Blog

PRJ Center Grant Recipients The Weckmann Project and Musica Nuova Reflect on Their Collaboration

The Weckmann Project and Musica Nuova were joint recipients of a 2014 Paul R. Judy Center for Applied Research grant, which supported our presentation of two staged productions of Heinrich Schutz’s Christmas Oratorio. Nearly 300 audience members joined us on December 6 and 7, 2014 at Zion German Evangelical Lutheran Church in Brooklyn Heights, where[…]

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What Should We Wear Onstage?

As it most likely true in all orchestras, mine has a decided rift amongst the women members in terms of what is appropriate to wear at a Masterworks concert. Being of a certain age, I always wear a floor-length skirt and a fancy top, usually velvet. It irks me to see 20-something women dressed as[…]

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Building Arts Audiences

In the fall of 2014, the Wallace Foundation published a report by market research expert Bob Harlow: The Road to Results: Effective Practices for Building Arts Audiences. The study profiles ten arts organizations that received funding from the Wallace Foundation to develop audience-building initiatives. Among the ten are the Boston Lyric Opera, Minnesota Opera, Pacific[…]

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An Interview with Elaine Douvas, Principal Oboist with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

Last May, as the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra musicians were facing a difficult negotiation, Local 802 published a lovely and insightful interview with Elaine Douvas in Allegro, their monthly newspaper. Bob Pawlo, Local 802 recording rep, asked her many questions that delved into the complex life of a principal player in perhaps the world’s most demanding[…]

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Benjamin Franklin and the Reflective Conservatoire

I recently heard a mordantly humorous new take on Benjamin Franklin’s most famous quote: "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes and the immutability of conservatoires."

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Afa Sadykhly Dworkin to Become President of Sphinx Organization

The Sphinx Organization recently sent out a notice that Afa S. Dworkin will succeed her husband, Aaron Dworkin, as President and Artistic Director of the Spinx Organization on July 20. Aaron Dworkin has been named the new dean of the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre & Dance. According to Board Chair Dr. William[…]

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An El Sistema Controversy

Last November, Dr. Geoffrey Baker, a music lecturer at the University of London’s Royal Holloway College, published a book that is quite critical of the founder of the El Sistema movement in Venezuela, Dr. José Abreu, and the El Sistema program itself. Various reviews of Baker’s book, El Sistema: Orchestrating Venezuela’s Youth (Oxford University Press,[…]

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Aaron Flagg on Breaking the Fourth Wall

In the Fall issue of Symphony magazine, Aaron Flagg describes a concert by the Seattle Symphony during the League’s annual Conference. The concert featured a performance of “Baby Got Back” by rapper Sir Mix-a-Lot; Aaron compares it to the chaos that erupted at the first performance of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. “The Seattle Symphony’s performance[…]

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Senza Sordino Editor Richard Levine: An Editor’s Parting Thoughts

Richard Levine has the distinction (along with the late Henry Shaw) of being the longest-serving editor of Senza Sordino in ICSOM’s history. His thoughts on departing from the post were contained in a long article in the August 2014 edition of the newsletter. Richard has been a friend for a long time, so I will[…]

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What I did on my summer vacation

Quite literally what I did for two weeks last summer.

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1
PRJ Center Grant Recipients The Weckmann Project and Musica Nuova Reflect on Their Collaboration
2
What Should We Wear Onstage?
3
Building Arts Audiences
4
An Interview with Elaine Douvas, Principal Oboist with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
5
Benjamin Franklin and the Reflective Conservatoire
6
Afa Sadykhly Dworkin to Become President of Sphinx Organization
7
An El Sistema Controversy
8
Aaron Flagg on Breaking the Fourth Wall
9
Senza Sordino Editor Richard Levine: An Editor’s Parting Thoughts
10
What I did on my summer vacation