Enough Already With The Audition Nonsense!

Adaptistration People 120

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 …

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A Tale Of Two Ticket Prices

Recently, two orchestras located on opposite coasts have shared some PR spotlight for the same reason: ticket prices…

On the East Coast, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has been drawing attention to a new subscription ticket program that offers discounted tickets thanks to a $1 million grant from the PNC Foundation. On the West Coast, the Seattle Symphony found itself in local newspapers thanks to a steep hike in subscription ticket prices for targeted seating areas.

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Ouch.

More troubled news coming from the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. Annual operating debt combined with a questionable instrument collection purchase has conspired to put the NJSO in a position where they have apparently opted for an arts administrator’s version of the Hail Mary pass: a massive withdrawal from their endowment…

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So How Do You Really Feel About Managers Yuri?

“Bah! Management!” That’s a quote from outgoing Baltimore Symphony Orchestra music director Yuri Temirkanov from an interview with Washington Post staff writer, Tim Page. That wasn’t the only thing Temirkanov had to say about the end of his tenure with the organization… The article goes on to quote Temirkanov on a number of issues impacted by the organization’s current economic difficulties. For example, Temirkanov hinted strongly that reducing the BSO’s season …

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Quiet Concerns About Baltimore

The Baltimore Sun published an article by Tim Smith on 3/30/06 which reports that the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra used $27.5 million of their $90 million endowment to pay off outstanding debt… The article goes on to report that $62 million of the remaining endowment funds will be transferred to a new trust overseen by an independent board of trustees. According to representatives from the BSO, the article reports that the organization …

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