For those of us who eagerly awaited the end of the strike and the return of the musicians to Orchestra Hall, the 2011-12 season brought many highlights tempered by bittersweet moments and some notes of longing.

The shortened Spring-Summer offerings in 2011 brought us one of the saddest days in recent memory – the final concert of much-beloved concertmaster Emmanuelle Boisvert. Since her departure was a direct result of the strike, there was no opportunity for a fond and formal farewell. Her last concert was simply her last concert. Other retirements and departures followed. As a result, the 2011-2012 season featured perhaps the largest number of substitute musicians that audiences had ever seen.

For those of us who hold a special fondness for our musicians, it was often difficult to come to concerts knowing that we may not see or hear a favorite. Some, of course, had moved on for good. Others, due to the strike, took on obligations that limited their performances in the 2011-12 season.

Audience favorite Kim Kennedy led the 2011-12 season as acting concertmaster, performing solos and a concerto to the delight of those who have admired her playing for years. The recent announcement of a new concertmaster has many audience members excited for what will come.

One benefit of the limited offerings this season: many of the musicians took to concertizing in the community and beyond. Local chamber music programs gave the audience the opportunity to listen to our esteemed musicians in more intimate settings. A brunch series at the Birmingham Community House, the ProMozart Society, Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings, and the neighborhood concerts all gave audiences the opportunity to hear music in new and different settings.

Still, for many of us, the best place to hear the orchestra is Orchestra Hall. Some of the most memorable concerts this season included the Festival of Flutes with Sir James Galway alongside the DSO’s own Sharon Sparrow and Jeff Zook, who performed Vivaldi’s Piccolo concerto to a full house. Favorite conductors featured this season included Neemi Jarvi, Jerzy Semkov, and Thomas Wilkins. It’s clear that Detroit audiences know, love and appreciate the conductors who know and respond to the heart of the DSO. The season finale will feature Robert DeMaine.

Looking ahead, the audience knows that DSO is a living, growing organization. We cannot stop change, nor should we strive to stop it. Audience input, however, remains an important goal as the DSO continues to develop new offerings. We must stay involved, whether as subscribers, donors, or new media users. As we know, cultural institutions in Detroit need community support. Let’s step up and hold our orchestra out to the world as a successful example

Saturday, Oct 8, Michel Camilo piano concerto #2 and Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique, Leonard Slatkin conductor:

The Camilo was certainly new to my ears. I recall it being well performed by Mr. Camilo. I did not sense any real soul to the piece or Camilo’s interpretation. The Berlioz seemed rather mundane, predictable, somewhat choppy and i recall being nearly asleep after a couple movements. I believe there were about 30 substitute players that evening. Charles Dutoit’s colourful and highly dramatic reading of Symphonie Fantastique had me on the edge of my seat right from start to finish in a concert a few year’s back at OH. It seemed that Slatkin et al needed a blood transfusion in comparison to Dutoit.

Friday Oct 21, Neilsen Helios Overture, Franz Liszt piano concerto #2, Tchaikovsky Symphony #6(Pathetique), Jerzy Semkow conductor, Kirill Gerstein soloist:

The Helioz overture was rich with atmosphere and buzzed with excitement. I am not a big Liszt fan and especially not of the 2nd concerto. However it was lovingly performed by Gerstein and kind of won me over a least for that evening. Maestro Semkow has long been a favorite conductor of mine in Detroit. He has consistently given HIGHLY musical and polished performances mostly of Mendelsson, Mahler, Bruckner, Mozart and so forth. It was clear that night that Mr. Semkow was not well as he sat down to conduct the entire program. The Tchaikovsky had some wonderfully profound moments but i felt semkow took the 3rd movement (Marche) at a nearly impossible slow tempo. However Mr. Semkow should be thanked formally by DSO management for giving over 32 years of wonderful concerts to Detroit audiences. Are you listening DSO?

Thursday, Nov 17, Festival of Flutes featuring James Galway, Lady Jeanne Galway, Maria Piccinini, Jeff Zook-piccolo, Hai-Xin Wu-violin:

The program featured Bach Brandenburg concerto #4, Paquito D’Rivera Gran Danzon, Mozart flute concerto #2. The Bach was well played and quite spirited. The Gran Danzon found Maria Piccinini in great form. This piece was most interesting, with many unusual rhythms and colourful effects throughout. Jeff Zook took an engaging and fun romp thru the Vivaldi piccolo concerto. I was amazed at how zook was able to negotiate rapid-fire trills and runs and not losing his breath. Mr. Galway’s playing in the Mozart was “pretty” and technically flawless. One would have liked a little more depth and variance of tonal quality. All in all a very enjoyable night.

