orchestra21

"Any great work of art … revives and readapts time and space, and the measure of its success is the..."

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 21:44:00 -0500

“Any great work of art … revives and readapts time and space, and the measure of its success is the extent to which it makes you an inhabitant of that world – the extent to which it invites you in and lets you breathe its strange, special air.”

- Leonard Bernstein, What Makes Opera Grand?
Vogue, December 1958

What he said. [via lethebashar via alhasaart]

The Real Ping?

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:11:00 -0500

The music fiends and tech geeks among you no doubt followed Apple’s product announcement yesterday; I watched it on my phone. [Hey look, a major media company unafraid to provide high quality live video on a mobile platform!] Of the new offerings the one that immediately got my attention was Ping, an iTunes-based social music service. I am a longtime Last.fm user and have been frustrated that iTunes has never natively supported the ability to feed data to that service or others like Twitter. So now I’m trying out Ping:

After spending some time today with Apple’s new service I must admit I’m a bit disappointed. Ping has no browser version and apparently no open API or other feed mechanism, meaning profiles are essentially locked inside of iTunes. And I am completely shocked that in the set-up process I was never prompted to import my play history – I simply assumed that track plays would be a central element of the Ping profile. Other weak points as of now include the paltry selection of artists whose iTunes pages allow following and a paucity of options for finding other users.

Apple seems to envision Ping primarily as a platform for iTunes Store purchases. No doubt the record labels it works with appreciate that approach, but if the company continues to emphasize buying over sharing Ping may end up a marginal presence in social music.

Can't express how I glad I am to have found this tumblr...I think it's my favorite of all...can't say I'm familiar with your personal work, but I will be soon!

Where is it even possible to get the Bernstein lectures from Harvard?...I used to try to search public libraries but couldn't find them

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:35:04 -0500

Thanks so much for the compliment, Alex. I’ll be doing my best to share something interesting from each of my concerts this coming symphony season so you should have ample opportunity to get to know my work!

Regarding Bernstein’s 1973 Norton Lectures at Harvard – they are available both on DVD and in book form. The latter is what I’ll be sending out next week to the winner of the Bernstein reblog giveaway.

The late great Frank Zappa – whose cross-genre work with the LA...

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 06:30:00 -0500

The late great Frank Zappa – whose cross-genre work with the LA Phil I encountered as a kid – with his parents in that orchestra’s fair city in 1971.

Just one of many fabulous looks at the artist life from this week’s recommended Tumblr, I Hate Music!, a must follow if you are into those strange humans called musicians. Dig composers? F#%! Yeah! Curious about the maestro life? Frank has you covered. Speaking of covers, you might check out his record jacket archive. And don’t even mention Leonard Bernstein, whose 1943 song gave its title to this great blog.

Giveaway → The Unanswered Question

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:48:00 -0500

Between score/part preparation deadlines and WCFSO auditions last week I managed to miss the anniversary of Leonard Bernstein’s birth. Never too late to celebrate though, so Lenny is front and center for the first in a series of orchestra21 giveaways – the book version of his Harvard lectures, The Unanswered Question. Simply reblog one of my Bernstein posts by the end of the day this Friday and you’ll be entered into a drawing for the book, pictured below. I will contact the randomly selected winner over the weekend to arrange for delivery.

And if you just can’t wait for the book to arrive, here is a clip from the actual lectures:

Visit the original post for video →

Link → Everyone Needs Dollars

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:37:00 -0500

Link → Everyone Needs Dollars:

Except that Stones Throw Records doesn’t need them so badly that it won’t celebrate the varied but unsanctioned remixing of one of its recent productions, Aloe Blacc’s I Need A Dollar.

Orchestras definitely need dollars – not to mention the kind of diverse audience interest that Stones Throw inspires – and we won’t attract either by locking down our media. Quite the opposite … we’ll know that we are relevant when recordings of our performances are out in the open and taken up for creative reuses of all kinds.

GPOYW Ready to be back at work with the WCFSO! edition [Photo...

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 10:27:00 -0500

GPOYW Ready to be back at work with the WCFSO! edition

[Photo from a week of 2009 rehearsals by Noah Henscheid]

Media Inventor

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 11:39:00 -0500

Media Inventor:

When I work on creating relevant, insightful and exciting orchestra concerts much of my effort is spent considering how to conceive of repertoire [content] and presentation [container] as one seamless unit. Turns out I’m not the only one preoccupied with this approach …

Robin Sloan, via Frank Chimero, on what it means to be a Media Inventor: It’s somebody primarily interested in content who also experiments with new technol ogy, new processes, and new formats. Fundamentally, I think, a media inventor is someone who isn’t satisfied with the suite of formats that have been handed down to him by his culture (and economy). Novel, novella, short story; album, EP, single; RPG, RTS, FPS—a media inventor doesn’t like those choices. It turns out a media inventor feels compelled to make the content and the container.

Followed up by Frank’s excellent gloss on the subject: The best part of Robin’s definition is the clarity of the first sentence. Media inventors aren’t making format changes for change’s sake. While it may be fun to tinker on a meta level, Media Inventors champion content. [Emphasis is Frank’s, but it could just as well be mine.] It’s the foundation, and every decision that leads to any sort of invention is done in an attempt to tell a better story, sing a better song, or make a more profound or fulfilling experience for an audience.

Typically broad-minded and inspirational thinking about media and the arts from designer Frank Chimero, whose blog I could happily recommend each Tumblr Tuesday.

