Archives for 2016

[contextly_auto_sidebar] My spring semester Juilliard course has started — "Classical Music in an Age of Pop," about the future of classical music. And, wow…this is the 20th year I’ve taught it. Which is one way to tell how long the crisis in classical music has been going on. At least 20 years, because if there hadn’t been a thought, back then, that classical music was in trouble, then why would they have invited me to teach the course? Though of course the crisis dates back even earlier. You can read a course overview here, and a … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar] Belatedly, concerning David Bowie… I was very much moved by his final album, Blackstar. Made while he was dying, though no one knew he was. Now we know its subject was his death. It’s dark and powerful. So deeply connected to life, because so deeply entwined with death. There’s nothing quite like it, if only because making an album involves so many people, and is thus a public event. And artists making art about their death — to the extent that art like that ever happens — would normally not do it with so many … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar] Dancing violinist! Pandemonium in the audience! Here's a story from my friend David Snead, formerly Vice President of Marketing, Brand and Customer Experience at the New York Philharmonic. And now President and CEO of the Handel and Haydn Society, the plainly terrific chorus and period instrument orchestra in Boston. David and I were emailing about what classical concerts could be. And in response to something I said, he emailed this: OK, true story.  I was on tour in California with H+H during my first week … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar] So many memories came to me when I read that Pierre Boulez had died. One was something he did when I saw him conduct once at Carnegie Hall. Can’t remember which piece it was. I was sitting fairly far forward in an orchestra seat, so I could see him clearly. At one point, a section of the piece was ending. Boulez led the ending with his right hand. While with his left, he prepared the start of what came next, showing — simultaneously with the right hand — music in a different tempo, with a different time … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar] Happy new year, everyone! And a quick suggestion. If you’re in New York on Thursday, why not join Marketing Chamber Music: A SAVVY Strategy for Success? This is an intensive marketing workshop, created for pre-conference day at the Chamber Music America national conference, and produced by the same people who do the Savvy Musician in Action entrepreneurship workshop every June in South Carolina. I taught in it last year, and wow…a peak experience for me, and just about everyone else, students and faculty alike. … [Read more...]