Adaptistration

Okay, Okay, Okay, I'll Write About Muti

Riccardo Muti is scheduled to take over the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 2010 and the cultural blogosphere is abuzz with commentary and since I don't want to get another 40 odd email messages asking why I haven't written anything about yet I decided to finally weigh-in. Frankly, I'm not certain why there is so much chatter since the whole scenario is relatively cut and dry. Most of the discussion centers on three primary points, all of which can be addressed with bite-sized answers…

The Gig After Gas Online Calculator

If you haven't had the time to read Jason Heath's April 14, 2008 post at Arts Addict then you're missing out. In the post Jason examines the impact of rising gasoline prices on gig musicians, such as those who frequent the ranks of Freeway Philharmonics across the country. Jason goes so far as to itemize travel related expenses to illustrate how much these musicians actually retain after paying increased fuel costs. Jason's conclusion is that it is best for gig players to work close to home as much as possible but I began wondering how many musicians actually take the time to conduct a thorough examination to determine gig profitability. As such, I decided to build an online interactive computation application musicians can use to accurately measure a gig's economic value, or in English: the Gig After Gas Online Calculator…

Calling All Composers!

The American Music Center and American Composers Forum have put together a comprehensive survey with the goal of gathering current data about contemporary composers. Unlike other studies which recently hit the classical music business, I sincerely feel that this study aims to be purely quantitative and will use the raw data to design programs and strategic goals that will best serve their constituents.

As such, if you are a composer or know one who should complete this study, then continue to read the programs s official announcement and follow (or forward) a link to the survey...

On The Scene Reporting From Montreal

No, I'm not at Montreal today to cover the CBC protests (although it would be nice to take at trip) but Adaptistration readers will get an on the scene report from one of the protest event organizers, Alexandra Fol. Alexandra. a Bulgarian-born composer who moved to Canada because of what she described as "its known commitment to concert music" is also the admin for the Save the CBC Radio Orchestra! group at Facebook.com. I spoke with Alexandra  at 12:00 noon ET this afternoon  for a few minutes as the protesters were getting set up for their demonstration. Here's  the audio from that conversation:

Barring any technical or weather related difficulties, you'll find some photos and video from the event too. Regardless of the outcome, it will be as close to live coverage as we're going to get...

“Don't let Canada become the wasteland that is the Americas”

Today's title is an excerpt from a reader comment protesting the decision by CBC Radio to disband the CBC Radio Orchestra after November, 2008. Although it's heartening to read such a passionate reaction in response to eliminating a professional orchestra, I'm not certain if an appropriate response to the comment, as a citizen of the aforementioned wasteland, is "glad we could help" or "go to hell." Passionate rhetoric aside, the 4/1/2008 edition of CBCNews.ca published an article entitled Protesters demand CBC Radio Orchestra be saved which reports on a live demonstration by approximately 150 protesters demanding that CBC Radio rescind its decision to eliminate the CBC Radio Orchestra…

Flanagan, Shreveport, And The CBC Radio Orchestra

It is only Tuesday but there are a number of items worth pointing out and we'll start up north and work our down. First, moments after the news that the CBC Radio Orchestras was going to be disbanded was announced, social networking groups centered on saving the orchestra started springing up. Save the CBC Radio Orchestra! group at facebook.com is more than 3,300 members strong and public demonstrations are being organized as well. TAFTO 2008 contributor and author of The Collaborative Piano Blog, Chris Foley, is doing an excellent job at detailing these events and more…

An Orchestra Vanishes

The CBC Radio Orchestra is being disbanded at the end of November, 2008. The Globe and Mail reported the announcement late this evening. According to the paper, CBC spokesperson Jeff Keay was quoted saying "Really, it's straight up a case of economics…We couldn't afford to maintain the orchestra." Nevertheless, the paper reports that Keay "maintains the CBC will save no money with this move." With economic sense like that, it is a wonder the orchestra made it this far. A sad day for Canada and all of North America culture. More on this next week.