Friday Nov 25, Schubert “Unfinished” Symphony, Rachmaninov Symphony #3, Mason Bates “B-Sides.” Leonard Slatkin conductor, Mason Bates-Electronica:

The Schubert sounded like Mr Slatkin was in a big hurry to get it over with. Over the top dynamics and no sense of mystery. Things improved with the Rachmaninov. This was a well played but somewhat restrained effort. There were some wonderfully lush moments in the string melodies. The B-Sides exploded with all kinds of subtle color and dynamic shifts. Mason Bates is clearly an interesting composer. Although a bit repetitive the last movement was downright infectious.

Friday Jan 20, Franck Symphony in D Minor, Saint Saens Piano Concerto #2. Helen Bouchez Conductor, Conrad Tao soloist.

Mr. Tao’s playing in the concerto was full of high drama but also wonderfully tender when called for. Tao’s technical skills were enormous but he still managed to play quite musically for the most part. I enjoyed hearing the Franck which i had not heard for many years. Mrs. Bouchez’s conducting was fairly straight-forward but had moments of extra sparkle.

Friday Feb 24, John Adams, On the Transmigration of Souls, Brahms German Requiem. Leonard Slatkin Conductor, UMS Choral Union:

The Adams was plagued from the start with the “recorded” parts being too prominent against the hushed strings of the orchestra. Tho the piece was clearly moving it struck me as rather disjointed in parts. I enjoyed the Brahms. The Choral Union sang with strong conviction and produced mostly a unified fairly rich sound. There was however a very wobbly out of control vibrato from one of the sopranos which overwhelmed parts of the score. Slatkin’s conducting was fairly predictable but did have some beautiful moments.

Fri March 23, Mozart Don Giovanni Overture, Beehtoven Piano Concerto #5, Mozart Symphony # 38. Nicholas McGegan Conductor:

The Don Giovanni was rather pedestrian. The Beehtoven played by Robert Levin was rather earthbound. Levin’s brutally aggressive attack and bleached out tonal quality were not pleasing to these ears. I was lost by the end of the first movement. Nicholas McGegan led a fine performance of the Mozart symphony. Although McGegan is very much in the “original instrument” style of playing, he doesn’t go over the top with the lack of vibrato and somewhat dried-out tonal quality. The piece was quite engaging and refreshing to hear a new-”old” twist on things.

Sat March 31, Brahms Piano Concerto #2, Wagner-DEVLIEGER Die Meistersinger-Orchestral Tribute. Neeme Jarvi Conductor, Helene Grimaud soloist:

The LONG LONG overdue return of Neeme Jarvi. Mrs Grimaud’s playing in the Brahms was very competent and quite engaging overall. Once again though i thought her playing became rather strident and aggressive, almost out of control at times. Especially in the prayer-like second movement more poetry in her playing would have helped. Well the second half was all Neeme Jarvi. It took all of about five minutes to realize how much the DSO misses the charisma and innate musicality of Jarvi. It seemed like years since the sound of the cellos and strings had that much warmth and bloom to the sound. Jarvi ever the bubbly type had the audience very engaged right from the start. The two American encores were wonderful!

We encourage everyone to contribute. Send your thoughts to: david@saveoursymphony.org

]]> http://saveoursymphony.org/new-page-dso-2011-2012-season/feed/ 0 http://saveoursymphony.org/david-assemany/ http://saveoursymphony.org/david-assemany/#comments Sun, 06 May 2012 20:09:47 +0000 David http://saveoursymphony.org/?p=2881 Continue reading →]]> David Assemany –

I attended almost every classical week of the 2011-12 Season. I did miss the Classical Roots concert, and I will miss the Saint-Saëns concert next week.

From the outset it was clear that this was not the DSO from season’s past; so many faces gone, so many unknown musicians on the stage.   The strings sounded distinctly different, who were all those percussionists, and what is with those cameras?!  This was going to take some getting used to.

As the season progressed I got used to seeing the new faces.  There seemed to be consistency in who was subbing which was good of course.  The string sound filled out, the percussion section sounded good from the outset, the flutes found excellent players to fill out the section.  I have always been a fan of Kim Kennedy, and seeing her step up as Acting Concertmaster was nice, as was hearing her in the starring role quite a few times, most notable the recent Wagner/Waxman Tristan and Isolde Fantasy.  Acting Principal Flute Sharon Sparrow was her usual spectacular self.  Other people who shone when asked to move up in the section included Úna O’Riordan, Cello and Geoffrey Johnson, English Horn.

