Back

 

I’m back in action, after what I could call a stimulating rest. It’s exhilarating to move into a new house, especially a gorgeous one (if I do say so), which my wife and I helped design. Spacious, comfortable, views on all four sides, with windows everywhere to bring the views to us, plus three decks and two porches…my reward for challenging the sacred cows of the classical music world?

 

Nah. The only cows  I see are the ones in the field across the road. There’s also a fox who comes around (we think she lives with us, because we’ve found what might be her burrow on our property; I think she’s a she because the burrow has been here since at least the fall, and female foxes, or so I’ve read, stay put after their babies grow up, while the males roam). We watch her from our second floor windows, as she sniffs, lopes around easily, stops to scratch herself. She doesn’t know we’re there.

 

As for the future of classical music…

 

I got very flattering e-mail from James Reel, who said that — inspired by my occasional dissection of news stories about institutions’ finances — he’d peered very closely at a recent story about financial success at the Phoenix Symphony. And under his scrutiny, the story seems to fall apart, which is a lot more important than any virtues I might have. Seems like the Phoenix Symphony balanced its budget in its 2005 fiscal year with a lot of help from funding and donations that don’t seem like they can be repeated. So how will the orchestra get by in 2006? You can read James’ analysis here (from his very lively blog at KUAT-FM, southern Arizona’s classical station (James is an announcer there). And you might also want to read his post about the successful chamber music series he helps to run.

 

Thanks, James, for your flattering words, but most of all for everything you write.

 

More coming, including more about the book I’m going to write online.

 

September 15, 2005 2:48 PM |

Categories:

Resources

Age of the Audience 
Conventional wisdom: the classical music audience has always been the age it is now. Reality: It used to be younger -- dramatically younger, in fact. Here's some evidence -- actual texts of old studies, links to NEA studies -- plus my blog posts on this subject. more

earlier resources

Things I like

Frank O'Hara... 
...or rather these lines from one of his poems, quoted today in the New York Times Book Review: more

The Ten-Cent Plague
 
To paraphrase the old quote about the Nazis: "They came for the comic books, but I didn't read comic books..." more

Improvisation Games
 
An inspired book... more

Elektra 1957
 
Seismic recording.  more

Carmen Sings Monk
 
It's piano music, but she'll sing it anyway...
more
more things

About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Sandow published on September 15, 2005 2:48 PM.

Vacation was the previous entry in this blog.

Untapped reality is the next entry in this blog.

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