Issue:
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...]
Issue: December 2018
Haitian music students, Denver-area dialysis patients, and local dog lovers: all benefited from the talents and generosity of more than two dozen Colorado Symphony (CS) musicians in 2018. In June, two CS musicians made their third trip to Haiti to mentor young musicians. Regionally, DaVita Dialysis Centers became miniature concert halls in September for “A Day of Music.” On October 7, the Concert … [Read more...]
Issue: December 2018
The Hawaiian Oboe Legacy Project began as an idea to create something unique to benefit and inspire future audiences and students in a place where I’d spent the majority of my professional life. I had always had the idea in the back of my head to have an oboe manufactured out of an indigenous Hawaiian wood—an oboe that would be of this place and be inextricably linked to it. Once we managed to … [Read more...]
Issue: December 2018
Si Otsedoha: We’re Still Here The North Carolina Symphony (NCS) gave powerful, emotional performances of the new work Si Otsedoha (We’re Still Here) across the state of North Carolina during one week in October. Cherokee Central Schools students from the Cherokee Chamber Singers performed in traditional Cherokee garments. Audiences in Raleigh, Wilmington, Boone, and Cherokee gave the work … [Read more...]
Issue: December 2018
Note: The following is the text of a speech delivered at a Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra concert on October 28, the day after the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. Good afternoon. My name is Stephen Kostyniak, I am a member of the French horn section of the Pittsburgh Symphony, and this year I am chair of the Orchestra Committee of the PSO Musicians. Speaking in the … [Read more...]
Issue: December 2018
My mind has been dwelling inordinately of late on loss; my father-in-law passed away on October 28. Of course, loss is inevitable, for none of us is immortal. But his death was not the result of the inevitable toll of time and aging. Rather, it occurred in tragic circumstances. The news reports of the incident did not give his name or condition, but merely reported that an 80-year old man had … [Read more...]
