Monday, October 22, 2012

New Realities?

John Ruff sent the latest of several articles from groups or individuals purporting to have a formula for saving America's orchestras. 

 http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/10/18/nilsson/

The article elicited this comment from Larry Wheeler, University of Houston; Former Co-Principal Viola, Minnesota Orchestra ... which I'll quote here:

"The Minnesota Orchestra's recordings of Beethoven symphonies are stunningly good. As an ensemble, they compare favorably to the great Concertgebouw Orchestra. The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra is the finest ensemble of its type in the country. These musicians have fulfilled the job of achieving artistic excellence. In any other job, such excellence would be rewarded. Not so with Minnesota, Saint Paul, and elsewhere. 

If the musicians have done their job, who hasn't? The conductors apparently have. That leaves the management and the board. It is their job to arrange concerts, sell tickets, give money, or get money. Doing so would leave the musicians free to focus on their job, which is to achieve and maintain their art at the highest level possible. 

When musicians pursue the profession, it is done without guarantees, and with overwhelming odds against gaining a top position. Even so, they invest three to six hours of daily practice, in excess of 15 years' training, and large amounts of money on lessons, schools, and instruments. To place the financial responsibility on the musicians by cutting salaries, work weeks, or benefits in order to balance budgets is not only counter-productive, but ethically dishonest. 

Musicians make a pact with society. Having upheld their half, it is time managers and boards uphold theirs." 



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