As a pianist, I always look forward to the big piano concertos. This season had several highlights, one of them completely unexpected; the Conrad Tao concert in January featuring the Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 2 in G-minor. I loved it so much I went back the next night, and then watched the webcast! Conrad is a mesmerizing pianist, with technique to burn and more importantly a soul. He is a young man with quite a career already, and one to watch in the future.

Another unexpected delight was Final Alice by David Del Tredici. I had never heard of the piece, and quite honestly did not expect to love it. I did however love it, once again watching the webcast after attending the concert live the night before. It was a tour de force for the soprano Hila Plitmann, and the musicians got quite a workout as well. There are probably not many conductors who could pull this piece off as well as Maestro Slatkin did.

The webcasts evolved over the course of the season. They were a little rough at first, which is not surprising as they were navigating uncharted territory at every turn. However the Digital Media team led by Scott Harrison and Eric Woodhams quickly became expert at producing an excellent webcast. Kudos guys, looking forward to next season!

The Mix at the Max event in April was a fun departure from the norm. Featuring the Brooklyn-based chamber orchestra The Knights, it included a pre-concert mixer with food and drink from several local restaurants. The crowd was young and enthusiastic. Hopefully this sort of event will bring people to the hall who would not normally attend a classical concert.

A disappointment for me was the reduced season of classical concerts actually performed in Orchestra Hall. Most of the venues that the community concerts were performed in are acoustically poor and even the good ones don’t hold a candle to Orchestra Hall. I hope the ensuing seasons reduce the commitment to the community concerts and focus on getting those people to come to the DSO’s wonderful home stage. How about a free ticket to a concert in the hall with every purchase of a community concert ticket? Busses from the burbs?

On a different topic, I must tell about my experiences as an SOS officer with the DSO administration and staff at the MAX: Going into the season, I saw potential for friction with the administration while we from SOS tried to become more involved in the behind the scenes work of producing ‘world class music on the stage of Orchestra Hall.’ Happily this was not the case. The staff was always polite, professional, friendly and efficient. Upper management, starting right at the top with Anne Parsons, went out of their way to make the SOS Governing Members feel welcome and listened to. Our concerns were not always addressed, but they were always respectfully heard. We were not shy about pushing our way into the daily goings on. Our presence at the hall was always (seemingly) welcomed.

And finally, I would like to extend a big welcome to: Sheryl Hwangbo, violin – Monica Fosnaugh, English horn – Johanna Yarbrough, French horn – Peter McCaffrey, cello – David LeDoux, cello – Yoonshin Song, Concertmaster!

We encourage everyone to contribute. Send your thoughts to: david@saveoursymphony.org

—————————————-

Phil & Hanna Clampitt –

When we renewed our subscription to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, we chose the Saturday Night Classical C Series.  We were cautiously optimistic.  We do not know how typical we are as audience members, but we are two of them.  How do we rate the season as we have experienced it so far, in early May 2012?

We have been pleased with what we’ve seen and heard.  Highlights for us have included the “Festival of Flutes” with James Galway and Friends, enjoyable not just because of the Galways but because of the Vivaldi Piccolo Concerto in C played wonderfully by Jeffery Zook, the tour de force performance by flutist Marina Piccinini of the “Gran Danzon” by Paquito D’Rivera, and more (Nov. 19); the combination of Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony, Mason Bates’ “B-sides” and Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 3 (Nov. 25, memorable in part because visiting relatives joined us in enjoying this fine music in acoustically superb Orchestra Hall); Thomas Wilkins conducting music of Bartok, Glazunov, Schulhoff & Beethoven, & with Branford Marsalis as soloist in the Glazunov Concerto for Alto Saxophone (Dec. 3); and Emanuel Ax playing Mozart’s 22^nd Piano Concerto, paired with Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 (Feb. 18).  Leonard Slatkin conducted all of these concerts except the Dec. 3^rd one, and we were enthusiastic both with the programs – combination of familiar and “new” compositions – and with the performances.

We’d like to focus particularly on what we saw and heard in March – a series of three concerts with many highlights all in one month:

(1)    The March 3^rd concert, conducted by Maestro Slatkin, consisting of the much-loved, and to us very familiar, “Peter and the Wolf” by Prokofiev, and (to us) the totally unfamiliar “Final Alice” (based on the Alice in Wonderland tales, which we love and had to go back to afterwards) by David Del Tredici.  It was an interesting combination, and perhaps more so to the two of us who are now well into our second childhoods.  We were also pleased that Del Tredici was present for the performance of his 70-minute composition, a sort of neo-romantic combination opera and symphony.  “Final Alice” intriguingly combines a huge orchestra – including many wind instruments, percussion, soprano saxophone, banjo, accordion, etc. – and a lone soprano soloist, Hila Plitmann; we had never heard of her before, but she was spectacular in this very difficult and demanding role as singer, narrator, actress, etc.  We had binoculars, and often watched her varying facial expressions – fear, disgust, joy, anger, peace, etc. – as the tale of the Knave of Hearts being on trial for stealing the tarts made by the Queen of Hearts unfolded.  We found this piece totally intriguing, and wonderfully performed.

