{"id":1065,"date":"2005-03-11T08:54:22","date_gmt":"2005-03-11T16:54:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp\/2005\/03\/separate_unequal_the_usual_tri\/"},"modified":"2005-03-11T08:54:22","modified_gmt":"2005-03-11T16:54:22","slug":"separate_unequal_the_usual_tri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/2005\/03\/separate_unequal_the_usual_tri.html","title":{"rendered":"SEPARATE, UNEQUAL: THE USUAL TRICKS"},"content":{"rendered":"

The classical music editor of The New York Times, James Oestreich, has backed out of this
\nafternoon’s WNYC Public Radio Soundcheck<\/FONT><\/B><\/A> broadcast, “The Naked Nexus of Music and
\nPolitics,” about the Vienna Philharmonic’s discrimination against women and minorities. He was
\nscheduled to discuss the issue with composer Bill Osborne and musician Abbie Conant (below),
\noutspoken, longtime, feminist critics of the VPo.
\n

<\/P>
\n

<\/A>Oestreich, who is an apologist for the orchestra in my view, suddenly
\ncancelled his appearance, claiming he had another appointment. Meantime, a VPo spokesman has
\ntold the program’s producer that he would only appear in a separate segment when Conant and
\nOsborne were not present. Such high-handed treatment apparently comes as no surprise to
\nOsborne. “We face this kind of ostracism all the time in Germany,” he says. “Our advocacy for
\nwomen in music is the cause.”<\/P>
\n

It’s unclear who will represent the orchestra to defend its exclusionary practices. Although its
\nhiring policy was officially revised under political pressure stirred up by Osborne and others
\nseveral years ago, it has paid little more than lip service to the revision ever since. Nor is it clear
\nwhether Soundcheck has agreed to go along with the VPo’s stipulation of separate appearances
\non the program. Soundcheck’s Web site merely says, “We’ll also speak with a current member of
\nthe orchestra.”<\/P>
\n

I’ve messaged the producer and am waiting to hear back. Soundcheck, hosted by John Schaeffer<\/B><\/FONT><\/STRONG><\/A>, airs at FM 93.9 on weekdays
\nfrom 2 to 3 p.m. in the New York region. Today’s program will also be streamed live here<\/FONT><\/B><\/A> during the broadcast. (For some
\nbackground about the issues and Osborne’s Internet activism, go here: “Taking on the Vienna Philharmonic.”<\/FONT><\/B><\/A>) Another segment is
\nto feature a discussion about music and politics at the China Philharmonic.<\/P>
\n

Sidenote:<\/B> The concluding chapter of Malcolm (“The Tipping Point”) Gladwell’s
\ncurrent No. 1<\/FONT><\/B><\/A> best seller, “Blink,”<\/FONT><\/B><\/A> is devoted to Abbie Conant’s amazing history at the
\nMunich Philharmonic. Using it to clinch the book’s central point about intuitive vs. rigid or
\nconventional thinking, Gladwell tells how she won a blind audition for principal (solo) trombone,
\nthe audition committee’s shock on learning a woman was the winner, the orchestra’s subsequent
\nefforts to get rid of her, and an extraordinary legal battle lasting years, which she also won after
\nbeing demoted in rank. (“You know the problem,” the Munich Phil’s music director told her. “We
\nneed a man for the solo trombone.”)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The classical music editor of The New York Times, James Oestreich, has backed out of this afternoon’s WNYC Public Radio Soundcheck broadcast, “The Naked Nexus of Music and Politics,” about the Vienna Philharmonic’s discrimination against women and minorities. He was scheduled to discuss the issue with composer Bill Osborne and musician Abbie Conant (below), outspoken, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1065","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbvgEs-hb","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1065\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}