Tag: Climate and Sustainability

Free Webinar: “Know Your Bow: New Rules and Essential Steps for Pernambuco Sustainability”

Posted on February 6, 2026 by - News Briefs

New rules under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) take effect March 5, 2026, with implications for all stringed-instrument musicians, makers, and sellers, as well as for the iconic Pernambuco trees that grow exclusively in Brazil. In “Know Your Bow: New Rules and Essential Steps for Pernambuco Sustainability”, a free 90-minute webinar on Tuesday, February 10, musical instrument owners, dealers, and makers can learn the new rules and steps for legal compliance from speakers from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In addition, music-sector leaders will explain how to identify the wood material in bows and support a sustainable future for the species.

Speakers: Heather Downey, Permits Biologist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Lynn Hannings, Vice President, International Alliance of Violin and Bow Makers for Endangered Species; Claire Kreger-Boaz, Public Policy Manager, NAMM; Heather Noonan, Vice President, Advocacy, League of American Orchestras; Rochelle G. Skolnick, Director, Symphonic Services Division, American Federation of Musicians; and Anne St. John, Senior Biologist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The content of this free webinar was developed by the League in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“Know Your Bow: New Rules and Essential Steps for Pernambuco Sustainability” takes place on Tuesday, February 10 at 3:00 p.m. Eastern/12:00 p.m. Pacific Time. Questions to advocacy@americanorchestras.org in advance are welcome. If you can’t attend the webinar live, register to receive the recording. Questions? Please contact League Member Services at member@americanorchestras.org. Learn more and register at https://americanorchestras.org/event/know-your-bow-new-rules-and-essential-steps-for-pernambuco-sustainability/.

New Regulations Governing Pernambuco Instrument Bows Decided at International Conference

Posted on December 8, 2025 by - News Briefs

In Friday’s (12/5) Strad (U.K.), an unsigned article states, “Bows for stringed instruments made from pernambuco will be subject to new rules as a result of decisions made at a conference of the UN’s Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. The conference, which ran from 24 November to 5 December, brought together representatives of more than 180 nations including the Brazilian government as well as musicians, bow makers and dealers. Among the many items considered was Brazil’s proposal for a complete ban on the international trade of pernambuco wood … Following days of intensive negotiations by a special working group, the talks concluded with a resolution that pernambuco would remain on [the less restrictive] Appendix II, but with several further restrictions designed to curtail the illegal trade of the wood…. Musicians will be able to travel with pernambuco bows without permits when crossing borders for performances, repairs and other activities that do not result in a change of ownership. However, international sales of existing and new bows will require specialized permits, to prove the wood was harvested before the species was first listed by CITES in 2007. These new rules are to come into effect internationally [on] March 4, 2026).” Among the delegates at the conference was Heather Noonan, Vice President for Advocacy for the League of American Orchestras.

New List from Alliance of European Orchestras Highlights Compositions Focusing on the Natural World

Posted on December 1, 2025 by - News Briefs

The European Broadcasting Union, BBC Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France have joined forces to create “Renew Reuse Recycle,” a list of repertoire that evokes and explores nature, climate, and sustainability. The extensive list, posted as a downloadable spreadsheet, includes scores by composers past and present working in a richly diverse range of styles and forms. The introduction states: “Thoughtful programming can engage audiences with the natural world and our impact upon it. As cultural institutions it can be tempting to commission our way into an issue; however, composers have been engaging with these topics for centuries. What follows is intended as a living list of works to spark programmers’ imaginations. We intend to update the list regularly.” The introduction cites as one example “Lei Lang, a Chinese American composer whose piece A Thousand Mountains, a Million Streams won the 2021 Grawemeyer Award. He writes: ‘It meditates on the loss of landscapes of cultural and spiritual dimensions. The work implies an intention to preserve and resurrect parallel landscapes, where we and our children can belong.’ The list includes some standard repertoire works which complement the more recent work.”