Zürich by Cortis & Sonderegger Great view from the side of...

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 19:21:00 -0500

Zürich by Cortis & Sonderegger

Great view from the side of the concert hall I’m accustomed to. [Image via spaceships]

Humblr

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 15:03:00 -0500

So this happened over the weekend:

When I moved orchestra21 over to Tumblr nine months ago I could not have imagined that so many of you would take an interest in my view of the symphonic world. I’m deeply humbled to have such a diverse readership and very much inspired to continue sharing aspects of the orchestra biz you won’t encounter elsewhere.

Look out for a special giveaway coming up in the next week – it’ll be my way of saying thanks to all my Tumblr folks!

Interesting illustration by Brian Rea for a recent New York...

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 13:04:40 -0500

Interesting illustration by Brian Rea for a recent New York Times piece on music licensing and copyright enforcement. [via kateoplis]

As I look at this graphic I have to wonder how we might plot ‘Those who listen to music live’ – after all, the accepted wisdom of the moment is that contemporary musicians ‘have learned to consider their recorded output, formerly their bread and butter, as a form of promotion for live shows.’

Music lessons

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 00:29:00 -0500

This weekend I was featured in the ongoing Courier-Journal series on lessons learned through work. My interview with Matt Frassica touches on a variety of challenges in the classical music business that have helped form my outlook on conducting and orchestra leadership.

Regarding orchestras:

I think orchestras have sometimes walled themselves off a little bit by saying, “This is what we do, and we don’t do other things.” We don’t have to be quite so self-limiting.

On becoming a conductor and, more essentially, a leader:

When you go through school you learn the mechanics and, hopefully, you learn about the repertoire. But as a conductor you don’t really learn how to be a leader in a larger sense of the word, whether it’s leading a performance or leading an organization. I try to build consensus and to encourage everybody I work with to buy into what we’re doing.

Tumblr shout-out!:

I really admire some of the [tech] companies for the way they do business. I think we could learn a lot from them. I love Tumblr, and I love the way they seem to be very approachable and inclusive and open. They’re very responsive to their users. I feel that orchestras can learn a lot from that.

On symphonic programming:

We do curate a tradition, but have started to realize that even though that’s one important thing we do, we also have to help establish new traditions and open our canon to new voices.

Responding to a living sound:

As a conductor it’s the sound of the orchestra that provides the greatest feedback. I’m searching for the right language or the right gesture that encourages a particular sound from the orchestra, and when the orchestra achieves that sound I immediately run back through all the steps I took to get there and find out what was it I did that helped to facilitate that.

GPOYW In rehearsal with the Louisville Orchestra...

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 22:51:00 -0500

GPOYW In rehearsal with the Louisville Orchestra edition.

[Photo by O’Neil Arnold]

And here I thought I knew everything there was to know about...

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 12:15:00 -0500

And here I thought I knew everything there was to know about bringing a musical score to life. [Fabulous stop-motion by animator and illustrator Eleanor Stewart]

"There [is] all this buzz on Facebook and Twitter. Audiences just don’t do that with typical..."

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:57:00 -0500

“There [is] all this buzz on Facebook and Twitter. Audiences just don’t do that with typical orchestra concerts.”

- One of my observations about the implications of orchestra collaborations with bands and other contemporary artists, quoted in today’s Cincinnati CityBeat. And as I suggest in the article this is ‘very healthy for orchestras.’

I was interviewed because I lead several of these cross-genre performances each year in Louisville and Cedar Falls [and I guess I’m becoming an authority on the intersection of social media and orchestras too].

Characteristically evocative music photography from one of my...

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 07:03:00 -0500

Characteristically evocative music photography from one of my favorite photoblogs and this week’s recommended Tumblr, hello, romantic. by Megan McIsaac. Follow Megan for a steady stream of wonderful imagery, musical and otherwise. [Update: Order a print from Megan]

And if you’d like to make a Tumblr recommendation yourself please consider supporting me this week in the directory.

Industry rule number 4080

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:46:00 -0500

To paraphrase A Tribe Called Quest, classical music industry people are shady. Case in point: I just received this unbelievable response from a classical music agency after I requested the cessation of its unsolicited emails. [It was a manual request, since none of these emails included an unsubscribe option.]

Way to stay classy, Parker Artists! Not to worry – I have many other ways of learning about ‘artists of worth’.

It’s just this type of false entitlement that makes me allergic to these artist reps. Why on earth would any musician entrust a career - not to mention their integrity - to a group like this? [And for the record, I do not use an agent.]

Sweet gig poster – and it’s for a notable new music...

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:36:00 -0500

Sweet gig poster – and it’s for a notable new music ensemble. A recent concert I did with the Louisville Orchestra occasioned a custom silkscreen print of its own, and an upcoming performance in Iowa with Brandi Carlile and Pieta Brown will too. Orchestras: we should do more of this.

ICE poster by Russ Bruggink via Strangely Beautiful Things

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of performing alongside...

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:01:00 -0500

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of performing alongside LA’s The Airborne Toxic Event [check the photos]. Here they are in a new film documenting their extravaganza concert at Disney Hall in 2009. Great energy, just as in our Louisville collaboration; I’m looking forward to being onstage with them again sometime soon.

"Work is more fun than fun."

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 21:33:00 -0500

“Work is more fun than fun.”

- Noël Coward [via Frank Chimero]

I’m endlessly fortunate that this is true for me too.