Create The Market

I ran across an interesting blog post at evancarmichael.com about Akio Morita, founder of Sony. Within a series of installments that chronicle the growth of Morita's company, there is one post called "Create the Market Where There Is None." The article goes on to examine some specific components where Sony profited by focusing on creating a market as opposed to meeting a perceived demand and although those examples don't necessarily apply to the business of creating live orchestra classical music, the strategic thinking behind those ideas fit like a glove…

A Commanding Grasp Of The Obvious

Ever since it released earlier this week, the topic of The Economic Environment of American Symphony Orchestras by Robert Flanagan occupies a good 30% of my incoming email. Admittedly, I'm only about half way through the report and won't post anything comprehensive until I'm finished reading it. Nevertheless, after some good advice from more than a few sources, it made sense to post a little something about it here today. If you've seen the report, you likely already know it doesn't contain anything earth shattering. The only positive aspect I've noticed in what I've read is the report's commanding grasp of the obvious. In fact, if I didn't know better I'd swear it was produced by the U.S. government (empty seats are bad, m'kay?). I suspect I'll finish the report over the weekend and have something up later next week. In the meantime, I invite anyone who has read the report to post your observations.

NyPhil Poll Results

Last Friday's New York Philharmonic poll generated some interesting data, although not so much in the final results as the change in responses ratios throughout the voting period…

Some Additional Thoughts About The NYPhil In North Korea

I'm writing this just after finishing up yesterday's radio appearance at WNYC's Soundcheck and I wanted to get some additional thoughts out before they become blurred by the rest of my day. First off, many thanks to the staff at Soundcheck for inviting me to take part in the discussion; it was a sincere honor to talk about such a momentous event in a live, national forum. Additional thanks to Norman Lebrecht, who is someone I respect have always maintained a good relationship with. It is never a dull conversation when Norman's involved. Immediately after the segment concluded, the first thought that popped into my head was about the overriding point that Norman and other fine minds such as Terry Teachout have made which is a despot like Kim Jun Il are just using the New York Philharmonic to advance their despotic rule. Yes, bad people will do bad things but that shouldn't prevent good people from doing good things...

A Conductor’s View Of The Orchestra: Junichi Hirokami

Given the fact that the Columbus Symphony Orchestra is currently considering drastic cuts to the organization's budget and numbers of full time musicians, it is poignant to hear about how the orchestra's Music Director, Junichi Hirokami, feels about the musicians and the musical product they produce. It also provides some insight as to why he has publicly stated that any downsizing of the orchestra would be 'catastrophic'. By chance Hirokami had a business meeting with Mr. Tamotsu Shinotsuka, the Consul General of Japan from Detroit, on the same day the Columbus Symphony board of director's announced a proposed 25 percent budget reduction. The following is a transcription of Hirokami's description of what an orchestra is and how the musicians and conductor function within that environment…

It’s Time For Some Cross-Blogging

One of the most appealing aspects of blogging is the ability to riff on an idea or topic initiated by a blogging colleague. To a large extent, that's one of the reasons Inside The Arts was established. Locating several cultural blogs in closely aligned fields of performing arts at one hub will hopefully increase the likelihood of cross-blogging discussions. Ideally, cross-blogging topics will gain enough mass to attract some of the other heavenly bodies in the greater cultural blogging universe. Consequently, I wanted to take a post to weigh in on some of the fascinating topics making the rounds through my Inside The Arts blogging neighbors…

What Bill Said…

Bill Eddins posted a great piece yesterday at Sticks and Drones about the New York Philharmonic's decision to perform in North Korea. In a way that is so uniquely "Bill", he made a number of points that demonstrate the value of Occam's razor in examining seemingly complex issues…

Walking In Eyes Wide Open

The Partial Observer published an article today by Holly Mulcahy which examines how aspiring musicians learn about their desired career path. More to the point, she talks about how high school and undergraduate students don’t learn enough about the realities of becoming a professional musician unless they are fortunate enough to encounter a private teacher or other professor who assumes the responsibility for laying it all out there…

Tangentially Related

Although the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike isn’t directly related to the orchestra business, the core issue they are striking over is. At the heart of the matter is what sort of share will writers get of revenue from new media. In this business the revenues simply haven’t been large enough to necessitate any serious considerations by any players’ association or management to induce a work stoppage but in Hollywood, it is a different story…