Seeking to Balance Conservation with Needs of Musicians and Music-making

Posted on November 24, 2025 by - News Briefs

In Wednesday’s (11/19) Economist (U.K.), an unbylined article states that 200 years ago, “François Xavier Tourte was among the first to make consistent use of a raw material that is still prized today for the best bows: pernambuco, or brazilwood. A modern orchestra is a thicket of brazilwood sticks. And that’s a problem…. The number of wild trees has dropped by four-fifths in less than a century. CITES, an international agreement, has restricted trade in brazilwood products since 2007. But Brazil’s government wants CITES to list the wood among the most endangered species, giving it the highest protection; a CITES meeting in Samarkand that starts on November 24th will decide whether to do so…. The protection upgrade Brazil wants would make life difficult for [instrument makers] and for musicians. Any bow, even one of Tourte’s, would require a certificate to cross borders…. It should be possible to save both brazilwood and bows. Around 3m trees have been planted since the early 1970s, some with the help of bow-makers. Some of these could be harvested after 30-40 years of growth to make bows as the existing stocks of brazilwood run out. Wild trees need better protection, and governments and musicians can do better at registering existing stocks of brazilwood and keeping track of bows. If that can happen, there is a chance to save a remarkable tree without silencing the music.”

Read Symphony’s most recent coverage of the situation, “Conserving Pernambuco, Supporting Music,” at https://symphony.org/features/conserving-pernambuco-supporting-music/.

Pending Regulations Governing Pernambuco, the Endangered Wood Used in Instrument Bows, Could Severely Impact Music and Musicians

Posted on November 19, 2025 by - News Briefs

In Tuesday’s (11/18) Al Jazeera, Sam Meadows writes, “The majority of high-end [string instrument] bows are made from brazilwood, also known as pernambuco. Prized for its reddish hue and durability, brazilwood is beloved among musicians…. A proposal to bolster restrictions could mean musicians would need to register their instruments in order to travel abroad or sell them…. The issue is set to come to a head next week, as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) holds its 20th meeting…. A proposal authored by the Brazilian government would increase CITES protections for brazilwood, placing it in the highest tier for trade restrictions…. Trade of plants and animals in [Appendix I] is largely banned, except for non-commercial use. But even in that case, both import and export licenses are required…. Brazil argues the upgraded restrictions are necessary to fight the plant’s extinction…. Currently, under Appendix II, there is an exemption for finished brazilwood products that allows musicians to travel freely with their bows…. Heather Noonan, vice president for advocacy at the League of American Orchestras, worries that the special permitting process for an Appendix I product would be a logistical quagmire for travelling orchestras. It could even result in instruments being confiscated … ‘The risks of getting some part of this process wrong as you endeavor to comply with it can be quite severe, especially for individual musicians who may not have a lot of infrastructure to help them get through the process,’ Noonan said…. [The NGO] TRAFFIC said it would be open to keeping brazilwood in Appendix II, so long as it receives additional protections.”

Read Symphony’s most recent coverage of the situation, “Conserving Pernambuco, Supporting Music,” at https://symphony.org/features/conserving-pernambuco-supporting-music/.

Lima Symphony Opens Season with a New Look at the Grand Canyon and Chelsea Komschlies’s “Mycelialore”

Posted on October 9, 2025 by - News Briefs

In Wednesday’s (9/7) LimaOhio.com, Jacob Espinosa writes, “Another season is set to start for the Lima Symphony Orchestra and it will be yet another evening of new ideas. ‘Symphonic Landscapes’ will feature two guest artists for a multimedia show blending the orchestra with images of the Grand Canyon and the world of mushrooms … on Saturday, Oct. 11 … LSO Executive Director Elizabeth Brown-Ellis said, ‘Stephen Lias, who is also a composer, has created a visual projection that will accompany Ferde Grofé’s “Grand Canyon Suite,” which is going to be a really spectacular display to bring the music to life. Stephen is the artist-in-residence for many national parks….’ The show will also feature a commissioned piece by composer Chelsea Komschlies called ‘Mycelialore,’ which will pair the world of fungi with the fantasy world of J.R.R. Tolkien.” Mycelialore was commissioned by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation Orchestral Commissions Program, an initiative of the League of American Orchestras in partnership with the American Composers Orchestra. “ ‘It’s such an honor and it’s really exciting for us to be able to bring these works of young, living composers to life,’ Brown-Ellis said. ‘It’s also so exciting for us to be part of a commission.’ ”

