Category: AJBlogs

The Future of Orchestras (Cont’d): Would the Philharmonic Sing Palestrina?
Frankly, the consolidated thread of considered comments elicited by my mega-blog on the future of orchestras has taken me by surprise. These are informed comments from inside the orchestra world. I have also been deluged with emails whose content must remain private. They, too, register the thoughts, frustrations, and anxieties of musicians, educators, and administrators. … read more
AJBlog: Unanswered Question >Published 2016-07-04

Resonance
I’m off to Seattle this week for a couple performances of Resonance by the Seattle Chamber Music Society (SCMS).  Resonance is scored for violin and three cellos, and I’m really fortunate to have an outstanding group playing it: … read more
AJBlog: Infinite Curves Published 2016-07-04

“I dreamed of blue fireballs”
I have nothing but pleasant memories of my mother’s family’s Fourth of July cookouts, which rank among the highlights of my small-town youth. … In 1991, a quarter of a century ago, I published a memoir in which, among many other things, I described those Fourth of July cookouts. This is part of what I wrote. … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2016-07-04

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Enter The Men
Ten Hairy Legs presents work by four choreographers at New York Live Arts. Doug Varone’s mark for 10 Hairy Legs. (L to R): Derek Crescenti, Tony Bordonaro, Alex Biegelson, and William Tomaskovic. Photo: Rachel Neville … read more
AJBlog: DancebeatPublished 2016-07-03

How an Operatic Sow’s Ear Becomes a Silk Purse at Wormsley
Toby Spence photo credit: Clive Barda Director Tim Albery and conductor Tobias Ringborg’s production of Mozart’sIdomeneo for Garsington Opera at Wormsley transforms this operatic sow’s ear into a silk purse. By tightening up the … read more
AJBlog: Plain EnglishPublished 2016-07-02

Connecting and Levering

Beware the volunteer sentence
It can be comforting when a solution or a path presents itself to you as the obvious choice. When you feel comfortable moving to the next problem or question without even thinking much about the one at hand. … read more
AJBlog: The Artful Manager Published 2016-06-30

A problem with classical music publicists
I’ve said these things before. But they need to be said again, following up on my last post, about a quick way to improve almost any publicity pitch. … read more
AJBlog: Sandow Published 2016-06-30

Changing Color
Susan Marshall, Jason Treuting, and Suzanne Bocanegra explore our perception of color. Is this the coolest ever lecture on color theory? Yes and no. … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2016-06-30

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A small suggestion
I get a lot of ineffective pitches from classical music publicists. In fact — sad to say — I think most of the pitches I get from classical music publicists aren’t very strong. … read more
AJBlog: Sandow Published 2016-06-29

Progress Report With Guitar Accompaniment
Not to bore Rifftides readers with internet trivia, but two more days of extended conversations with Apple technicians seem to have led us out of the digital black hole that captured us for a few … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-06-29

This Week in Audience: The Latest Fronts On Understanding Who’s Paying Attention
Is social media communication, marketing, art, or all three? … The perils of market research when it drives your art … The latest front on artists’ war on cell phone use … How NPR discovered a ton of information about its listeners … How the internet is changing our perceptions of the world. … read more
AJBlog: AJ Arts Audience Published 2016-06-28

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This Week in Audience: The Latest Fronts On Understanding Who’s Paying Attention
Is social media communication, marketing, art, or all three? … The perils of market research when it drives your art … The latest front on artists’ war on cell phone use … How NPR discovered a ton of information about its listeners … How the internet is changing our perceptions of the world. … read more
AJBlog: AJ Arts Audience Published 2016-06-28

Brexit and culture: it’s complicated
There is a tension, for which there is no easy resolution, between wanting to have a society that is open and welcoming and inclusive to people and their traditions from around the world, and the preservation of what is seen to be special, exceptional, about the extant native culture. … read more
AJBlog: For What It’s Worth Published 2016-06-28

What Can Be Left Out
My point last week was about planning and about understanding the essential work of your organization. This time I’m focusing on my call for arts organizations to become indispensable. … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2016-06-28

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Monday Recommendation: Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker, Unheard Bird: The Unissued Takes (Verve) Charlie Parker has never disappeared from the consciousness of serious jazz listeners. This two-CD collection, due out on Friday, could go a long way toward helping new generations discover the stunning purity and power of Parker’s creativity. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-06-27

True confession
Max Beerbohm’s The Happy Hypocrite: A Fairy Tale for Tired Men, written in 1897, is an Oscar Wilde-like fable whose protagonist, Lord George Hell, is a “greedy, destructive, and disobedient” Regency rake whose face bears the marks of his dissolution. … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2016-06-27

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Welcome
Think of a time that you didn’t feel welcome. As a woman who is the soon-to-be-wife of a woman who prefers buttons and a collar over scoop necks and pencil skirts, the inevitable wedding suit shopping experience loomed in my future. … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2016-06-23

Other Places: Linda Oh In The Village Voice
In the new issue of The Village Voice, Michael J. Agovino wraps three years of observing the bassist Linda Oh into a 4,000-word article about what it takes these days for a leading musician to practice the profession in the world’s jazz capital. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-06-23

So you want to see a show?
Here’s my list of recommended Broadway, off-Broadway, and out-of-town shows, updated weekly. In all cases, I gave these shows favorable reviews (if sometimes qualifiedly so) in The Wall Street Journal when they opened. For more … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2016-06-23

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“Commercial in Confidence”: National Gallery of Victoria Upholds MoMA’s Secrecy on Loan
In my post last week spotlighting the lack of transparency about the financial terms (collegial loan or money-making rental?) of the Museum of Modern Art’s planned dispatch of some 150 masterworks for temporary display at …read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2016-06-22

Snapshot: Alexander Calder “performs” his miniature circus
Le Grand Cirque Calder 1927, a 1955 film directed by Jean Painlevé, in which Alexander Calder demonstrates the workings of the miniature circus that he constructed in 1927. … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2016-06-22

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This Week In Audience: Is Text Slipping Away As We Go More Video?
Looking for diverse audiences? Here’s where they are. … But orchestras are still struggling to be relevant. … Turns out attention might be a muscle we have to use or we lose it. … FaceBook wonders if it will be all-video in five years. … And libraries get into loaning e-books. … read more
AJBlog: AJ Arts Audience Published 2016-06-21

Storm Warnings: The Future of Orchestras
Our orchestras are facing a perfect storm moving at high velocity. How fast can they adapt? The most adaptive orchestra I know is  … read more
AJBlog: Unanswered Question Published 2016-06-21

What You Can Leave Out
Knowing what’s essential as opposed to valuable or even “nice” is a critical skill in jazz. … Organizational function often demands spontaneous improvisation in the face of change or unforeseen emergencies. At such moments, an awareness of what’s essential … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2016-06-21

You Are Not Alone
Jane Comfort has a formidable history as one who attacks with an intellectual cleaver subjects that most choreographers avoid: … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2016-06-21

Prelude to Wagner
Sir Anish Kapoor’s sets, Stuart Skelton and Heidi Melton demonstrate that the moon is not made of cheese, but mashed potato. … read more
AJBlog: Plain English Published 2016-06-21

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