audience connection – Page 11

Peoria Symphony – Where the walls come tumbling up!

February 21, 2009 by Ron Spigelman

I’ll never forget watching a NBA post game news conference when the winning coach was asked what made him think to put the ball in the hands of a rookie who then scored seemingly at will to win the game. His response and I paraphrase:

I didn’t, the guy thought we were in trouble and he stepped up to help the team, he led the leaders and we won the game!

The Peoria Symphony needs someone like that to step up to save their team…well someone has tried and failed, so now someone else needs to ……Time for some Schock treatment!……not a misspelling I assure you…..

Meshugass in Michigan!….

February 17, 2009 by Ron Spigelman

Pssst…paging Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs (MCACA), you might not have heard this but the economy is in the “tank” right now, so using the economic impact of the arts to convince the governor to not eliminate arts funding might not be the best tactic! It might make the arts go the way of the Sphinx…wait!…in fact Sphinx is actually the way you should go…..

ConnectiCUTS Deep and both ways! An Irreversable Immolation!

February 14, 2009 by Ron Spigelman

A famous incident took place in a performance of Tosca when Maria Callas drew blood from Tito Gobbi when the retractable knife didn’t cooperate (it was only a minor injury). In another performance (in the same scene) Callas getting too close to the candles set her hair on fire, only to be rescued by the Gobbi smothering the flames (she reportedly said thank you before stabbing him!). Well Connecticut Opera just stabbed their audience to death, and then burnt themselves to the ground!…..

Nothing to Hide – Going from Film to Digital in Rochester….

January 30, 2009 by Ron Spigelman

It’s not often you hear of someone who shoulders the blame for an organization’s deficit by claiming it’s partly their management style that caused it! It makes me wonder though, if nearly half your staff left in the last 14 months, if advertising that is a way to attract solid personnel? Also is a renovated hall the key to help people accept innovative programming?…..

Paying for Arts in the Land of the Free…

January 26, 2009 by Ron Spigelman

I was sad to read that the Milwaukee Symphony are canceling 4 out of their 5 free concerts. It’s probable that many more orchestras might be forced to cancel free concerts as budget choices are made. In Springfield we usually do 2 free concerts each summer. They are not for certain since they’re connected with city festivals that are at this point are on hold. The NEA might be getting $50 million extra this year, so I’ve got a suggestion…..

Challenge = Opportunity – Undoing the Mess(iaen)

January 15, 2009 by Ron Spigelman

So you’re in a fine restaurant, order a dish, eat a little and decide not to finish or to send it back. Maybe you didn’t like it and wished you had asked more about it before ordering, maybe it was under cooked, or that you liked it but you were full. Question, if you were the chef would you march out to the table to make the customer eat it? Well that’s what Itzhak Perlman did recently in a recital after performing a Messiaen piece. Just like in a restaurant though, he could have instead offered the equivalent of a description of the dish or even better, a take out box…….

The Middle (Golden) Age…..

January 13, 2009 by Ron Spigelman

Some seriously good naval gazing into the future of Classical music is going on over on Greg Sandow’s blog. Really detailed posts (there will be 5 in the series) covering a lot of ground and summarizing in his view where things appear to be headed and what to do about it. I do think though that the issue of the average age of the audience is not as alarming as it appears, and quite possibly is something to celebrate…..

The Floggings will continue…..

January 11, 2009 by Bill Eddins

Note to orchestra administrations everywhere: you wonder why there are some musicians in your ensemble who complain that they feel like indentured servants? Well, sometimes you treat them like that, and here’s a perfect example.