A war of words is being engaged in Portland right now between the press and the administration with an emphasis on who’s facts are correct. Accusations and assertions followed by rebuttals and damage control, it’s familiar stuff , pro sports teams go through it daily! There is also a note being sounded by executive director Elaine Calder that is hopefully not a signal of things to come. Their board has the real power to affect the orchestra’s future and a statement by their chairperson needs to be heeded and examined, and not dismissed!….
Arts Funding
Sticking it in the (buck)eye!……
I want to piggy back onto what Bill wrote. I completely agree with him and want to add that even when a conductor moves to their orchestra’s community, that alone wont guarantee an orchestra’s success! I moved to Springfield but I wasn’t required to, I made a personal choice. The board of an orchestra can negotiate the terms of employment and my guess is that Columbus didn’t require Junichi to be a resident….so it’s his fault that he didn’t move there, and that’s why they are in their current situation? Please!
Road Trippin!…
The family is loaded in the van this 4th of July and we have hit the road for a rather strange trip that is part work, part play, part in the US and part abroad. There’s also an exciting update from my last post…..
Fireworked!….
Bizarre happenings at our annual (or soon not to be) outdoor patriotic fireworks extravaganza, floods, errant fireworks, a deadly baton strike and my singing debut with a US Congressman….
UPDATE 5:35 EST – see below!
Free Concerts?…more like Free Audiences…
So begins the summer, the time of the year when many Orchestras will do free and low cost outdoor concerts, 1 rehearsal affairs with a mix of pops, light classics and light shows! With my professed like for Holiday concerts, for me this is the second most wonderful time of the year when an audience connection can be established…..
Close to home..an orchestra goes not too quietly into the night…
With so much attention in the blogosphere being paid to the situations in Shreveport and Columbus along with the upcoming conference in Denver, it has gone virtually unnoticed that an orchestra in Arkansas is on the verge of closing down. I only know about it because it’s very close to home…..
New at the Columbus Dispatch: First Date Announcements!
Every paper announces births, deaths, anniversaries, engagements, marriages, but first dates? In this case the Dispatch was reporting the announcement of the formation of a 2nd arts panel, this one to examine the sustainability of the arts in Columbus in the wake of the looming catastrophe at the Symphony. My question: What’s the point of announcing this? Bad move in my view…..
Words that can and DO hurt!
And so it goes, Shreveport claims it’s now fiscally responsible by implementing their cuts. However the cuts run deeper than just in financial terms. The musicians probably feel like the they have been on the losing end of a game of Whac-A-Mole after reading final sentence in the article that reported the imposed decision…..