In Thursday’s (4/9) New York Times, James R. Oestreich writes, “Not this May, not next May, but in the May after that, Spring for Music, an independent annual festival of North American orchestras at Carnegie Hall, is finally to come to life. … On Thursday, the festival’s creators will announce the seven orchestras selected from 25 applicants for that first outing of May 6 to 14, 2011. They are the Albany, Atlanta, Dallas, Montreal, Oregon and Toledo Symphony Orchestras and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. The Albany, Toledo and Oregon ensembles will be making their Carnegie debuts. The administrators will also announce a grant of $1 million from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which they say will ensure the first three festivals. First made public last June, the series is intended to encourage orchestras to program imaginatively, without regard to marketing considerations. The marketing and ticket sales (with most seats priced at $25, a few at $15) will be handled by the festival. The programs for 2011 will be announced early that year, when tickets go on sale.” Oestreich states that according to organizers, “The main idea is for the orchestras to present programs that have special meaning for them and speak to their individual missions.”
Posted April 9, 2009
