Not that there’s anything wrong with that!

What is it all coming to?  The recession is forcing even major arts organizations to …..gulp……actually program what the audiences want to hear and see!  Now what’s that I hear, the big 3 automakers need to build cars that people want to drive!  I guess newspapers need to start writing what people want to read!  In the immortal words of R.E.M:

It’s the end of the world as we know it…..

Let’s hope so, at least for the arts world!….

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For Whom the Bellevue Tolls

Occasionally one runs across an article about goings-on at another orchestra that just makes you scratch your head.  I hadn’t even had the chance to sip my tea this morning before this article about the Bellevue Philharmonic caught my eye. I’m damn glad I don’t have a bad dandruff problem because with the amount of scratching this one is going to produce I’d need a frontloader to unearth my way to the bathroom.

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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 the podium (word of advice to young conductors – just because you hear something that doesn’t mean you have to listen to it; you are out there to do job and you have to have a thick skin).  And speaking of young conductors –

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Caveat Emptor!!!

Conductors are like reverse ostriches.  We are constantly popping our heads up out of the sand, looking around, and trying to determine what orchestras are coming available, who’s looking for a new Music Director.  We want that next job, the next claim to fame, etc.  Buried deep on the New York Times website I noticed a little ditty.  It seems that an orchestra that I am familiar with is parting ways with their M.D.  Perhaps I should…….

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Go West Redux…

Here I am again on the West coast where for some reason my sleep disorders love to haunt me.  This weekend I participate in a series called Inside The Score with the Oregon Philharmonic.  You know the gig – pick a big piece of music, talk about it, play it, go drinking.  It’s Brahms Symphony #1 on the docket.  But something else has caught my ear and my eye this weekend.  Portland is one of those towns where there’s a whole lot of other stuff going on.

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Field Dressing the Arts

By this time I would expect anyone who doesn’t live in what is the Last Bastion of Civilized Man in America – AKA the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul – to be utterly tired of my relentless promotion of this area.  Those who are indeed tired might want to skip over this post.

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The Aftermath….

Now that the election is finally over, it would seem a good time to reflect on what the election of Barack Obama to the highest office in the land means for those of us in the Arts, as well as what it may mean for the rest of American society and our position in the world today.

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The Coming Storm

More fabulous news on the Arts front – from the daily updates from organizations around the U.S. that suddenly they’re looking at multi-million dollar deficits due to the worsening economy (muchas gracias, Señor Bush!) to the wonderful news that even the government of that bastion of Liberalism – Australia – has lost it’s collective mind.  One wonders if you should start building the bomb shelter.

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