Category: News Briefs

“It doesn’t matter if you’re an artist or a businessperson—sometimes you need to leave town to get the attention of hometown skeptics,” writes Chris Waddington in Saturday’s (1/31) Times-Picayune (New Orleans). “That’s just what the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra will do in June 2010, when the artist-owned band joins the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in welcoming members of the League of American Orchestras to the Georgia metropolis. It’s the first time in the League’s 65-year history that a host orchestra has invited another group to share the spotlight—a rare chance to show off in front of managers and players from more than 1,000 member orchestras.” Why did the ASO invite the LPO? “Both of our orchestras are seen as being entrepreneurial in the ways we interact with our communities,” said LPO executive director Babs Mollere. “Our work with schools, our work in 22 venues across Louisiana, our collaborations with groups like the Historic New Orleans Collection, all find a parallel at the ASO.”

In Sunday’s (2/1) Chicago Tribune, Howard Reich writes, “The stock market may be sinking and unemployment rising, but the arts are holding their own—for now. … For starters, these organizations—well-versed in the art of survival—long ago learned how to navigate the ups and downs of economic cycles, even a decline as severe as the current one. … The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Lyric Opera of Chicago, meanwhile, have envisioned creative survival methods: Both soon will allow patrons to pay for subscription tickets on an installment plan. … Other organizations, such as the non-profit Chicago Jazz Ensemble and the for-profit Green Mill Jazz Club, have come up with their own survival strategies: If the economy continues heading south, they’re likely to cut back on featuring out-of-town stars. Plane tickets and hotel rooms represent a comparatively easy way to slash costs fast, while making sure the music plays on.”

Photo: Orchestra Hall at Chicago’s Symphony Center 

The Tessitura Network, Inc., a Dallas-based company that provides “constituent management” software for more than 275 arts and cultural organizations around the world, has announced four new product offerings: T-Stats, N-SCAN, RADR (Remote Access Disaster Recovery), and TN Express Web Ticketing. T-Stats is a data-mining tool allowing users to view, study, and analyze their data via a database populated by Tessitura’s own databases; N-SCAN allows barcode scanning of tickets so that Tessitura license holders can use print-at-home ticket functionality without paying per-ticket fees; RADR (which complements the company’s existing Remote Access Managed Plan) is a backup data service that allows Tessitura Software license holders to access the database over the internet; TN Express Web Ticketing provides ticketing, account management, and donation processing. 

The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra will partner with Samaritan’s Feet for “Barefoot for a Cause: A Concert with Sole” on April 29 at the Hilbert Circle Theatre in Indianapolis. The concert will benefit the ISO’s Annual Fund, which supports the orchestra’s community engagement and education programs, and Samaritan’s Feet, a nonprofit based in North Carolina that provides new shoes to impoverished children around the world. Ron Hunter, head basketball coach at Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis, will be honored for his work on behalf of Samaritan’s Feet. Hunter first coached in bare feet in 2007 to draw attention to the plight of children who go without shoes every day, and since has led the charity’s Shoe-of-Hope Drive. The family concert, led by guest conductor Alfred Savia, will include music from sports films such as Breaking Away, Hoosiers, Field of Dreams, Chariots of Fire, and The Natural, as well as music by Mozart, Rossini, and John Williams.

The Freisinger Chamber Orchestra, a new Boston-based ensemble that gave its first-ever concert in July 2008, recently performed a concert featuring the world premiere of Matti Kovler’s Nineveh, a five-movement work for string orchestra and tape. The concert, which also included Haydn’s Symphony No. 83, Mozart arias sung by mezzo-soprano Thea Lobo, and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 15 (K. 450), with pianist Eunyoung Kim, took place at Old South Church on Boylston Street in Boston on January 31. Freisinger, a pianist, vocal coach, violist, and conductor, created the orchestra with the purpose of presenting a wide variety of chamber music, from Baroque to the 21st century, mixing young and established soloists. The orchestra’s March 14 concert will feature the world premiere of Donald Denniston’s Normandie,  plus Bartók’s Divertimento for Strings and African-American music including spirituals and works by Eubie Blake.

