Issue: March 2019
A name was spoken, and a young child dressed in white walked onstage, carrying a candle. This happened eleven times. In the silence as the children walked, the occasional faint sob pierced the hall, all the more piercing for being forcefully restrained. Joyce Fienberg Richard Gottfried Rose Mallinger Jerry Rabinowitz Cecil Rosenthal David Rosenthal Bernice Simon Sylvan Simon Daniel … [Read more...]
Issue: March 2019
In December 2017, ICSOM announced the creation of its pilot online Conductor Evaluation Program. The program has been up and running for just over a year, and has begun to grow. Currently, the bank of evaluations includes 20 conductors evaluated by five orchestras. As more orchestras participate, the numbers in the bank will grow, making this an even more valuable tool. Orchestras complete … [Read more...]
Issue: March 2019
In January, the Washington National Opera (WNO) held its eighth annual festival of contemporary opera, the American Opera Initiative (AOI). Conceived by WNO Artistic Director Francesca Zambello and former WNO Director of Artistic Operations Christina Scheppelmann as a way to nurture and grow the production of new opera, the program itself has grown, with some of the created works continuing as … [Read more...]
Issue: March 2019
New Contract and New Leadership The San Francisco Symphony (SFS) recently announced two positive developments. In November, the musicians ratified a four-year agreement with increases in wages and in the defined-benefit pension plan. The contract also includes a provision for shared equity funding, in which the administration will lend money to a musician to help fund a portion of the down … [Read more...]
Issue: March 2019
Meredith Snow’s article on implicit bias is a wonderfully informative read. It was her reference to the McGurk Effect that got me thinking about the way humans perceive musical performance and the way we orchestra musicians respond to visual conducting gestures. I have often said that audiences listen as much with their eyes as with their ears, and that our stage demeanor influences how they … [Read more...]
Issue: December 2018
In August 2018, the Baltimore Symphony (BSO) embarked on its first overseas tour in thirteen years, to wide acclaim. Over fifty supporters accompanied the BSO on the trip, and we received some very nice reviews as well as terrific response from live audiences. To give a bit of a background, on July 3, Players Committee Co-Chair Brian Prechtl and I were surprised by a visit from our CEO, Peter … [Read more...]
Issue: December 2018
On the morning of October 9, just days after my first opening night as a tenured member of the Chicago Lyric Opera Orchestra, I found myself outside on the first picket line in my orchestra’s 65-year history. More than a year before this, Lyric had held its first-ever scheduled all-company meeting. To their audience of hundreds of employees—orchestra musicians, chorus members, stagehands, … [Read more...]
Issue: Chairperson's Reports
Imagine for a moment the tens of thousands of sensations that bombard your conscious mind daily: that which you see, both moving and still, its color, detail and depth; what you hear, pitch, volume, perhaps words; touch, smell and taste. Your brain can process and sift all that information with minimal conscious attention, all while you’re walking down the street, sipping a coffee and reading … [Read more...]
Issue: December 2018
In October, I had the opportunity to meet musicians of two ICSOM orchestras, under very different circumstances. On Friday, October 12, I traveled to Chicago to support the Chicago Lyric Opera Orchestra musicians during their strike. For eight hours I joined them on the picket line, marched from the Civic Opera House to Daley Plaza for their rally, and delivered a speech there. Before the rally … [Read more...]
Issue: Counsel's Columns
Last August at the ICSOM conference in Cincinnati, I gave a presentation regarding preparing for bargaining (“Bookends of Bargaining, Part 1”). Of the topics I covered, orchestra surveys sparked the most feedback. Many delegates have asked if they could share that part of the presentation with their colleagues, so I would like to expand upon that here as orchestras start preparing for next year’s … [Read more...]
