All Entries Tagged With: "audience reaction"
Quick Takes: Putting your mouth where the money is!
We have all heard it word of mouth is the best form of advertising, and who would doubt it? Problem is it is both hard to quantify and to come up with data to prove its effectiveness, or so I thought……
Quick Takes: What is Success?
The word success is defined for many in the performing arts as the accomplishing of a personal goal, to be continuously engaged, to reach higher positions, to be critically acclaimed and all of the above. Is it really success when it is only about ourselves? Is success not something that also given from [...]
Dancing Maestros on the Jumbotron……
In a “review” by Lawrence Johnson, he ranted about the use of the Jumbotrons at the Ravinia festival. OK I can see that there might be some who want the “traditional” experience, but the setting is far from traditional in the concert going sense, accessibility is something that needs to be taken into consideration and [...]
Response to Joe: Bursting the Programming Bubble…on the road again!
Joe over on Butts in Seats challenged our blogging community regarding programming and Bill as usual hit a slam dunk. My take is that we place too much faith in programming as being the answer to our woes when the real problems lie in the attitudes and motivations behind the programming. This notion we have [...]
The New Golden Age – Defending the Jury pt. 2
With so much attention being paid to Tsujii (including from me) I wanted to be sure to not overlook the other gold medalist Haochen Zhang, his extraordinary ability and unbelievable upside potential. If not breaking barriers like Tsujii he certainly dispelled a myth and if some feel that the jury took a chance with him, [...]
Cliburn: Striking Human Gold! – Defending the Jury part 1
There are so many things people are hoping for in the winner of the Cliburn. Every 4 years this veritable Piano Olympiad usually picks a winner who possesses pure virtuosity, stage presence and superb musicianship. Expectations are high for the Pianists and the pressure is intense to say the least. This year was different and [...]
Cliburn Soundoff! – It’s OVER – wrap with James and wild closing!
I wanted to post Monday, but it was such a blur! For the final post from this year’s Cliburn, I post the final two parts of my conversation with James Conlon, and I edited a two part audio clip of the closing ceremony complete with wild (and very frank) opinions, Van speaking, the awarding of [...]
Cliburn Soundoff! – Conlon Pt.3/Comparison/FWSO/Tsujii speaks/Cliburn trail
Today is the big day, one more recital and two more concertos, and then the big announcement! Bob Schieffer will speak at the closing ceremony and then off to the Worthington for the party! Today James Conlon talks about the growth of the competitors throughout the week (mentions some surprises), I compare the same excerpts [...]
Cliburn Soundoff! – Vacatello/Son/Rodzinski/Tsujii/Conlon/Bozhanov – Audio
From the Cliburn, more from my chat with Richard focusing on how new media can affect an artist’s performance, candid clips from 4 of the finalists including a couple of excerpts from their 1 on 1 rehearsals with James Conlon who arrived yesterday plus an interesting clip with finalist Yeol Eum Son and Cliburn general [...]
Plugging the Holes before Filling the Barrel (2009) – Opposite World!…..
Two articles jumped out at me over the weekend. Both reminded me of the constant tail chasing that goes on in the arts world. Sometimes we get so far behind our audience’s needs, that we end up doing either what we should have been doing all along but a little too late, or the opposite [...]
Be A…part?
There is constant debate on what relationship an artist needs to have with their audience, and whether there needs to be one at all! I mean who needs ticket sales, donations or any audience at all really? Oh yeah, ALL OF US, not to mention what does the audience need?… I need to get something [...]
To bring back a memory is greater than any compliment….
As a music director I believe that my position is one of privilege more than one of power. The true power lies in the opportunity to uplift and to lift up through the music we perform. All of us at one time or another wait for a letter, message or email to let us know [...]


