All Entries Tagged With: "Challenge=Opp"

And Now for Something Completely Different….

So two weeks ago was the 40th anniversary of Monty Python’s Flying Circus first broadcast hence the title, but I have also been thinking  about the way orchestras typically go about searching for a Music Director and if this process needs to be done in a very different and more forward thinking way.  I believe [...]

Sometimes you just have to say “Yes”…

This has been the summer of my discontent. Practically the only thing that hasn’t gone wrong is that my wife didn’t file for divorce and neither of my children ran away to the circus. We need to get away. Enter the Zulu nation…

Is it time for the Revolution?

Newsflash – Endowments are down the toilet; Arts orgs. are laying off people at record pace; donations are down; the NYCity Opera got sold a bag of rotten turnips; ponzi scheems are playing havoc with donors; orchestras/dnace companies/opera companies/etc. are folding ……… Folks, is it time for the next Revolution?

Plugging the Holes before Filling the Barrel (2009) – When Blank Checks Have No Value!

With hand wringing over empty seats and the “papering” arts organizations do to make a hall look respectable, the phrase “not worth the paper it’s written on” comes to mind.  There is a golden opportunity to empower the audience to help recruit new audience members with a free ticket and/or referral program…..

ConnectiCUTS Deep and both ways! An Irreversable Immolation!

A famous incident took place in a performance of Tosca when Maria Callas drew blood from Tito Gobbi when the retractable knife didn’t cooperate (it was only a minor injury). In another performance (in the same scene) Callas getting too close to the candles set her hair on fire, only to be rescued by [...]

Dear President Obama…..

Congratulations….to us!  So many have tried to define you, to put you in a box so that they may find it easy to corner you, and yet you surprise all of us at every turn….

Dear Mr. President…

Dear Mr. President…….. First, let me tell you how delighted I am to be able to say those words.

Challenge = Opportunity: Becoming Well Endowed!

Charleston, Virginia, Winston Salem, St Louis, Orlando Ballet, San Francisco Opera, plus many more organizations we don’t know about have financial issues!  Millions of dollars have been wiped off endowment balance sheets.  These are not rainy day funds, we all tap our endowment interest every year to help defray operating costs and shortfalls.  So now [...]

Future Shock…

This is the first in a series of postings about one musician’s desire to bring Classical Music back to the People, by whatever means necessary…
Are you depressed yet?  It seems like every time you turn around there is another article about this orchestra cutting costs, that orchestra cutting concerts, the other orchestra in the red, [...]

Waving the Magic Wand

A pop survey -

What is the most common gripe among orchestra players?

In my experience it’s “Boy, this conductor sucks!”  I have heard it from several angles, including from inside the orchestra (I spent many years playing Orchestral Keyboards, probably the performance opportunity I miss most with having a conducting career) and from when I’m on [...]