So a hot blow in Miami meets a cold blast in Denver as two completely different orchestras try out two models for attracting audiences. There are huge differences between the future plans for the New World Symphony and the Colorado Symphony, not the least of which is the fact that in Miami they are using someone else’s money and are not taking any risks, whereas in Colorado they are risking it all!….
Kumbaya, Richmond, Kumbaya
It is puzzling – the tendency of an organization to shoot itself in the foot. After so many obvious examples of what not to do there is, more often than not, that institutional moment which causes one to quote that great American Philosopher Homer Simpson – “D’OH!!!” These days Homer is speaking in a mid-Atlantic accent.
Enough Already!
Stop it. It happens. Get over it.
The 2011 Report Card
Good Morning! It’s time for the Year in Review, where orchestras that were in the news in 2011 receive their year-end grades from SticksandDrones. In the Biz we would call them “Mid-Term Juries,” and I’m sure that expression just put a shiver up the spine of the two musicians who actually read this blog. “B” is considered a passing grade. Anything below that is suspect. A “B+” or above, in this day and age, is considered a miracle near the level of the loaves and fishes. So, in no particular order:
The CON in Conscience…..
I have written that the true deficit that leads to an orchestra’s downfall, is the deficit in leadership. There is something else that also is a huge contributing factor that can also lead to major systemic problems, and potentially can lead to the deficit in leadership: The erosion of a collective conscience. It takes on many forms, but the whole pension debacle puts it into a very sharp focus….
Minnesota Not-So-Nice
In the Great White North the other shoe has dropped. Those of us who were expecting it can officially say……. well, we can’t say anything nasty, of course, because we live in Minnesota. So…… how ’bout dem Vikings?
Swimming Upstream with Sandow….
Firstly Greg Sandow is one of the first bloggers I started to read regularly, and I still do. I have met him, I admire him and respect him greatly. I think his recent post though about relevance doesn’t take an important thing into account, which is that a determination of what is relevant is not really our call to make….that belongs to our audiences and our communities….
An Ode To Jeremy
The most interesting conversations about Classical Music never happen in the Board Room, or after a concert, or in any venue that one would connect with the art form. My friend Jeremy reminded me of that on Thanksgiving Day.