May 2011
14 posts
1 tag
“The secret of hapiness is this: let your interests be as wide as possible, and...”
– British philosopher Bertrand Russell, via the ever-adventurous and open minds at Best Made. I try to live by this idea in music and in life, and it is a perennial source of disappointment to me that it is so anathema to so many of my colleagues in the orchestra business.
May 29th
48 notes
3 tags
May 27th
3 tags
May 26th
16 notes
2 tags
May 26th
75 notes
2 tags
170 Beastie Boys references explained →
Essential knowledge for any music lover, thoroughly sourced and catalogued by The A.V. Club. [via @swissmiss]
May 24th
3 notes
4 tags
May 18th
2 tags
“Concentrate on the only things that really matter: the music and the people who...”
– Excellent advice for conductors from the venerable Sir Colin Davis, as quoted in a recent Guardian profile by Tom Service. Seems like it should be obvious, right?
May 17th
8 notes
2 tags
Iraqi Youth Orchestra →
Even with all of the challenges facing symphonic organizations today in America I sense that few of us in the orchestra biz stateside have the remotest concept of the difficulties young Iraqi musicians deal with on a daily basis. This Kickstarter project, organized by the previously highlighted Open Goldberg Project, will help fund a unique summer youth orchestra program in Iraq and also document...
May 16th
3 tags
May 16th
5 notes
4 tags
May 11th
70,539 notes
4 tags
May 10th
2 tags
“An interrelationship of elements, a balance, with no one instrument having the...”
– I’ve always felt that the intensely collaborative aspect of orchestral culture is one of things that makes our art so valuable as an educational example for young people, but conductor Daniel Barenboim proves it can be even more powerful as a manifestation of equality and shared enterprise....
May 7th
6 notes
2 tags
May 4th
47 notes
1 tag
Our own worst enemy?
We all know that American orchestras are searching for ways to remain relevant. Conductor William Eddins suggests that our continuing struggles to do so may have more to do with our own shortcomings than anything else: Do we need Conductor X to be Music Director of 4 orchestras simultaneously? Can you invest, emotionally or monetarily, in a company that’s being run by the CEO of another company...
May 3rd