Review: Chelsea Komschlies’s “Mycelialore” at Grant Park Music Festival

Posted on August 28, 2025 by - News Briefs

In the August 14 Third Coast Review (Chicago), Louis Harris writes, “The Grant Park Orchestra played an excellent concert at Jay Pritzker Pavillion on Wednesday evening…. Giancarlo Guerrero was his typically perky self at the podium, and the orchestra’s prowess was on full display for … Clayton Stephenson’s stellar performance of Franz Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 [and] a powerful performance of Camille Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3 … The concert started with a recent work [Mycelialore] that set to music a phenomenon found in nature…. Composer Chelsea Komschlies explained the unusual fungal root structure of mushrooms, known as a mycelium. These fungal roots can spread great distances in the ground, forming an interconnected organism that connects trees and other plants. She … imagined what it could sound like if the interconnected mushrooms and plants could communicate via the mycelium…. She used a large orchestra enhanced by electronica….. The effect that Komschlies created of mushrooms talking to each other was startling…. She added a very charming melody, later interspersed with moments of cacophony…. With Mycelialore, Chelsea Komschlies was very effective in setting nature to music.” Mycelialore was commissioned by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation Orchestral Commissions Program, an initiative of the League of American Orchestras in partnership with the American Composers Orchestra.

A Ban on Pernambuco, Used in Violin Bows, Would Impair Music Worldwide

Posted on August 25, 2025 by - News Briefs

In the August 15 Strad (U.K.), Christian Lloyd writes, “Brazil has again launched a proposal for a worldwide ban on the pernambuco trade. The next meeting of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) begins in November, when it will be decided whether the buying, selling and even repair of instrument bows could be potentially outlawed…. Under Appendix I, the buying and selling of pernambuco bows, with just a very few exceptions, could be banned outright…. The International Pernambuco Conservation Initiative (IPCI) was formed by a group of bow makers in 2001 and … has been working with scientists, environmental organizations, small-scale cacao farmers, and local Brazilian communities to conserve and regrow pernambuco…. The [Appendix I] proposal is born out of the Brazilian government’s own efforts to control the pervasive … illegal trade in pernambuco…. IPCI and the International Alliance of Violin and Bow Makers for Endangered Species argue that adapting and strengthening the current Appendix II listing should be sufficient … Music stakeholders are encouraging CITES parties to pursue those strategies fully, rather than resort to an Appendix I listing.”

Visit the League of American Orchestras’ Pernambuco Exemption and Conservation site to stay up to date with the latest developments, resources, links, and regulations.

Wheeling Symphony Raises Funds for Flood Relief

Posted on August 4, 2025 by - News Briefs

In last Monday’s (7/28) Intelligencer (Wheeling, West Virginia), Eric Ayres writes, “A benefit concert this month by the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra was deemed a great success, and proceeds from the performance are expected to go a long way in the ongoing effort to help victims of the June floods with ongoing relief and recovery efforts. On Tuesday, officials from the WSO presented a check in the amount of $8,480 to the United Way of the Upper Ohio Valley. The donation represented proceeds from the July 10 concert and will go toward the United Way’s Flood Relief Fund. Sadie Varlas, marketing and communications manager for the WSO, said the community truly came out and showed its support during the concert at Vance Memorial Presbyterian Church. The event included performances by members of the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra, the Wheeling Symphony Youth Orchestra, the WSO Community Choir, local string teachers and local rock band Company Caravan…. Varlas noted that the WSO’s tagline is ‘Your Community in Concert,’ a mantra which certainly rang true during the benefit show that was orchestrated following the disastrous floods…. Staci Stephen, executive director of the United Way of the Upper Ohio Valley, said … ‘We’re so grateful to the Wheeling Symphony.’ ”

Wheeling Symphony, Youth Orchestra, Community Choir, and Area Musicians Raise Funds for Local Flood Relief

Posted on July 15, 2025 by - News Briefs

In Saturday’s (7/12) Times Leader (Martins Ferry, Ohio), Emma Delk writes, “Tears, laughter and song carried throughout the Vance Memorial Presbyterian Church on Thursday as the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra united the community to raise proceeds for victims of the June flash flooding. All proceeds from ‘Community in Concert: A Night of Music for Flood Relief’ were donated to the United Way of the Upper Ohio Valley Flood Relief Fund. The Wheeling Symphony Orchestra partnered with several local musicians for the concert, including the Wheeling Symphony Youth Orchestra, local string teachers, the WSO Community Choir and local band Company Caravan. Maestro John Devlin conducted alongside Wheeling Symphony Youth Orchestra director Shaun Hancher…. The concert took a somber turn as the WSO and Ohio Valley strings teachers performed ‘Adagio for Strings,’ which Devlin described as a ‘mournful piece’ often played when someone passes away. Before the musicians played the song, Devlin read the names of the nine flood victims…. Devlin lent special thanks to the out-of-town WSO professional musicians, who donated their time … Victims of the flooding were invited to the concert free of charge to enjoy an evening of music and reprieve.”