Arts Issues
Submitted by Jim Hirsch on Tue, 12/23/2008 - 6:02pm.
This will be my last blog of the year. Soon after the first of January there will be some significant changes coming to chicagoclassicalmusic.org. We will be re-launching the site including a new design, improved navigation and functionality, and a new interface that will make posting user-generated content a breeze!
We expect these changes to improve your experience, and hopefully, inspire you and others to make this site YOUR forum for exchanging ideas, viewpoints, and information on classical music in Chicago. Of course, we will keep (and improve) the calendar, special offers from member organizations, blogs, and other elements.
Thanks to all of you who have participated in chicagoclassicalmusic.org this year, and a special thanks to the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Chicago Community Trust for their support. On behalf of all of our member organizations, have a happy holiday season and a great New Year!
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Submitted by Jim Hirsch on Tue, 11/25/2008 - 3:32pm.
No one has written about this yet on chicagoclassicalmusic.org so I get to do it. Gramophone Magazine, a British publication, has named our very own Chicago Symphony Orchestra as the number one ranked orchestra in the United States, and the fifth highest ranked orchestra in the world. Congratulations to our friends and colleagues at the CSO. It’s nice to see others recognize what we in Chicago have known for a long time – this band rocks! I am including the full list for those of you who haven’t yet seen it.
I know that some people are uncomfortable with ratings like this. It is, after all, pretty subjective when you look at the top 10-15 orchestras on this list. But there must be something in our mental make-up that draws us to ranking things like orchestras, most embarrassing reality TV moments, best deep dish pizza, and the like. Here’s my question for you. Are there rankings in the classical music world that do make sense, and help us process all of the information floating around? What lists do you like or approve of?
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Submitted by Jim Hirsch on Tue, 11/11/2008 - 9:23am.
Like most everyone I know, I was glued to the television on the evening of Tuesday, November 4th. It probably won’t surprise anyone that I was pretty happy about the outcome. After all, I proudly work for our nation’s most diverse orchestra, the Chicago Sinfonietta, and have spent a good deal of my career working on promoting inclusiveness in the arts. But before anyone gets upset with me about bringing politics onto a classical music website, please note that this post in not about politics. This post is about what Barack Obama’s election might mean to the arts in general, and orchestras in particular. Here are a few of my thoughts, but as always, I’m much more interested in hearing what you think.
In the short-term I suspect we won’t see much in the way of discernable impact. The economy will dominate the new administration’s agenda for the first 6-12 months, and if successful, might help orchestra’s institutional donors maintain their current levels of support. The tax changes proposed during the campaign might encourage high-wealth individuals to contribute at higher levels if they are enacted, but we won’t feel those for a while. I would also guess that the National Endowment for the Arts will be funded at its current level, and gradually increase if the economy improves.
This is really about people’s perception of the economy and our country. If we feel optimistic, we will buy tickets and contribute more. I think Barack Obama will help on this front.
Okay, it’s your turn.
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Submitted by Jim Hirsch on Mon, 10/27/2008 - 2:34pm.
At the end of May I wrote a blog entitled, “It’s the Economy, Stupid”, that posed some questions about how the economic downturn might affect ticket sales and fundraising. One respondent suggested that I was letting the media “blow the downturn out of proportion”, while another recommended that I should be careful about whom I call stupid.
Today, an exceptionally astute reader noted that my May blog was “a premonition of sorts” and asked how I thought the economy might affect the arts looking forward. I should probably quit while I’m ahead, but what fun would that be? Here are some observations, opinions, and thoughts.
We are already seeing lagging ticket sales for some of the bigger events that have taken place this fall, and I personally know of a few funders that are either cutting back or ceasing their arts funding altogether.
I expect that over the next 6-18 months we will see things getting worse. I suspect that the next economic “shoe to drop” will be credit card debt, and my guess is that the stock market will be slow to recover. As a result, I would not be surprised to see a few of the smaller arts organizations going out of business, and most arts organizations operating more conservatively than normal. The big guys will do okay – they have a lot of resources, but more importantly, the type of broad-based community support that makes going out of business almost impossible. No, it’s the smaller organizations that will feel the brunt of this brutal economy. This is a time to hunker down and survive.
Here is my prescription for the arts in a tough economy:
1. Budget for a worst-case scenario and be pleasantly surprised if/when you outperform it.
2. Don’t sacrifice programming excellence or audience development activities. Present brilliant programming.
3. Work hard on advancing sustainable relationships with ticket buyers and donors.
4. Stay focused on executing against your strategic plan and don’t get sidetracked.
5. Develop restructuring options in case the worse happens.
6. Be very thankful you work in the arts and not in the real estate or financial sector.
These are a few of my thoughts. Please chime in with yours. Maybe together we can think our way out of this mess!
