Things That Make you Go “Buh?” NJSO

The 3/20/2009 edition of the New York Times published an article by Dan Wakin that compares and contrasts the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra’s 2008/09 and 2009/10 seasons. Of particular note is the news that the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO) is using orchestra musicians to reduce overall guest artist expenditures. Unfortunately, the way the programming decisions are presented sends a precarious message to ticket buyers…

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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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Keeping Up With The Jones’ In New Jersey Part 4

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The final installment in the series of articles examining the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Internal Review Report will continue where Part 3 finished.  After examining issues of valuation and authenticity what’s left are some of the most critical issues related to any musical instrument, how they sound and what the musicians think of them. Issue #3 How they sound As discovered in Part 3, even the NJSO appears to be dancing …

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Keeping Up With The Jones’ In New Jersey Part 3

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Part 3 in the series of articles examining the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Internal Review Report will continue where Part 2 finished, whether or not all of the instruments in the Axelrod collection are authentic. As was examined in Part 2, there were numerous contradictions between the Trustee’s findings, conclusions, and recommendations regarding the value of the collection.  More important than value however, is authenticity, one of the cornerstones used to …

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Too Much Snow And Cold

Due to the heavy snow in the Northeast  it was quite a chore shoveling all the snow from the driveway – Keeping Up With The Jones’ In New Jersey Part 3 will be delayed until tomorrow.  If you missed Part 1 or Part 2, now’s a good time to catch up. In the meantime, there’s a great article from Sunday’s Dallas Morning News by Scott Cantrell which examines the Dallas Symphony’s …

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