(2)    The March 17^th Classical Roots concert was conducted by Andre Raphel.  (You may know that the program was a memorial to Dr. Arthur Johnson, long-time DSO Board Member and patron of education and the arts in Detroit, who died last fall.  There were several speeches, and some awards, appreciating him and his legacy.)  We liked Andre Raphel as a conductor and enjoyed the varied program.  This included the opening “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” for chorus and orchestra; spirituals sung a capella by the Brazeal Dennard Chorale; a new orchestral piece by Daniel Bernard Roumain called “Dancers, Dreamers & Presidents”; four beautiful spirituals arranged for soprano and orchestra by Hale Smith, with Janice Chandler Eteme as soloist; Hale Smith’s “By Yearning and By Beautiful” for string orchestra; and concluding with William Levi Dawson’s “Negro Folk Symphony,” a splendid piece.   The music was all interesting to us, but with the speeches in addition to the music, we think the program was a little too long.

(3)    We got tickets to attend the March 31^st concert with Neeme Jarvi conducting, and it was wonderful to see him again, and to hear the DSO under his direction.  Helene Grimaud’s performance of Brahms’ 1^st Piano Concerto was superlative, as was the orchestral accompaniment.  It didn’t much matter to us that the other major work was the Wagner/de Vlieger “Die Meistersinger: An Orchestral Tribute.”  We were just delighted to see and hear Jarvi in action again with the DSO.  It was a fine performance, as were the delightful encores that followed.  We agree with the heading of Mark Stryker’s enthusiastic review in the Free Press:  “Jarvi has the DSO playing like he never left.”  We thought about conducting styles that evening.  Phil put it this way to a friend who lives elsewhere: “Jarvi was in good form, as we have known him in the past; the artistry just flows out of him spontaneously, and the DSO responded with wonderful performances.”  We think it has something to do with love.

Although we were not able to attend a couple of other DSO concerts in person – both conducted by Leonard Slatkin – we very much enjoyed seeing the live webcasts from home.  (Not as good as being in Orchestra Hall, but second best.)  One, in late February, combined John Adams’ “On the Transmigration of Souls” (new to us) and the Brahms “Requiem” (very familiar, Phil having sung in a chorus doing this several decades ago).  Wonderful concert!  The other, April 21^st, included Beethoven’s “Choral Fantasy” (for solo piano – Jeffrey Biegel – orchestra and chorus – the UMS Choral Union), William Bolcom’s (Michigan composer!) “Prometheus” (same combination), and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World.”  Another wonderful combination – including the Bolcom piece that we had never heard before.  We thought Geoffrey Johnson’s (African-American Orchestra Fellow in the DSO) English horn solo in the Dvorak Symphony’s slow movement was exquisite, and the whole orchestra was at its best!

Whatever the sizes of the audiences for these various concerts, however many substitute musicians may have participated (we didn’t try to count), and whoever conducted – Slatkin was conductor for most of them – we joined with the rest of the audience in enthusiastic responses to the performances.  We continue to be enriched by the quality of music that we receive from our DSO musicians.

What has been the experience of other SOS members who have attended DSO concerts this year?

—————————————-

David Assemany –

I attended almost every classical week of the 2011-12 Season. I did miss the Classical Roots concert, and I will miss the Saint-Saëns concert next week.

From the outset it was clear that this was not the DSO from season’s past; so many faces gone, so many unknown musicians on the stage.   The strings sounded distinctly different, who were all those percussionists, and what is with those cameras?!  This was going to take some getting used to…

As the season progressed I did get used to seeing the new faces.  There seemed to be consistency in who was subbing which was good of course.  The string sound filled out, the percussion section sounded good from the very first week and the flutes found excellent players to fill out the section.  I have always been a fan of Kim Kennedy, and seeing her step up as Acting Concertmaster was a treat, as was hearing her in the starring role quite a few times, most notable the recent Wagner/Waxman Tristan and Isolde Fantasy.  Acting Principal flute Sharon Sparrow was her usual spectacular self.  Other people who shone when asked to move up in the section included Úna O’Riordan, Cello and Geoffrey Johnson, English Horn.

