Moneyball meets the Mellonball!

So a hot blow in Miami meets a cold blast in Denver as two completely different orchestras try out two models for attracting audiences.  There are huge differences between the future plans for the New World Symphony and the Colorado Symphony, not the least of which is the fact that in Miami they are using someone else’s money and are not taking any risks, whereas in Colorado they are risking it all!….

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Swimming Upstream with Sandow….

Firstly Greg Sandow is one of the first bloggers I started to read regularly, and I still do.  I have met him, I admire him and respect him greatly.  I think his recent post though about relevance doesn’t take an important thing into account, which is that a determination of what is relevant is not really our call to make….that belongs to our audiences and our communities….

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Build a Bridge, NOT a Lighthouse!

It occurs to me that the state of the economy seems to shift only incrementally either way, yet orchestras continue to hope that innovation and drastic action will let the good times roll.  We may be stuck with the current economic conditions for years to come, and unless we have a multi billion dollar angel of mercy, we have to deal and invest with REALITY and not throw money away on hope….

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A little help here!!!!!!

The full force of the reality of Orchestra bankruptcy arrived in a simple letter informing me that I was being let go as Principal Pops Conductor of the Syracuse Symphony.  Then I  realized nearly 100 people received this letter and the organization I had worked with for nearly a decade was about to cease to exist.  The cost of a city losing an orchestra is immeasurable and losing the brilliant musicians who were excellent every day and are now out of work, is simply unacceptable.   I have a simple request…..

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Here we go chasing our tails from Detroit to Duluth…..

There is always a hyperventilating that takes place when the so called “model” is challenged and why is it that Orchestras live in the extreme?  When there are problems everything an orchestra does has to change, and when there are not, let’s spend spend spend,  and ignore any impending problems.  I cannot over emphasize enough that spending whenever we do it is never the answer, we would be all well served re-reading the Knight Foundation Magic of Music report (linked below).  What is the answer?….

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