Friday, October 19, 2012

Saving American Symphony Orchestras

From Forbes Magazine (January 2012).

http://www.forbes.com/sites/tedgavin/2012/01/18/saving-american-symphony-orchestras-in-four-movements-2/


1 comment:

  1. Thank you for posting this article. I understand what they are saying but if musicians are only paid by concert how are they supposed to make a living? I can see why having the orchestra paid weekly also does give the flexibility to do what the article says is wasteful, as in playing a small piece followed by a huge piece.

    It would be interesting to know what concerts really sell and which don't other than the obvious guests and choral works. I've also always wondered why they don't play more in the summer aside from Verizon which didn't work out for the orchestra to play.

    I remember reading in one of Stanley's interviews
    he thought having an 11:00am concert for elderly patrons would be great. I know they had tried that previously. What I don't think they took into consideration is all the elderly people I know, cannot possible be out and about by 11:00am. Now if it was 4:00pm and they would then be out in time for an early dinner, I can see that working. There used to be school concerts, are they still done? I also remember members of the orchestra coming to my school. I went home and told my Mom about it and she started taking me to hear them... seemed like a good way to build an audience to me.

    As much as I'd adore to sit in a new hall, I'd be happy with a renovated hall.... since as far as I know other than new seat cushions has anything ever been done? (OK, they tried to work on the sound a bit)Speaking of sound, seems like getting a real shell would be nice. Since I can't see the new hall being built- but what about WAC with all the rental money - do they only just maintain the basics? Love to know how that all works.

    I'd also like to know how other orchestras work with how much staff vs how many musicians and comparison of salaries plus benefits( the hard part to discover). Doesn't the Board Ok all the salaries of the top management? Seems there would be some questions there as well.... anyway as you can tell, got me thinking!

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