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Last April, our Canadian neighbors at Orchestra Canada established a program designed to identify common issues, challenges and successes among orchestras across Canada. All in all, it’s a very good report. I’m pleased by its candor at identifying the problems and deficiencies among its member orchestras. And unlike the type of “one-sided and guarded discussions [which] are contrary to learning” that fellow blogger Andrew Taylor mentions in one of current articles, …

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Imagine John Smith: He earns $50,000 year He makes another $10,000 a year from stock dividends For the last 15 years he’s always received a raise He has a $275,000 mortgage He has $70,000 in auto loans He has a kid in college for at least another three years. He lives month to month He has two credit cards that are maxed out Three months out of the year he uses …

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In the October 2003 issue of Senza Sordino, an ICSOM newsletter, is a complete transcript of an address by Michael Kaiser to those in attendance at the annual ICSOM conference. For those who are unaware, Mr. Kaiser is the president of the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and just about as big of a dog in this industry as one can become (and I mean big dog in a good way). …

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“In order to attract quality administrators we need to offer them comparable salaries with their counterparts in the for-profit industry” I hear this all the time from industry experts, executive recruiters, and (most dangerously) board members. But frankly it’s just a bunch of spin. Well not entirely, but mostly. Here’s why it isn’t spin Board members are typically successful businesspersons that work in a for-profit industry and have learned to trust …

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I came across this wonderful article by Bill Duryea from the Nov 30, 2003 edition of the St. Petersburg Times entitled What they do for love.  After reading this story, it’s hard to imagine that anyone could be responsible for running an orchestra without understanding what it is to be a musician.