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I remember a long discussion I had
in college about the creation of the album cover for The Beatles’ 1967 release Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
It was a seemingly endless list of pop-culture inclusions and references to
their evolving careers created by cardboard cut outs and props. At the time and
even today it is a shining example of unique album-cover artistry. I began to
think about album cover artwork in general and about what others think on its
offering to the “music experience” as a whole. Does it lend to the excitement
of opening up a new album by seeing the cover and hearing the music for the
first time, or is it a distraction?
A couple images came to mind in the
classical genre: the striking image of a woman in a yellow dress standing in an
ornately hand drawn room on the cover Anne-Sophie Mutter’s Mozart: The Violin Sonatas, or the mural-esque angel of Piers
Lane’s Scriabin: The Complete Etudes. Classical music has never been known for its unique and artistic album
covers, yet genres such as rock ’n’ roll and hip-hop sometimes go over the top
and find themselves facing censorship and taking artistic expression to the
level of risqué. Do you think album artwork is or should be considered a part
of the overall “music experience?” And why do you think its emphasis varies
between genres?
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Today's guest blog is written by Stefan Lano who will conduct the Chicago Sinfonietta during the upcoming performances of the opera Margaret Garner at the Auditorium Theater beginning November 1st.
As we prepare for the production of Margaret Garner at the Auditorium Theater, I am pleased to share some thoughts with you about this important opera.
Although, the commissioning venues of Michigan Opera Theater, the Cincinnati Opera and The Opera Company of Philadelphia were most generous in alotting ample time and funding for workshops prior to the world premiere here in Detroit, both hindsight and the experience gained through repeated performances will inevitably color subsequent re- visitations to this score. That this is now the case, became evident at our first rehearsals and run-throughs of the
opera this past week. The goals and priorities set by production teams of most any opera, play or film are pretty
much the same: 1. tell the story clearly and with dramatic efficiency; 2. entertain the public while, hopefully, simultaneously edifying them; 3. try to achieve a sense of closure at evening's end such that the public feels that they have been 'taken somewhere.'
An example of point number 3, would be the ambience in the public when the reprise of the Aria is reached in Bach's Goldberg Variations; or the sense of tragic inevitability at the end of Verdi's Otello as opposed to the comic inevitabiltiy at the end of his Falstaff. Point number 2 is a bit more subtle. In some opera, such as Mozart's Magic Flute, the moral of a given scene is presented as an aside in the form of the ensembles where the characters address the public more directly rather than each other. In an opera such as Margaret Garner, the message of Toni Morrison is, as one would expect from a literary national treasure, inherent in her story. Thus do we arrive at the conundrum articulated by Madeleine in the final scene of Richard Strauss' Capriccio: do the words or the music take precedence?
Rather than argue for one or the other, I have always found that if the notion of effective theater is well-served, then both words and music are better clarified. In the case of this run of Margaret Garner, this notion dictates our modus operandi perhaps moreso than the first time around. The care taken in the preparation of any first performance is, more often than not, devoted to 'getting it right', especially when composer and librettist may be present. There is, however, more to theater than merely getting it right. One can get the words and the notes right while missing their element of dramatic marriage. From the resonance of the opening productions of Margaret Garner, it seems that most would agree that we 'got it right.'
It bespeaks the vision of David Di Chiera in his mounting a reprise of Margaret Garner relatively soon after the premier. His decision is now the more felicitous as we approach an historic Presidential election in which an African-American could well become our next President. That our country evolve as to embrace change.
In the spirit of opera being an art form in perpetual evolution, Kenny Leon and I intend to greatly expand upon that which we presented some years ago and are especially thrilled that we will do so in the architectural landmark of the Roosevelt Theatre about which one can only echo George Ballanchine's comment: 'Why don't they build them like this any more...?" Amen.
All best wishes to you,
Stefan Lano
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Today’s blog is submitted by musician and writer, Rashida Black.
In his recent blog, Chicago Sinfonietta Executive Director Jim Hirsch wrote about his support of the mission of the Sphinx Organization. Jim noted that Sphinx actively promotes diversity and inclusiveness in classical music and that it's "not our field's favorite topic... based on the national statistics that show less than 3% of orchestral musicians being people of color." That's where I'd like to jump in to mention the many organizations, some of which are under the radar, that acknowledge the racial disparities and that are trying to do something about it. Like the Chicago Sinfonietta...