The Bangor Symphony Orchestra’s February 1 concert in the newly remodeled Maine Center for the Arts, at the University of Maine in Orono, represented the first public performance in that space since a major renovation that began in 2007. Changes to the MCA include an expanded lobby area, aisles in the hall’s orchestra section, and improved accessibility. The orchestra, led by guest conductor Lucas Richman—music director of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra—and featuring pianist Joel Fan, performed Beethoven’s overture to The Consecration of the House and Fifth Piano Concerto (“Emperor”), and Brahms’s Symphony No. 4. The Maine Center for the Arts has served as the Bangor Symphony Orchestra’s home since its opening in 1986; the orchestra was founded in 1896.

In Thursday’s (1/29) Los Angeles Times, Jon Thurber reports, “Irving Bush, a trumpeter with a broad range of musical interests, including jazz and classical, who later in life served as personnel manager for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, has died. He was 78. … Bush started his career playing with many top-name big bands, including ones led by Harry James and Nelson Riddle. He also worked in the studio orchestras at 20th Century Fox, MGM, Columbia, Paramount and Warner Bros., and he played on recordings by Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, George Shearing, Sarah Vaughan and Nat King Cole. … But in the early 1960s, Bush branched out into classical music and auditioned for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, joining the orchestra for the 1962-63 season. He recorded with the Columbia Broadcasting Symphony under the baton of Igor Stravinsky and participated in recordings for the Philharmonic with Zubin Mehta, Carlo Maria Giulini, Andre Previn and Michael Tilson Thomas conducting. In 1982, Bush moved from his post as the Philharmonic’s associate principal trumpeter to personnel manager.”

In Wednesday’s (1/28) Las Vegas Sun, Becky Bosshart reports, “The Henderson Symphony Orchestra will premiere commissioned work by UNLV professor and composer Virko Baley, who was inspired by desert sunsets and the beauty of the Las Vegas Valley. Baley’s two movements for the Henderson orchestra, ‘Mojave Dusk’ and ‘The Torrents of Springs,’ will highlight the Master Series III concert at 2 p.m. Feb. 8 at the Valley View Recreation Center. Baley, born in 1938 in the former Soviet Union, is a Las Vegas cultural icon, said Molly Murphy, executive director of the Henderson Symphony Orchestra. She called his new pieces ‘a reflection of our city. In this town he has been very important. He turned 70, so we wanted to honor him.’ In addition to his international work, Baley co-directs Nevada Encounters of New Music, a UNLV symposium and festival in early April.” Music by Barber, Ives, and Stravinsky round out the program.

In Wednesday’s (1/28) Wall Street Journal, Larry Blumenfeld writes about the January 10 reopening of the Mahalia Jackson Theater in New Orleans. “The opening concert was studded with local-hero performers, from singers Irma Thomas and Marva Wright to trumpeter Kermit Ruffins. Saturday’s ‘Evening of Music and Dance’ showcased the city’s fine resident orchestra [the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra], highlighted with performances by violinist Itzhak Perlman and principal dancers from the New York City and San Francisco ballet companies. … The celebration spilled into the next week: A Tuesday orchestra concert paired pianist-songwriter Allen Toussaint’s iconic hits with Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony; a Friday tribute to gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, the theater’s namesake, starred singer Yolanda Adams along with trumpeter Irvin Mayfield’s New Orleans Jazz Orchestra.” But while musicians are coming back to the city, demand hasn’t kept up. “Since Katrina, music bookings are down by nearly half (45%), average wages by nearly one-fifth (18%). Meanwhile, costs of living have risen 11%. … ‘Historically, musicians have been taken for granted here because it’s so common and pervasive,’ said Scott Aiges, a director at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation. ‘When we hear a brass band it’s just another day. But these musicians are the working poor, making an average of $21,000 a year.’ The foundation’s efforts include programs promoting musicians to international festival producers and film music supervisors.”