[contextly_auto_sidebar id="5nBcUoGIheS273PWwhCDYtux2AmfpHYR"] In my last post I said that I’m now not happy talking about the decline of classical music. That post was a striking anecdotal report about falling ticket sales at European music festivals, which in the past I would have offered as evidence of decline. But now, as I said, I’d rather say that classical music is changing. Changing, not fading. Not declining. And certainly not dying. Still, the fading of the old ways — though not classical music itself — is worth chronicling. … [Read more...]
The change continues
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="8iJ0uEslRrXHZQexVPJKHRbbIjYPUZOg"] I used to call it the decline of classical music — the aging, shrinking audience, the mounting financial woes. But now I’d rather call it the change. The old ways fade, becoming unsustainable. New ways of doing things emerge, and begin to define our future. Though this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t still catalogue the change. One place you can find a catalogue of changes, as the old ways fade — changes going back decades — is a blog post of mine called “Timeline of the … [Read more...]
From Liza Figueroa Kravinsky: Living up to the hype
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Q3lLIvq9OQOFPqtEqcFaEV5ajAx8rG11"] [From Greg: Full disclosure. I got to know Liza when she hired me as a consultant. But we worked only on a very modest plan to launch her project, a plan that turned out not to be needed. Maybe I encouraged her in some helpful way, but the stunning success she's been having comes from things she did entirely on her own. Go, Liza!] In a series of guest blogs, I've talked about my Go-Go Symphony, a composition that combines original classical music with the go-go beat, Washington … [Read more...]
Triple whammy
I'm sure this is something we all know about — the management/musician disputes that have hit one orchestra after another, leading to seasons not starting on time, with no clear sense, in some cases, of when they ever might start. Tony Woodcock (president of New England Conservatory, and former CEO of the Minnesota Orchestra) in a blog post mentions Atlanta, Minnesota, Chicago, Indianapolis, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra (where all concerts to the end of 2012 have been cancelled), and Jacksonville. To which we can add Spokane, where a … [Read more...]