Just briefly, I'll point out youth programs like The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's Talent Development Program , which prepared many of Sphinx's top performers over the past decade. There are larger organizations and festivals including the Soulful Symphony in Baltimore and the Gateways Music Festival that showcase Black and Latino talent and nurture their careers. There are web sites like Bill Zick's AfriClassical.com and my own, myrtlehart.org, which advocate, promote and educate the general public on the subject. I'm just scratching at the surface of who is working to raise that 3%. We live the 3%. We also acknowledge the fact that many who can do something about it simply don't want to do something about it, which is why we've stepped up to the plate.
So, in an effort to "do something about it," the Myrtle Hart Society is raising funds and awareness through its first benefit featuring The Boys Choir of Kenya to be held at 6:30 pm on Monday, October 13 at the G. R. N'Namdi Gallery located at 110 North Peoria, Chicago.
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Submitted by Jim Hirsch on Thu, 09/11/2008 - 9:29am.
I read in a recent League of American Orchestras email that a study has just been
completed that asked people to describe their personality traits and then asked subjects to list their favorite styles of music. Apparently there is a link between heavy metal and classical music fans due to their shared “love of the grandiose” and big, loud, brash music. According to the researcher, besides their age differences, both are basically the same type of person. Hmmm. Maybe Wagner was a precursor to Metallica.
An earlier League email referenced a book, The Mating Mind, written by Evolutionary Psychologist Geoffrey Miller discussing why we find musicians and singers sexy. “Looking at things from a biological point of view,” writes MacLeod, “we would normally expect women to be attracted to men with qualities that indicate good genes that can be passed on to her children or those that show he can look after a family, like a wad of cash for instance. Music doesn’t seem to serve any practical purpose. Musical ability, along with other creative skills, are rather like a human version of the peacock’s tail; something that has no survival value, but has evolved precisely because it is found attractive by the opposite sex….
As a former professional musician, I can pretty safely say that if this is true, it unfortunately has fallen outside of my personal experience. I’m wondering if any of you would care to comment on these two interesting subjects?
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Today's guest blog is written by Dileep Gangolli, Clarinetist with the Chicago Sinfonietta
While playing with my wife’s new computer, I stumbled on a desktop prompt for Pandora Radio which connected me to a world of streaming Classical music organized in a highly logical mathematical manner.
I was immediately taken by the way the music is presented and delivered (at no cost to the listener). I am anxious to get the thoughts of others on this method of classical music distribution.
After signing up for Pandora Radio, listeners are invited to create their “own radio stations” that feature their favorite composers. I have stations that feature Mozart, Bach, Schubert, Mahler, and Coldplay among others.
But what is so interesting is that the musical selections are not just of the selected composers but of those that compose in a similar manner either by being of the same time period or by being similar in aesthetic. So Mozart could precede a neo-classical work by Stravinsky that would then be followed by a composition by Varese or Satie. This type of musical organization is a by-product of the Musical Genome Project.
I “Googled” the MGP and this is what surfaced on Wikipedia:
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Today's guest blog was co-written by Jean Cook, Deputy Director and Casey Rae-Hunter Communications Director; both of of The Future of Music Coalition
When you think of classical music listeners, you might not picture web-savvy youth firing off blog posts about the great recital they just attended, or flitting through social networks to interact with their favorite contemporary ensemble. But according to Sidney Chen, Artistic Administrator of the avant-classical ensemble Kronos Quartet, all that and more is currently happening online, thanks to a cool little concept called net neutrality.
Net neutrality is the principle that protects the open Internet. It allows musicians to distribute their work in any way they want, without interference from gatekeepers and middlemen. It also provides fans with a plethora of legal ways to get their musical fix, often directly from the artist. But big telecommunications and cable companies want to change the fundamental structure of the internet by charging those who put content on the web — artists, filmmakers etc. — a fee for the faster delivery of their sights and sounds. If they couldn’t afford to (or didn’t want to) pay this toll, they’d be forced into in the information superhighway’s slow lane.This would be devastating to artists like Kronos Quartet, who depend on the Internet to reach potential audiences. “Our projects don’t normally fit neatly into genres,” Chen says. “The Internet allows us to reach those people who aren’t reliant solely on mainstream media and other information gatekeepers.”
Exploration celebration
According to Chen, Kronos fans come from a wide variety of backgrounds, ages, and locations. “The consistent thread that ties together all of our fans is that they’re adventurous listeners,” he relates. “The Internet has allowed us to find people who are just out there exploring and looking for new and interesting sounds. It’s allowed us to have a direct, two-way connection with our existing fans and also uncover new audiences.”
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