Blog

Grand Rapids Symphony’s Music for Health Program

Nathan Kahn  of the AFM’s Symphony Services Division has been telling me about the wonderful music wellness program designed by Grand Rapids violinist Diane McElfish Helle, and I plan to find out more and write an article about their work. Today I noticed that Paul Austin, former ROPA Vice President and Grand Rapids hornist, had[…]

Read More

Baltimore’s Adult Camp

NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday with Scott Simon had an interesting piece this past weekend about the Baltimore Symphony’s Academy Week, which was held June 21 to 27th. Amateur musicians spend a week rehearsing with BSO players, and attending sectionals and private lessons. The week culminates in a public performance of the participants and BSO musicians[…]

Read More

Saving the Hartford Symphony

As you may have noticed, tensions between the management and the musicians of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra have been heating up as the two sides try to agree on a new contract. Management, which basically now means the Bushnell [Center for the Performing Arts] under an administrative arrangement put in place a little more than[…]

Read More

Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society Turns 200

Claiming to be the oldest continuously performing orchestra in America, the Handel and Haydn Society celebrates 200 years this year. The Society gave the American premiere performances of Verdi’s Requiem in 1878 and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in 1879. The Society was created at the conclusion of the War of 1812, giving a performance of[…]

Read More

Lincoln Portrait and the Fourth of July

Copland’s Lincoln Portrait is not terribly popular with orchestra musicians, mostly (I suspect) as a result of over-exposure to bad performances. It invariably gets scheduled on pops programs and outdoor concerts, usually with the lowest-ranking staff conductor who’s in town at the time, and generally with narrators chosen more for who they are rather than[…]

Read More

The End of Work?

A fascinating article was published recently in The Atlantic, which takes a look into the future and considers the possibility that machines could continue to replace more and more of the modern workforce (or reduce the amount of time workers need to work).  It also considers the impacts on leisure time, the arts, and artists.[…]

Read More

Some thoughts on Hartford

The Hartford Symphony has been in the news recently, and not in the way that orchestras want to be: Behind the two-year dispute between the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and the musicians union over a new labor agreement is the symphony’s effort to remake itself to appeal to changing audiences and tastes. The orchestra says it’s[…]

Read More

Optimism in Omaha

An article came out a couple of weeks ago on Omaha.com with some positive news from the Omaha Symphony.  Attendance during the Symphony’s 2014-15 season was record setting, and even subscription packages to multiple concerts are on the rise. Pretty exciting.  Of course, the question is why. Why are more people coming to the symphony[…]

Read More

Are You a Musical Code-Switcher?

Do any of these scenarios sound familiar? 1. You perform with the symphony in the afternoon, then change out of your formal black, throw your music stand in the trunk, and head straight to a gig with your rock band. 2. On Sunday morning, you accompany a gospel church service, then have an intense chamber[…]

Read More

Hidden Messages: New Vintage Baroque’s Second Season

It seems counterintuitive: how is it that so many musicians dedicate their lives to the study and practice of repertoire written so long ago by composers who no longer walk the earth? Look deep into the music, however, and one will find within it a vitality that is ripe for the harvest. This vitality is[…]

Read More
1
Grand Rapids Symphony’s Music for Health Program
2
Baltimore’s Adult Camp
3
Saving the Hartford Symphony
4
Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society Turns 200
5
Lincoln Portrait and the Fourth of July
6
The End of Work?
7
Some thoughts on Hartford
8
Optimism in Omaha
9
Are You a Musical Code-Switcher?
10
Hidden Messages: New Vintage Baroque’s Second Season