Category: music

But don’t expect the two large, distinct organizations to merge: “That’s not where this is going. I can say emphatically there is no intent for the Philadelphia Orchestra to be the pit band for Opera Philadelphia.”

“Following an Interpol alert, Bulgarian police last month seized a violin which they believed to be the stolen instrument made by the Italian artisan in 1696.”

An intervention by St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman “has precipitated a new offer from management, which still cuts musicians pay, but not by as much as previous proposals. Late Friday afternoon the musicians said they don’t think the offer is legal.”

“The group, called Save Our SPCO, has formed an exploratory committee to examine the feasibility of establishing ‘a new organization to host a world-class chamber orchestra in St. Paul,’ in the event that players and existing management are unable to resolve their labor-contract dispute.”

“Artists Lise Autogena and Joshua Portway have teamed up with composer Orlando Gough to create The Foghorn Requiem, … to mark the passing from use of the UK’s remaining land-based foghorns, which for the last 150 years have warned shipping about dangerous shorelines and other hazards.”

Striking musicians are loudly complaining that management’s proposed work rule changes are intolerable – but won’t say what those changes are. Management claims to have no idea what changes the musicians are talking about – though administration spokespeople get slippery when questioned further.

“A young, naive, well-meaning Bible salesman encounters a boy, perhaps 6 years old, playing outside his home. The man says hello to the kid, hoping to speak to the child’s parents. The boy kicks the man in the shin, starts screaming, and when his mother runs out from the house, the boy points at the man at yells: ‘He kicked me!'”

The orchestra is reeling from recession woes and $40 million in damage to its new (and not-yet-paid-for) concert hall in the 2010 floods.

“Now we are seeing noticeably fuller houses at our presentations, and despite the drop in prices, an increase in average price paid for a ticket, as well as a more diverse audience demographic. There is vitality to our constituency that did not exist before.”