Well…the thread is calming down. With its flood of comments. See my previous posts -- I complain that orchestra photos are very bad, and then, in response to comments, I post two installments of better ones, suggested by readers, here and here.  But I do want to show some other photos readers sent me, or led me to. On Facebook, Julian Day, a composer and radio producer I met in Australia, said the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, a period instrument group, has lively photos. For instance: And Julian seconded my thought, in … [Read more...]

So many thanks to people who commented on my last post! I complained about boring photos of orchestras in that post, and several people offered links to better ones. What I'm going to do now is pass on those links, along with some photos, and ask what people think. Are these photos improvements? How, why? Or how could they be better? I'll save any thoughts I might have for later. Right now, I want your opinion! I'll do this in two or three posts. Here's a start: Robbie Ellis mentioned an orchestra he's been involved with, as composer … [Read more...]

A footnote -- or an intermezzo -- in the midst of what I've been saying about how orchestras should talk about themselves. (Here and here.) Whenever I do a post, I look for an image, to give the page at least a little sizzle. So to find one for my last post, I Googled "orchestra," and clicked on "images." The results were ghastly. Utterly boring. Pointless. And these  (most, if not all) are official photos released by the orchestra managements. What's the point of them? What do they tell us? An orchestra is made up of musicians, … [Read more...]

Not so long ago, I happened to have dinner with a businessman -- CEO of his not so small company -- who'd been asked to join the board of his local orchestra. His take on the orchestra business, speaking as a businessman: All American orchestras seem to do more or less the same thing, and all of them are in trouble. Therefore the business model doesn't work. Seems simple enough. And a lot of people would agree. But what's being done to change the business model? My suggestion to this man, assuming he did join the board: First make sure … [Read more...]