I have always been a fan of Norman Lebrecht. His book Mahler Remembered is an anthology of recollections from friends, colleagues, observers, critics and the like. The personal nature of the book drew me in giving me some sense of Mahler the man along with the times he lived in, going beyond his musical prowess. It therefore puzzled me to read his blog post dismissing 10 or so current conductors personal takes on Mahler…..
… and if you CAN do…. A.K.A. – Another Inconvenient Truth
I’m an equal opportunity kind of guy. Since in my last post I called into question all those working conductors out there who don’t play their instruments anymore, I feel it’s only fair to look at another side of the coin – players who are driven to pick up the baton. I’m starting to feel like I’m breaking the Omerta code…
Quick Takes: Putting your mouth where the money is!
We have all heard it word of mouth is the best form of advertising, and who would doubt it? Problem is it is both hard to quantify and to come up with data to prove its effectiveness, or so I thought……
Those who can’t do…… A.K.A. – An Inconvenient Truth
I have probably already posted about this topic, but since I have started off this year seemingly determined to aggravate, irritate, and generally annoy everyone in the business whom I possibly can, I think it’s about time to tackle this issue once more. To wit….. what has happened to the conductor who still plays their instrument?
Grammys? Who cares!!!!
It’s that time of year again. The Grammy Awards are all the talk of the business, and once again there is the yearly bellyaching about how the Classical Grammy awards aren’t shown on TV. Well……. who cares?
Quick Takes: And for the Record(ing) we need to go more “GaGa!”
While the rest of the universe is scratching their heads and debating how Taylor Swift won the Grammy for album of the year, the Internet broadcast of the Classical awards from earlier in the day on Sunday left me perplexed…and the sad thing is, it’s maybe just me who is. It seems not only are precious few Classical recordings being sold (very scary numbers below), but most of the winners for the Classical awards did not attend….and for crying out loud Roberta Flack, a living legend was handing them out!….
Quick Takes: How transparent are we?
We all make a big deal sometimes that as an organization we are transparent, see through, nothing to hide etc…but is there a test out there that determines just how transparent we really are? It is more relevant that with transparency someone can see, “who you” rather than see “through you”! Recently at the Springfield Symphony we were tested, but we didn’t realize it until we were put on the spot…..
Adjusting the Seasonings in Salt Lake! – Time to Make a Play!
The Utah Symphony and Opera have been rescued by a very large gift which is great news. A couple of articles about their situation got me thinking more about community outreach and how the tangible resonance of a hall needs to be matched with the resonance felt within and even beyond our communities. More importantly though, it’s now time for Orchestras to stop playing defense in this recession and start to become a player in getting America out of it!……We are faced with possibly the greatest opportunity ever to become relevant, so it’s time get off the bench and fight!…..