Author - Ann Drinan

1
Playing for Alzheimer’s Patients
2
Polly Kahn Describes Community Outreach
3
Alice Brandfonbrener’s Memorial Service
4
Technology and the Orchestra
5
New Classical Music Blog by Steve Metcalf
6
Alice Brandfonbrener, M.D.
7
Experimenting with the Concert Experience: How Orchestras Are Being Creative
8
Donald Rosenberg’s Take on “Spring for Music”
9
Chicago Philharmonic Society
10
League Announces 2013-2014 ASCAP Awards

Playing for Alzheimer’s Patients

I’m playing in the “Symphony in the Schools” program this year with the Hartford Symphony, and we recently had several professional days where each of the seven ensembles performed for the others. We also spent some time talking about the program with our new Education Director; we play in senior centers and assisted living facilities,[…]

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Polly Kahn Describes Community Outreach

Polly Kahn recently stepped down from her position as Vice President and Leadership Development  at the League of American Orchestras after 14 years of devoted service. (She hasn’t left the orchestra field, however; I’m certain we will all benefit from her vision and wisdom in the future.) Polly was immersed in training individuals to make[…]

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Alice Brandfonbrener’s Memorial Service

Laura Ross, Secretary of ICSOM, sent the following notice: Dr. Alice Brandfonbrener, a pioneer in the field of music medicine, died in May. I have just received notice of the location and time of her memorial program and hope that those of you who knew her, and those who were the beneficiaries of her care[…]

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Technology and the Orchestra

Symphony magazine featured an interesting article about how digital technologies are impacting orchestras. Written by Andy Doe, a media and technology consultant who writes about music at his blog, properdiscord.com, “The Digital Orchestra” takes us from 1994, when the New Zealand Symphony’s principal bassist Dale Gold put up a simple website, to our world of ever-increasing mobile[…]

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New Classical Music Blog by Steve Metcalf

I’d like to call your attention to a new weekly blog post by a renowned name in classical music writing. Steve Metcalf, former music critic of the Hartford Courant and curator of the Richard P. Garmany Chamber Music Series at The Hartt School, has started writing a weekly blog on classical music for Hartford’s local NPR station,[…]

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Alice Brandfonbrener, M.D.

I recently learned that Alice Brandfonbrener passed away on May 31 of this year (2014). I was deeply saddened to learn this, as I’m certain were many, many other musicians and members of the arts community who had come to know her over her 83 years. Here is a link to one obituary; here a[…]

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Experimenting with the Concert Experience: How Orchestras Are Being Creative

The spring issue of Symphony magazine explores how orchestras are varying what they present to concert-goers. Messing with the Model by Senior Editor Chester Lane explores new ideas from several orchestras across the country. I was somewhat surprised and quite pleased to see my own Hartford Symphony Orchestra prominently displayed in this article! The Chicago[…]

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Donald Rosenberg’s Take on “Spring for Music”

In the spring issue of Symphony magazine, Don Rosenberg, former music critic of the The Cleveland Plain Dealer and the newly-appointed editor of The Magazine of Early Music America wrote a very interesting overview of the “Spring for Music” (S4M) Festival, that presented its final week of concerts this past May at Carnegie Hall, contrasting[…]

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Chicago Philharmonic Society

 Chicago Philharmonic Society An Orchestra Spotlight Ann Drinan, June 2014 When Paul Judy, Board Chairman of the Chicago Philharmonic Society (CPS), inquired as to whether Polyphonic would be interested in a story about the CPS organization, I was chagrined to admit that I was not familiar with it. My immediate question was, “What makes this[…]

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League Announces 2013-2014 ASCAP Awards

League of American Orchestras Announces 2013-14 ASCAP Awards For Adventurous Programming The League of American Orchestras’ annual conference is taking place in Seattle this week. The League has announced the winners of this year’s ASCAP awards for adventurous programming. Their press release also includes some interesting statistics about past winners. 27 Orchestras Honored 27 American[…]

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