Outreach

CONDUCTOR SMACKDOWN! – More Musical Mistletoe Please!

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How is it even possible that I like Christmas music?  I am Jewish and I grew up (well the jury is still out on that one!) in Sydney Australia where at this time of year it’s 100 degrees.  There, none of the songs such as Let it Snow, White Christmas but especially Baby It’s Cold Outside make any sense whilst having a Christmas barbecue on the beach! By the time this weekend is over, I will have conducted 30 Holiday concerts since November 23 including 2 productions of the Nutcracker and 5 … Continue Reading

Silence is golden…..

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This will probably be my shortest post ever. Stop reading this blog and go here for another fabulous exposé of the myth of the Concert Hall as a sacred Temple.

More Jacksonville thoughts -Your mediator is already in the house!

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It is a path well traveled and it always seems to lead to a dead end.  An orchestra hires a shiny new Music Director.  He or she is hailed by the staff, the board and the orchestra as the great unifier who will bring all parts of the organization together for the common purpose of bringing great music to a city, developing a unified mission for the community’s cultural and economic goals, the face, the voice, the one….yeah right!

Has anyone seen or heard from Fabio Mechetti?

Let me set one thing straight right off the bat:  I am not calling Fabio out, well not exactly.  He is not the problem.  However,  if the now paper thin assertions I mentioned above about the position of Music Director were actually true, he might be the solution because of the fact that a music director is a unified and many times unanimous choice…..

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Part 1 of 2: Putting the all in Hall, Audience Connections Final!

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The idea is to build a performing arts center that truly does accommodate the needs of a community.  Just saying it does or will, is not enough! For their final, my Audience Connections class of 4 divided into 2 groups  and were charged with creating a concept design.  If we want to attract the 20 somethings, shouldn’t they have a say too!…….Here is my summary and grading of Paper # 1:

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All roads do not lead to Rome!

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Book me on the 6am, you never know what will happen in December but it will give me all day to get there if I need to find alternative routes…..

Concert in Rome NY at 8pm, Dec 10, starting point: Springfield MO.

Awake at 4:30am, 4 Airports, a cross-state car dash, an ice storm , snow, rain and semi-naked in the back of the car on the final leg!  Concert Impossible!

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Random Acts of Art – Not a smackdown!

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This week (and next) I am going to wrap up my Audience Connections Class by grading their papers right here plus showing my gratitude for some recent experiences.  Traveling today to Syracuse for concerts  though, I couldn’t resist adding to Bill’s Airport Post.  I say yes, a phenomenal idea and I think we don’t have to  limit it to just airports……

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Challenge = Opportunity part 4: Turning Green into Gold!

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In the Springfield Symphony there are some musicians who have tremendous initiative when it comes to community outreach and education.  One of them presented a proposal to the board last season to help fund a String Trio for a trip to our sister city in Japan as part of of a cultural exchange. It was a great proposal that already had funding attached.  The board approved the funding, the trip happened and it was big success.  In the background from some other musicians however there were some jealous rumblings.  Not anymore…….

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