Annual Return to Boston Symphony Violin Section
Well, Cecily and I have begun our annual cross-country pilgrimage from Salt Lake City to Tanglewood. This year, though, we’ve taken an unlikely circuitous route, stopping first in Portland and Seattle...
View ArticleWhat happens in Vegas might matter to you
The first Convention of the American Federation of Musicians since 2010 begins today. As a local officer, I will be attending as one of two delegates from Local 8. I’ll also be continuing a tradition I...
View ArticleA Very Touching Moment
Norman Lebrecht posted about an incident between the concertmaster of the Staatskapelle Berlin orchestra and Daniel Barenboim during the recently concluded performance of Wagner’s Ring Cyle at this...
View ArticleHow Hard Substantive Change Really Is In This Business
In light of the recent settlement of the SPCO’s long lockout, it’s worth revisiting the events of 2003, when the SPCO embarked on a radical departure from past practice regarding institutional...
View ArticleWhen Musicians Need Lawyers
Polyphonic.org Editor-in-Chief Ramon Ricker recently contributed to International Musician, the official journal of the American Federation of Musicians with an article titled “When Musicians Need...
View ArticleExplorations of Teamwork: The Lahti Symphony Orchestra
My Editor’s Choice for this time around is a look-back to a 2002 article in Harmony by Tina Ward and Robert Wagner. In it they write about their experiences with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra. It’s an...
View ArticleThe Getty Health and Wellness Programs
The League of American Orchestras had a session titled “Getty Health and Wellness Session: Health, Wellness and Music.” The session was moderated by Jessica Balboni, Director of Learning Programs at...
View ArticleTelling It Like It Is – An interview with Julie Landsman
Julie Landsman, French hornist with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for 25 years until her retirement in 2010, is the subject of a wonderful interview in Allegro, the magazine of AFM local 802. She...
View ArticleBringing Down the Sky: From Great to Good in Minnesota
I. The Tornado and the Plow Horse I recently plugged the words “Salieri” and “Festival” into Google, which limped back with a meager Salieri Opera Festival of 2010, presented by Fondazione Fioroni in...
View ArticleCharleston decertifies
I was reminded yesterday of a classic newspaper headline that combined obviousness with a complete lack of useful information: Something went wrong in jet crash, experts say Something similarly went...
View ArticleWell… I Won’t Be Welcome There
Do people find opera intimidating? That strange, complex, extravagant, beautiful art form?Since its creation around 1600 it has always been associated with the wealthy and the privileged, kings, and...
View ArticleMisconduct in and out of the workplace
Many years ago a colleague of mine was pressured by management to retire after allegations of sexual misconduct against him became public. I remember being bothered about that at the time, as the...
View ArticleSomething you should read
Once a year or so I read something online that stops me in my tracks; not because it tells me something I didn’t know (which happens every 2 minutes or so), but because it forces me to think...
View ArticleLeadership, solitude and musicians
I’ve been trying to figure out if this article, written as a speech to West Point cadets by William Deresiewicz, a noted American writer and former academic, might have some insights for us. This is a...
View ArticleMore Getty Grants
The latest awards from the Ann & Gordon Getty Education and Community Investment Grants, administered by the League of American Orchestras, were recently announced. The grants range from $10,oo0 to...
View ArticleWhat the Great Strad Robbery means for the future
Most readers of this blog have already heard of the events of last Monday here in Milwaukee. If you haven’t, the New York Times has a good summary: It should have been one of those nights musicians...
View ArticleDetroit Symphony Flash Mob at IKEA in Canton, Michigan
Rachel Martin of NPR’s “Weekend Edition Sunday ” did an interesting piece about the Detroit Symphony’s comeback after the work stoppage. She talks about the beautiful acoustics at Detroit’s Orchestra...
View ArticleMillennial America
Orchestras need to offer compelling reasons for millennials to make live symphonic music a part of their lives. After all, millennials are the largest generation in human history, and at nearly 90...
View ArticleThe Fallout from Obama’s Executive Order Concerning Ivory
At a seminar at Mondomusica New York on April 11, 2014, Heather Noonan of the League of American Orchestras joined with violin and bow makers, an international environmental expert, and government...
View ArticleHow To Find a Balance
Back when he was Principal Flute of the Utah Symphony and President of AFM Local 104, Erich Graf wrote a fascinating and heart-felt article about how he learned to be both an excellent symphonic...
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