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Minnepocalypse now.

Coming up on six months of lockouts in Minneapolis and St. Paul, it’s very difficult to think of what else to say or write on this tragic situation, since lots of people way smarter than I have already done so. But since the cliff is fast approaching (or maybe already past), I thought I’d post [...]

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Double Dare

With all the headlines lately regarding labor disputes/lockouts/general malaise in the orchestral world, I’ve had some pretty interesting conversations regarding the general level of management expertise that currently prevails in arts administration. Even so, the latest news from the New Jersey Symphony caught me by surprise.

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Back with the Santa Tracker

Apologies for my absence recently- suffice to say the last two months have not been boring. I’ll be back more often after Jan 1, but I wanted to get a quick post up to wish everyone a great holiday season and a wonderful 2013. If you’re sick of all the doom and gloom in the [...]

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Open Season

As we all remember, last season the Detroit Symphony won the race to the bottom in the labor relations/management incompetence sweepstakes. I’m amazed and very sorry to report that apparently the Minnesota Orchestra has decided Detroit didn’t quite go far enough, and has locked out the musicians for the first time in its 100-year history. With [...]

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New Paradigm?

Possibly. But last week’s news from my own orchestra was certainly a shock to anyone familiar with traditional arts management dogma. As my colleague Robert Levine has noted, this isn’t exactly new thinking, although it may be the first time a major orchestra has rather abruptly propelled one of its musicians into the CEO position. [...]

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Silly season?

The season’s off to a peculiar start as three major institutions negotiate down to the wire (or past it). Despite healthy news from places like Seattle and St. Louis, things are not looking great in Atlanta or Indianapolis.

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Summer of discontent?

Well, not for me. But obviously things have been bumpy at certain orchestras lately, and the press coming from both Minnesota and Atlanta seems to get more and more intriguing. Like today’s piece regarding the Atlanta Symphony.

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Link dump and self-promotion update.

Just a quick post to highlight a few interesting news items and a Kickstarter update. First off, who would imagine that an erotic novel and the Tallis Scholars would have anything in common?

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