Issue: October 2018
For many years, Paul Gunther has been the caretaker of Orchestra-L, ICSOM’s established and official listserv. As the owner and chief moderator of the list, Paul led the four-member team that approved new subscribers as well as the news items and follow-up comments that appeared there. In addition, Paul became accustomed to the quirks of working with the Yahoo group list, and there were … [Read more...]
Issue: June 2018
This month, the League of American Orchestras (LAO), the Sphinx Organization, and the New World Symphony are jointly launching an initiative that will provide support to Latino and African-American musicians who are auditioning for orchestral positions. These organizations are making a commitment to address the lack of African-American and Latino musicians in US orchestras. As reported by … [Read more...]
Issue: March 2018
The founding of ICSOM in the early 1960s was a result of the desire and need that symphonic musicians felt to have greater control in their contract negotiations. ICSOM was the first of what are now five player conferences within the AFM. The other groups are composed of musicians who perform in US regional (ROPA) and Canadian (OCSM) orchestras, theatre musicians (TMA), and musicians of the … [Read more...]
Issue: December 2017
As stated in our bylaws, the duties of ICSOM President include the responsibility of supervising ICSOM’s conductor evaluation program. This is an area where I have had much experience, having served as the administrator of ROPA’s conductor evaluation bank for nearly ten years. ICSOM’s conductor evaluation program had its origins exactly 50 years ago. In 1967, the results were hand-tabulated. … [Read more...]
Issue: October 2017
ICSOM is very active on Twitter. Since 2009, we have generated nearly 10,000 tweets about classical music, orchestras, and the arts. Today ICSOM has over 9000 Twitter followers. The account was created and maintained by former ICSOM Chair Bruce Ridge. Upon his departure from the Governing Board in August 2016, ICSOM’s social media duties were divided among several GB members. It has been an … [Read more...]
Issue: June 2017
The lack of diversity in the orchestral world is frequently, and increasingly, lamented. The subject has been a topic at the League of American Orchestras (LAO) over the past several years, where it has been a point of growing concern. In comments on the subject last spring from the LAO’s website, League President Jesse Rosen was correct when he observed, “If the arts community is to accelerate … [Read more...]
Issue: December 2015
Since assuming my new position on the Governing Board, I have been perusing past issues of Senza Sordino from the online archives. The history of ICSOM is a rich one, and much of it is chronicled in Senza’s many articles. One item that fairly jumped out at me was a message that our Chairman, Bruce Ridge, has been touching on for years, going back to his early days on the Governing Board. It’s a … [Read more...]
Issue: July 2015
Serving as ICSOM president has been one of the most meaningful and rewarding experiences of my life. I often remark that I wish every ICSOM musician could have the opportunity to be president. Over the past thirteen years, I have enjoyed meeting with delegates, committee chairs, and many musicians from every ICSOM orchestra as well as ROPA and OCSOM orchestras. I have been fortunate to work with … [Read more...]
Issue: December 2014
ICSOM continues to provide many important services to its members and does so on a shoestring budget. Just a few of these include the annual Directory, Senza Sordino, annual summer conferences in cities of ICSOM orchestras, member-at-large online and phone call discussion groups, orchestra-l, delegate-l, the ICSOM Electronic Media Committee, site visits by the chair or other governing board … [Read more...]
Issue: December 2013
On December 5, 2013, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that the arts and culture industry provided $500 billion, or at least 3.2% of total U.S. goods and service in 2011. In comparison, the arts and culture sector outpaced the travel and tourism industry, which was 2.8% of GDP in 2011. “Art and culture is a significant part of the U.S. economy—not just its contributions of ideas and … [Read more...]
