Orchestra Revolution

There are a number of myths about US orchestras which critics and commentators seem to rehash endlessly.Here are some of them:

Myth:  American orchestras endlessly rehash the same old warhorses of the orchestral repertoire. read more

There was an article in the New York Times last week about the copious vacancies in the New York Philharmonic. An explanation was offered by its conductor Alan Gilbert, who said in a statement, “We’re looking for the best musicians, people with a human quality that makes them uniquely right for the New York Philharmonic.” According to the Philharmonic, it may take a long time to find these gems, but they are worth the wait as they bring to the table what cellist Brant Taylor (of the Chicago Symphony, which has 9 vacancies) calls “thinking, thoughtful musicians who are the whole package.” It appears that the level of musicianship required is integral to the orchestra, but extremely hard to find. read more

There have been quite a few articles remarking on the apparent disparity between the talk about change that took place at this year’s conference, and the actual change which people apparently don’t expect to happen. Oddly enough, I almost agree with them, but for a different reason. read more

There was a different kind of energy at Conference this year. I was heartened by the readiness to engage with some of the really tough issues that   would have been taboo only a few years ago. We witnessed provocative, alert, constructive thinking about some of the most intractable problems in our field. It was as if people’s experience has caught up with the messages about the need for change that have been in our system for a while. read more

I’ve been asked by Kirk Moss, the President of the American String Teachers’ Association, and Donna Hale, ASTA’s Executive Director, to join the League’s discussions on the future of orchestras in the United States, and specifically on the role that orchestras play in music education. Of course the specific focus of ASTA is on string and orchestral music education, and that ties in to another project, linked below, that I have been blogging about. It’s called the Green Paper Project, and it’s sponsored by Americans for the Arts. read more

[Note from the League: this is the next in our series of interviews with people who are primarily outside of the orchestra field.  Today is Part 2 of our interview with Ann Hurst, Managing Director of the Children’s Musical Theater in San Jose, CA] read more

While I’ve been in the orchestra world for about four years, this is my first conference as an artistic administrator.

I really enjoyed our artistic administrator constituency meeting this morning and was glad to put names with faces for my counterparts with other orchestras.  The area of artistic administration is so specialized that not many others know exactly what we do, how we do it, and the kind of questions, issues and situations that we deal with. I’m really trying to take advantage of my time here, as we truly are our own best resources.  read more

Engaging international guest artists to perform is a critical function of orchestras of all sizes. Unless something goes awry, the process of bringing a foreign guest artist to the U.S. is often assumed to be quick and easy. However, any artistic administrator or executive director can tell you that a lot of work goes into assembling a strong visa application, especially when the expectations of the U.S. immigration service can be highly unpredictable. read more

A few thoughts on the opening day of conference (my first one, and so far great/a whirlwind): Ben Cameron, the keynote speaker, was fascinating and ridiculously well-spoken. His premise (that lack of money isn’t our main problem), is one I’ve heard but perhaps not articulated in such a compelling way. And it seems that a discussion of the issues he raised as being the most problematic for orchestras is one we truly need to have with all our constituent groups. read more

[Note from the League: this is the next in our series of interviews with people who are primarily outside of the orchestra field.  Today is Part 1 of our interview with Ann Hurst, Managing Director of the Children’s Musical Theater in San Jose, CA] read more

Today Education & Community Engagement and Youth Orchestra constituent groups heard from Vince Ford, director of new media for the New York Philharmonic, about how to use social media more effectively to promote their orchestras and engage their constituents. read more

The live stream begins in about 20 minutes. Want to comment on what you see or ask questions? Tweet at #ORCH2010. You can follow the Twitter feed on this page in the box to the right of the video window. The tweets are also being projected on screens in the hall for the 1000 delegates in Atlanta.

If you don’t have a Twitter account, you can also comment by leaving your comment at the end of this post. In the hall we’ll be monitoring tweets and the comments to this post. See you in a few minutes.