In Sunday’s (6/17) Plain Dealer (Cleveland), Zachary Lewis writes, “It’s heard and said all the time that Cleveland has a ‘great’ orchestra. What ‘great’ means, though, isn’t exactly clear. … ‘There’s a constellation of elements that all need to be functioning at a high level,’ said Jesse Rosen, president of the League of American Orchestras. … If an orchestra is flourishing, playing well and meeting the needs of its community, it could merit the ‘great’ stamp, Rosen said, especially in light of the volume and degree of talent coming out of music schools today. ‘The general level of playing at U.S. orchestras is just staggering,’ he said. … Money, of course, does matter and does figure into the ‘greatness’ constellation, but only to a point. Pay, endowment size, budget: They’re each like body temperature, for example, just one gauge of overall health. … Pay, for instance, has no direct impact on artistic quality. The musicians are who they are, after all, irrespective of how much they’re being paid and what benefits they’re receiving. Yet compensation bears strongly on the orchestra’s overall identity, affecting which players it’s able to hire and keep. … Greatness also depends on the financial security of the institution. … Stability, Rosen said, is the ‘platform that permits sustained excellence. Without it, confidence can begin to erode.’ ”
Posted June 19, 2012
