Even More Research Into Making Concert Halls Safe

There’s a fascinating interview in the 9/25/2020 edition of KUER.com, NPR Utah, where host Caroline Ballard examines a recently completed project by a team at the University of Utah led by scientists Tony Saad and James Sutherland that studied Abravanel Hall’s airflow to help identify risk for musicians in the Utah Symphony. You can listen to the full interview at the radio station’s website, but a few bits that jumped out …

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(Image + Perceived Value) x Competition = Relevance

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There’s a fascinating article written by Taylor Stevens in the 2/26/2020 edition of the Salt Lake Tribune that examines calls to review how local tax initiative dollars benefitting nonprofit arts orgs are allocated. The tax has been in place since 1996 and since then, the primary recipients have been the Utah Symphony | Utah Opera, Ballet West, and Pioneer Theatre Company. According to the report, those groups share 45 percent of …

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This Is Why I love My Readers

After publishing last Tuesday’s post on the Utah Symphony’s Rock Stars marketing campaign I was braced for at least some degree of snark but across every single social media platform where discussions ensued, I couldn’t find a trace. In today’s chimp-navigated, troll-powered social media environment, I have to say that genuinely put a smile on my face. Moreover, so much of the feedback was fascinating. And since it unfolded across multiple …

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Maestro Rules #21: Don’t Call Your Concertmaster “A Sweetie”

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There’s a fascinating article by Katharine Biele in the 11/11/2015 edition of the Salt Lake City Weekly that examines a string of key musician dismissals and demotions alongside a general uptick in musician attrition at the Utah Symphony since current music director, Thierry Fischer, arrived in 2009. At 4600 words, the article is decidedly exhaustive but it is also well researched and includes a host of quotes from key figures in …

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