Terry Teachout Couldn’t Be More Right

After a stretch of swing-and-a-miss articles from the venerable Terry Teachout, he connected with a big hit in his Wall Street Journal article from 3/18/2011 where he ponders the ironic nature of the Cleveland Orchestra’s (CO) “critic-in-residence.” Teachout accurately characterizes the CO’s efforts as an institutional blog and subsequently points out all of stereotypical bear traps attached to those efforts rattling around the blog’s ankles… For starters, Teachout takes issue with …

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To Strike Or Not To Strike

When the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) mess started to unfold, it seemed as though we wouldn’t have to have some of the rudimentary conversations that typically accompany work stoppages, such as the purpose of strikes and lockouts within the context of the orchestra business. As it turns out, we do…

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Cleveland Orchestra Wins Lawsuit

When the jury concluded deliberations in the lawsuit filed by of Cleveland Plain Dealer former classical-music critic Donald Rosenberg against the Cleveland Orchestra and the Plain Dealer, the orchestra and paper emerged victorious. And although a number of characters in both organizations are sharing in a collective sigh of relief, the victory is, at best, hollow…

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The Controversy In Cleveland Continues

Just in case you forgot about the legal battle between Cleveland Plain Dealer music critic Donald Rosenberg and the Cleveland Orchestra, The Cleveland Scene published a lengthy article about the latest developments in the ongoing drama. Written by Michael Gill and published on 5/5/2010, the piece begins with a picturesque description of Cleveland Orchestra music director, Franz Welser-Möst, giving a deposition under a “cold fluorescent light”…

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20 Hours Per Week

One of the points that came up throughout last week’s American Orchestras Summit was the “musicians only have to work 20 hours per week” comment leveraged by Cleveland Orchestra’s management during their recent labor strife. By and large, the response among participants was it only served a self defeating purpose and it is high time to put the old rhetoric out to pasture. Frankly, it’s a ridiculous statement, right on par with “all nonprofit managers are just hacks who couldn’t make it in the for profit world”…

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