Author - Robert Levine

1
Final thoughts on the 2013 AFM Convention
2
An historic day for the AFM
3
What happens in Vegas might matter to you
4
Mediation in Minnesota
5
When Vampire Squid meets orchestra
6
From One of the Masters: Basic Principles of Orchestra Management
7
Nashville – WTF?
8
Another take on job satisfaction
9
New boss same as old boss
10
Where no orchestra has gone before

Final thoughts on the 2013 AFM Convention

I now know how Charlie Brown would have felt had, just once, Lucy let him actually kick the football. He would have felt a stunned disbelief that what he had long wanted to happen – and what should have been happening all along – finally did happen. I don’t know what he would have felt[…]

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An historic day for the AFM

Read about it here.

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What 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 started in 2007 – live-blogging from the convention floor. If you want to follow along, here’s the link. For[…]

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Mediation in Minnesota

The Minnesota Orchestra lock-out – the longest second-longest formal lock-out in our industry’s history – may have entered a new phase, according to Graydon Royce of the Minneapolis Star Tribune: The Minnesota Orchestra’s management and musicians — now in the 11th month of a bitter labor lockout — are quietly talking again behind the scenes.[…]

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When Vampire Squid meets orchestra

One of the best metaphors in recent years was coined by Matt Taibbi, who wrote one of the great articles on the financial crisis of 2008: The first thing you need to know about Goldman Sachs is that it’s everywhere. The world’s most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face[…]

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From One of the Masters: Basic Principles of Orchestra Management

It’s conference season again, and musicians attending the League of American Orchestra’s annual conference this week in St. Louis will have the chance to learn some of the basic principles of orchestra management from one of the masters, former San Francisco Symphony and St. Louis Symphony CEO Peter Pastreich. Those not lucky enough to hear[…]

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Nashville – WTF?

The situation in Nashville is beginning to seem worrisome: Foreclosure proceedings have been initiated against the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, and an auction of its landmark Schermerhorn Symphony Center has been scheduled for June 28. Formal notice of the foreclosure was issued by Bank of America, the lead lender on the $82.3 million still owed on[…]

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Another take on job satisfaction

The question of job satisfaction in our field has long been an interest of mine, both for obvious personal reasons and because the sources of much dissatisfaction lie in an area of research – stress – I heard lots about over family dinners. So I  found this article in yesterday’s New York Times to be[…]

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New boss same as old boss

This really shouldn’t have been a surprise: After a season marred by a bitter contract dispute and a musician lockout, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra got some positive news Tuesday, May 7.The committee looking for a new president for the organization unanimously recommended the return of former SPCO president Bruce Coppock, who was president and[…]

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Where no orchestra has gone before

The Minnesota Orchestra has once again made history; this time with a public threat by its music director to leave unless things are settled very soon: Osmo Vänskä says he will resign as music director of the Minnesota Orchestra if the ensemble loses a prestigious engagement at New York’s Carnegie Hall because of the current[…]

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