Search Results for: shostakovich in south dakota

The Creekside Singers performing with the South Dakota Symphony “There’s just a tremendous amount of caution, a tremendous amount of groupthink, in the orchestra world. So to see an orchestra really out on its own, forging its own identity, and bringing its audience along with it is just extremely impressive – even more impressive than I anticipated.” That’s Alex Ross, … [Read more...] about “Drastically revising our idea of who a music director is” — The South Dakota Symphony on NPR

There was a time – the 1990s, when I was running the Brooklyn Philharmonic at BAM – when the practice of speaking from the stage at symphonic concerts was controversial, both among audiences and orchestra leaders. And people debated whether or not thematic programing was a good thing.  Those days are finally over. But the next step – fundamentally re-thinking the … [Read more...] about Re-Thinking the Concert Experience in South Dakota and Minnesota

Since 2010 I have administered Music Unwound, a national consortium of orchestras and educational institutions funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. I assume that Music Unwound no longer exists – nor does more than $150,000 in Congressionally approved MU funding as yet unspent. To my knowledge, there has been no formal notification. The forces in play are … [Read more...] about R. I. P. : Music Unwound (2010-2025)

I’ve received three memorable responses to my recent blog – also posted on Arts Fuse -- pondering whether the Kennedy Center might become, or might have become, a genuine “national cultural center.” The first, from a prominent arts administrator in mid-America, simply reads: “It all comes down to leadership.” The second, from Douglas McLennan of ArtsJournal, concludes: … [Read more...] about What Might the Kennedy Center Best Become — Take Two

The decline in orchestral performance continues apace. A specimen: The main theme of the sublime pas de deux from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker is  a descending G major scale introduced by the cellos, then repeated in response by the first violins. I recently heard a performance by an American orchestra whose principal cellist is venerable. His section took ownership of … [Read more...] about The World’s Greatest Orchestra — Its Significance Then and Now