Wag The Dog

A variation on a classic joke: Which came first, the grant or the program? A groaner for sure but an unfortunate reality for too many orchestras. The simple fact is that funding sources are limited and as a result, orchestras will design programs based more on grant guidelines than institutional vision…

Wanted: A Messiah In Cincinnati

The 11/4/2007 edition of the Cincinnati Enquirer published an article by Janelle Gelfand which took a hard look at the ongoing process to find a new Dean for the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). The revealing article examines the challenges and outlines the critical value in filling this position with the right person…

Confusing The Issues

Much has been written throughout the blogosphere since The New Republic published Richard Taruskin’s 12,000 word narrative entitled Books: The Musical Mystique - Defending classical music against its devotees. I’ll come right out and admit that I have not read the entire work, which if written for different genre would classify as a beefy short story, but based on what others are writing it seems that the issues from Richard’s article are getting confused with an entirely separate discussion…

Yep, Video Games Are Still Big For Classical Music

Just in case anyone was thinking that the value of promoting classical music in video games was a passing fancy, the video game business recently sent a big reminder in the promotional material for what will likely be one of the largest grossing video games of this decade, Halo 3...

Thinking About Salary Levels In Five-Quarter Time

Yesterday's article exploring the highest paid seven orchestras generated a great deal of private email, most of which focused on whether or not there were any other salary peer groups among professional orchestras...

An Extended Look At Top-Tier Musician Compensation

As several of the larger budget orchestras have successfully completed collective bargaining agreement negotiations, it is high time to take a look at how the minimum base musician compensation in those ensembles has evolved over the past several years. When examining compensation data as far back as 1999-2000 season is examined, some intriguing patterns begin to take shape...

Full Of Sound And Fury, Signifying Nothing

Much has been written throughout the blogosphere about last weekend's New York Times article by Stephanie Strom on the merits of certain charitable deductions. Frankly, I'm surprised the piece garnered that much attention as it seems more to do with the typical class-warfare nonsense associated with national elections than anything having to do with the inherent value of charitable giving...

All About Potential Part 2

Continuing where we left off from Part 1, today's installment will examine the final three ensembles which have in them the ability to do great things by the 2013/2014 season as well as a few which came close but ultimately not close enough...

All About Potential Part 1

Even though the business of professional symphonic orchestras has taken a prolonged beating (hang on, we're not off the bumpy road quite yet) that doesn't mean opportunity and potential have gone the way of the dodo. In fact, several symphonic orchestra organizations are in just the right place at the right time to accomplish truly great things.

As such, I've compiled a list of seven orchestras which have in them the ability to do great things by the 2013/2014 season. If even a few of them are able to realize this potential, they will become the new benchmark for American cultural success and if all of them succeed then you can expect the entire business to change the way it measures accomplishment...

Mock Negotiations: Contrasts & Comparisons

After completing the mock negotiation session with the MBA students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Bolz Center for Arts Administration program, my mind wandered into contrast and comparison mode and I began to think about what just transpired with the UW-Madison students and how music performance students from the Eastman School of Music responded to a similar mock negotiation session I conducted with them in 2004...

UW-Madison Mock Negotiation Reflections Part 2

Continuing where things left off in Part 1, the MBA students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Bolz Center for Arts Administration program were serving as the orchestra musician negotiation committee in a mock collective bargaining agreement negotiation. After receiving some very bad news about their fictional orchestra's financial conditions and a subsequent initial proposal from the management to reduce overall expenditures by 35%, the students on the negotiating committee refused to submit a counter-offer based on what they identified as gross mismanagement...

UW-Madison Mock Negotiation Reflections Part 1

There's nothing quite like looking at the business from a different perspective. Even more stimulating is when those perspectives come to you from unexpected sources. Such was the case with the mock orchestra collective bargaining agreement negotiations I conducted with the MBA students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Bolz Center for Arts Administration program...

Loss Of Momentum

Among all of the gloom and doom talk mixed in with sunshine and rainbows there's an important conversation that doesn't get the attention it deserves in this industry.  I'm talking about the loss of momentum concerning fundraising on the board level.