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen and asked about his tips for becoming a great conductor. By and large, Salonen’s advice is superb; it’s not only grounded but downright populist when compared to the traditional Maestro Mystique. Having said that, there was one bit that pestered at me to the point of writing this post. First and foremost, go …
I want to take a moment to highlight the 10 year anniversary for Joe Patti’s excellent culture blog, Butts In The Seats; Musings on Practical Solutions For Arts Management. I was enormously pleased when Joe decided to include his blog among the Inside The Arts ranks and with nearly 1,500 posts it is one of the longest running culture blogs around. If you aren’t already familiar with Joe’s blog, stop by …
Concertmaster Frank Almond posted a thought provoking article on 11/6/2013 on the topic of women conductors. Written from his perspective of someone in the front row of orchestra musician trenches, he provides some much needed clarity on the topic. You may wonder what angle could possibly be missing from the avalanche of words spilled (and sometimes wasted) on what is rapidly becoming a tiresome dialogue (to me, anyway). Here’s a little …