A reader -- Tom Lowderbaugh -- e-mailed to support what I'd said about the Caramoor press release. His marvelous e-mail put it all better than I knew how to. Here, with his permission, is what he wrote: Your comments on the Caramoor release are entirely on target. Why - in God's name - would any reporter or editor reading that release want to learn more? Or feel a need to read more? This release contains exactly the kind of useless language that George Orwell condemned more than half a century ago. (Granted, Orwell … [Read more...]

Drew McManus has, all this month, been running things from a delightful assortment of people about taking a friend to an orchestra. This is in his blog, of course. I should have mentioned it, but May has been a crazy month for me, and I've barely done my own blog at all. But I'm back now, and I want to give Drew a plug. Besides, my own contribution is now up, so I'm remembering to plug it, as well. (I'm amazed at how often I forget to mention things I've written, or things I'm doing.) I'm afraid my thoughts for Drew were about why people … [Read more...]

So I just made all this fuss (below) about a press release for Caramoor. Someone may very well say, “Well, sure, the press release might not be very good, but does that really matter? How many people read it? The public doesn’t see it!”   And of course that’s right. The public doesn’t see the empty press material that so many classical music institutions send out. But the same kind of language also shows up in season brochures and advertising, which the public does see. So it’s good to root it out wherever it is. … [Read more...]

I've commented here from time to time on bad press releases, but here's one that makes me lose my patience. It arrived as an e-mail today: Hello, Caramoor International Music Festival’s 60th anniversary season begins on June 25th at 7 p.m. with Ode to Joy,  a joyous musical celebration featuring Beethoven’s immortal Ninth Symphony in the Venetian Theater. Artistic Advisor and Principal Conductor Peter Oundjian leads the all-Beethoven program featuring the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and The Collegiate Chorale, with Janice … [Read more...]

Life has been rich, full, and exhausting. I've neglected the blog, for which I apologize (and also for not being able, yet, to answer some of the terrific e-mail I've been getting). But a lot of good things have been happening. My students at Juilliard have done some astounding stuff, which I want to share here -- presentations about works in their repertoire, aimed at people who don't go to classical concerts, and plans for concerts to appeal to this new audience. My students just blew me away with their ideas, and their feelings. If the … [Read more...]