http://www.artsjournal.com/ontherecord/ Exploring America's orchestras... with Henry Fogel en-US Copyright 2010 Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:51:59 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification http://www.artsjournal.com/ontherecord/2009/10/farewell.html http://www.artsjournal.com/ontherecord/2009/10/farewell.html main Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:51:59 -0500 Earlier this year the National Endowment for the Arts released its 2008 Arts Participation Survey, and the picture it paints is worrisome. The study was done in May, 2008, six months into the recession, and certainly we can draw a conclusion that some of what it tells us was probably affected by the economy. But I think we would be hiding our heads in the sand if we argued that the economy was the sole cause of what looks like a continuing and increasing decline in attendance at all arts events, particularly classical music, in this country. http://www.artsjournal.com/ontherecord/2009/10/declining_arts_participation_a.html http://www.artsjournal.com/ontherecord/2009/10/declining_arts_participation_a.html main Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:12:50 -0500 If you go to symphony concerts in Europe or South America, you see audiences that tend to be more diverse than ours in the United States--more young people, more ethnic diversity, more apparent diversity of economic and demographic background. Since the criticism often leveled at American orchestras is their lack of such diversity, one certainly starts wondering just why it is different here. I was most strongly struck by this in São Paulo, where the São Paulo Symphony plays to almost sold-out audiences night after night and there are enormous numbers of young people--as well as racial and ethnic diversity that an American orchestra manager would die for. But the same tends to be true to a large degree in Amsterdam or Moscow or Hamburg. http://www.artsjournal.com/ontherecord/2009/10/the_case_for_subsidizing_ticke.html http://www.artsjournal.com/ontherecord/2009/10/the_case_for_subsidizing_ticke.html main Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:32:08 -0500
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What do we do when we start getting local pressure for a candidate?
It is shocking to me how often this happens. Sometimes it's a relative, sometimes it's a close friend, sometimes it's a well-meaning person who just loves the work of one conductor and pushes that name over and over again. It is really up to the music director search committee to hold firm, to apply identical standards to all candidates being looked at and discussed, and not to bend those standards just because someone (even a big donor) wants them bent. Once you start down that road, you'll never get off it. If you are involved in a search, you will easily find dozens, maybe hundreds, of people who are 100 percent certain that they know the right next conductor for you. They don't. Only a well-functioning committee that does its homework, and that rigidly applies the same standards to all potential candidates, is going to come up with the right decision. It takes a strong search committee chair, backed by an equally strong board chair, to resist the various pressures that will be applied on behalf of people's favorites.

]]> http://www.artsjournal.com/ontherecord/2009/10/the_music_director_search_inte_1.html http://www.artsjournal.com/ontherecord/2009/10/the_music_director_search_inte_1.html main Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:34:40 -0500 I've written about the subject of music director searches before, but I continue to encounter the same questions when I work with orchestras that are engaged in such searches. So perhaps there is some value in repeating points that were made in earlier blogs. The points covered here apply mainly to American orchestras--the community, education, and fund-raising work required of music directors in the U.S. differs significantly from Europe and other countries--and also for the most part to smaller and mid-sized orchestras. Those orchestras attempting to hire conductors with international careers have to operate in a different market, and while much of what I say here will be relevant, some things will not apply. http://www.artsjournal.com/ontherecord/2009/09/the_music_director_search_resi_1.html http://www.artsjournal.com/ontherecord/2009/09/the_music_director_search_resi_1.html main Fri, 25 Sep 2009 10:28:27 -0500 Recently I went on a spate of listening to recordings of Mozart piano concertos. For about 50 years I have not been able to get enough of them--they seem to me to be Mozart's "operas without words," the highest form of his non-vocal art. The recordings I chose to hear were mainly those I grew up with, and a few others accrued along the way--recordings by Rudolf Serkin, Edwin Fischer, Daniel Barenboim, Alfred Brendel, and Clifford Curzon, among others. http://www.artsjournal.com/ontherecord/2009/09/historically_informed_performa.html http://www.artsjournal.com/ontherecord/2009/09/historically_informed_performa.html main Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:49:57 -0500 http://www.artsjournal.com/ontherecord/2009/09/a_superb_trio_of_russians_aliv.html http://www.artsjournal.com/ontherecord/2009/09/a_superb_trio_of_russians_aliv.html main Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:07:59 -0500 not meant to be background music. It is often not meant to "soothe," should in fact shake you to your roots frequently. But if you look at some of the marketing that is done by the recording industry, even by some orchestras or presenters, you'd think that we were closer to Montovani than Monteverdi.  ]]> http://www.artsjournal.com/ontherecord/2009/09/classical_music_transformative.html http://www.artsjournal.com/ontherecord/2009/09/classical_music_transformative.html main Fri, 04 Sep 2009 13:11:28 -0500 I've written about this subject before, but the older I get the more baffled I am by the wall that seems to exist in this country between symphonic conducting and operatic conducting. It is not necessarily true at the highest level, where conductors operating at both major opera houses and major orchestras are not at all uncommon (James Levine, Andrew Davis, Donald Runnicles). But in smaller and mid-sized communities, there seems to be very little crossover, even in cities that have both an opera company and an orchestra. Furthermore, I have often talked with people involved in music director searches for symphony orchestras--not only lay people, but even orchestra musicians--who have said, "Oh, he's an opera conductor," with a tone of disparagement and an implication that the orchestra wouldn't be interested in him. http://www.artsjournal.com/ontherecord/2009/08/symphonic_and_opera_conducting.html http://www.artsjournal.com/ontherecord/2009/08/symphonic_and_opera_conducting.html main Fri, 28 Aug 2009 10:26:11 -0500 An absolutely delightful compact disc that was issued recently made me wonder whatever happened to the transcription. The disc (Naxos 8.572050) is José Serebrier's second CD with the Bournemouth Symphony of Bach transcriptions, and half of it consists of transcriptions by Leopold Stokowski of music by other composers: Palestrina, Byrd, Boccherini, Haydn, Jeremiah Clarke, and Johann Mattheson. http://www.artsjournal.com/ontherecord/2009/08/whither_the_transcription.html http://www.artsjournal.com/ontherecord/2009/08/whither_the_transcription.html main Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:04:41 -0500 not dead. It is changed. ]]> http://www.artsjournal.com/ontherecord/2009/08/the_classical_recording_indust.html http://www.artsjournal.com/ontherecord/2009/08/the_classical_recording_indust.html main Fri, 14 Aug 2009 11:05:37 -0500 http://www.artsjournal.com/ontherecord/2009/08/language_barriers_foreign_titl.html http://www.artsjournal.com/ontherecord/2009/08/language_barriers_foreign_titl.html main Fri, 07 Aug 2009 10:38:22 -0500
]]> http://www.artsjournal.com/ontherecord/2009/07/a_boards_effectiveness_lies_wi.html http://www.artsjournal.com/ontherecord/2009/07/a_boards_effectiveness_lies_wi.html main Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:21:02 -0500 Last week I wrote to encourage young people with an interest in music, and with a reasonable business head, toward a career in orchestra administration. As a follow-up to that, I write today about the skill-set that is required for success in that profession. This is a question I am often asked, either by search committees seeking an executive director or by young people pursuing a career in orchestra administration. Here are qualities that I believe are essential to success in orchestra management. I hope this will serve those who might be interested in such a career, as well as those search committees who are looking for an executive director. http://www.artsjournal.com/ontherecord/2009/07/essential_skills_of_an_orchest.html http://www.artsjournal.com/ontherecord/2009/07/essential_skills_of_an_orchest.html main Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:21:13 -0500