Category - Uncategorized

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What Opera Needs is More Drums
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A Wizard experiment in Oz
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Of business models and the breakage thereof
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Changing US Demographics and Classical Music
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From under a rock emerges A Strategy
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iWHAT?!
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Dept. of Homeland Obviousness update
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Honolulu Symphony files for moral bankruptcy
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Musicians Business Challenge—A Highly Competitive and Large Talent Pool
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Yet more trouble for Honolulu

A Wizard experiment in Oz

An orchestra in Australia is doing some interesting things in terms of trying to sell tickets: apparently they don’t: [Orchestra Victoria’s] evolution has made it unique in Australia. It was established as a theatre orchestra by the Elizabethan Trust in 1969 but while its Sydney counterpart, the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, spends all its[…]

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Of business models and the breakage thereof

Every crisis creates its own buzz phrases. Hurricane Lehmann and the resulting economic meltdown has created a suitably scary one for our industry, and I’m hearing it more and more: “the model is broken.” The latest manifestation is an article by Michael Kaiser, president of the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, on the Huffington Post[…]

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Changing US Demographics and Classical Music

Here’s a personal observation and some thoughts. When my wife and I visited the Netherlands a couple of years ago we were fortunate, at Judy’s persistence, to get tickets to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. We started a couple of months early trying to book tickets online, but they were “sold out.” Knowing that[…]

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From under a rock emerges A Strategy

The announcement on Friday of the previous weeks’ vote by the Honolulu Symphony board to file for bankruptcy included this charming piece of thinking: “Given its current and projected financial status, the Society cannot continue to sustain a 64-piece orchestra,” Mechling said. “We cannot continue with business as usual”… “In order to do this we[…]

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iWHAT?!

A recent post by David Pogue on his NYT blog highlighted some medically-oriented iPhone apps. Though not designed with musicians in mind, this free app might be very helpful to musicians of all kinds in monitoring the state of their hearing: uHear™ is a unique hearing loss screening test application available for download to the[…]

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Dept. of Homeland Obviousness update

If the person who wrote the headline for this article went to J-school, they should get a complete refund on their tuition: Honolulu Symphony Bankruptcy Disturbs Musicians Musicians Fear Uncertain Future HONOLULU — News of the Honolulu Symphony’s bankruptcy announcement is sending shock waves through the community.

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Honolulu Symphony files for moral bankruptcy

The truly shocking part of this announcement is the fourth paragraph (italicized): The Honolulu Symphony Society Board of Directors announced on Friday that it has decided to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The announcement comes after more than a week of uncertainty. The chairman of the Honolulu Symphony’s board of directors told KITV, that as[…]

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Musicians Business Challenge—A Highly Competitive and Large Talent Pool

OK, so we all agree that it’s tough out there in the real world. Nobody argues with that, but we don’t let it get in our way. Successful people in music are drawn to the music itself. It may sound corny but music and performance can be very addictive. The music profession calls us, and[…]

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Yet more trouble for Honolulu

Things look bleak in Honolulu, even after a $1.8 million gift in September: The chairman of the Honolulu Symphony’s board of directors told KITV on Wednesday, that as of last Friday, the symphony did not have enough money to make its payroll. Peter Shaindlin said he hopes to make an announcement about the symphony’s future[…]

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