Category: music

“The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra has successfully completed its $5 million emergency fundraising drive with the help of 1,408 new individual donors, contributing an average gift of $340.25 each.”

Mr. Allah is the second suspect in the stun-gun mugging of Milwaukee Symphony concertmaster Frank Almond and theft of his Strad violin in a parking lot following a chamber concert in late January. (The instrument was recovered the following week.)

“The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra announced Wednesday that it will delay the target date for a potential concert tour in Iran … Originally proposed for late August or September, the tour will now be planned for an unspecified date during the 2014-15 fiscal year, which starts in September.”

“Clearly the rising gender parity of instrumentalists on the bandstand is an inspiration to other women to perform the music, but the question remains open as to whether their presence can equally translate to women in the audience for the music.”

The company’s board decided that proceeding with the fourth production of 2013-14, Britten’s Albert Herring, would risk “further financial strain.”

General director Ian Campbell: “We are not bankrupt, owe no money, and have no creditors we believe we cannot pay if people honor pledges they made … It is not an expense issue. It is a problem on the revenue side. Drops in both sales and contributions over several years now mean that we doubt we will be able to complete the next season.”

General director David Gockley: “Audience surveys made the point: People want to be wowed every time – with singers, conductors, productions, and we have to deliver or die. … So we have bet the ranch that the increased numbers of productions, the diversity of repertory, five new productions (including the massive epic of Les Troyens, which will stretch us to our limits) should recapture subscribers, fill the houses, and produce [additional] contributions.

“The concert I signed up for would showcase 100 people from around the world collaborating live in an electronic, computer-driven concert – like a massive group game of Guitar Hero … ‘Sure,’ I said. ‘What could go wrong?’ … If panic had a language, it would probably be very much like what transpired [in rehearsal] that day.”

Anne Midgette: “The start of Eschenbach’s tenure appeared to be reinvigorating the orchestra, and the two international tours within eight months in 2012 and 2013, to South America and to Europe, boosted morale and the orchestra’s profile … Yet for all of the new energy, Eschenbach’s concerts with the orchestra have not consistently represented the kind of vital music-making one might have hoped.”

“No one is quite sure how the trend will end up, and whether it will succeed at making money or building audiences. But many music organizations say they believe such web streams will prove helpful, saying that they must find audiences where they are, in an era when sales of CDs and digital downloads are declining, and streaming services like Spotify and Pandora are growing rapidly.”