As a pianist, I always look forward to the big piano concertos. This season had several highlights, one of them completely unexpected; the Conrad Tao concert in January featuring the Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 2 in G-minor. I loved it so much I went back the next night, and then watched the webcast! Conrad is a mesmerizing pianist, with technique to burn and more importantly a soul. He is a young man with quite a career already, and one to watch in the future.

Another unexpected delight was Final Alice by David Del Tredici. I had never heard of the piece, and quite honestly did not expect to love it. I did however love it, once again watching the webcast after attending the concert live the night before. It was a tour de force for the soprano Hila Plitmann, and the musicians got quite a workout as well. There are probably not many conductors who could pull this piece off as well as Maestro Slatkin did.

The webcasts evolved over the course of the season. They were a little rough at first, which is not surprising as they were navigating uncharted territory at every turn. However the Digital Media team led by Scott Harrison and Eric Woodhams quickly became expert at producing an excellent webcast. Kudos guys, looking forward to next season!

The Mix at the Max event in April was a fun departure from the norm. Featuring the Brooklyn-based chamber orchestra The Knights, it included a pre-concert mixer with food and drink from several local restaurants. The crowd was young and enthusiastic. Hopefully this sort of event will bring people to the hall who would not normally attend a classical concert.

A disappointment for me was the reduced season of classical concerts actually performed in Orchestra Hall. Most of the venues that the community concerts were performed in are acoustically poor and even the good ones don’t hold a candle to Orchestra Hall. I hope the ensuing seasons reduce the commitment to the community concerts and focus on getting those people to come to the DSO’s wonderful home stage. How about a free ticket to a concert in the hall with every purchase of a community concert ticket? Busses from the burbs?

On a different topic, I must tell about my experiences as an SOS officer with the DSO administration and staff at the MAX: Going into the season, I saw potential for friction with the administration while we from SOS tried to become more involved in the behind the scenes work of producing ‘world class music on the stage of Orchestra Hall.’ Happily this was not the case. The staff was always polite, professional, friendly and efficient. Upper management, starting right at the top with Anne Parsons, went out of their way to make the SOS Governing Members feel welcome and listened to. Our concerns were not always addressed, but they were always respectfully heard. We were not shy about pushing our way into the daily goings on. Our presence at the hall was always (seemingly) welcomed.

And finally, I would like to extend a big welcome to: Sheryl Hwangbo, violin – Monica Fosnaugh, English horn – Johanna Yarbrough, French horn – Peter McCaffrey, cello – David LeDoux, cello – Yoonshin Song, Concertmaster!  Click HERE for a nice column on them in the Detroit News article by Larry Johnson.

—————————————-

Cornelia Pokrzywa -

For those of us who eagerly awaited the end of the strike and the return of the musicians to Orchestra Hall, the 2011-12 season brought many highlights tempered by bittersweet moments and some notes of longing.

The shortened Spring-Summer offerings in 2011 brought us one of the saddest days in recent memory – the final concert of much-beloved concertmaster Emmanuelle Boisvert. Since her departure was a direct result of the strike, there was no opportunity for a fond and formal farewell. Her last concert was simply her last concert. Other retirements and departures followed. As a result, the 2011-2012 season featured perhaps the largest number of substitute musicians that audiences had ever seen.

For those of us who hold a special fondness for our musicians, it was often difficult to come to concerts knowing that we may not see or hear a favorite. Some, of course, had moved on for good. Others, due to the strike, took on obligations that limited their performances in the 2011-12 season.

Audience favorite Kim Kennedy led the 2011-12 season as acting concertmaster, performing solos and a concerto to the delight of those who have admired her playing for years. The recent announcement of a new concertmaster has many audience members excited for what will come.

One benefit of the limited offerings this season: many of the musicians took to concertizing in the community and beyond. Local chamber music programs gave the audience the opportunity to listen to our esteemed musicians in more intimate settings. A brunch series at the Birmingham Community House, the ProMozart Society, Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings, and the neighborhood concerts all gave audiences the opportunity to hear music in new and different settings.

Still, for many of us, the best place to hear the orchestra is Orchestra Hall. Some of the most memorable concerts this season included the Festival of Flutes with Sir James Galway alongside the DSO’s own Sharon Sparrow and Jeff Zook, who performed Vivaldi’s Piccolo concerto to a full house. Favorite conductors featured this season included Neemi Jarvi, Jerzy Semkov, and Thomas Wilkins. It’s clear that Detroit audiences know, love and appreciate the conductors who know and respond to the heart of the DSO. The season finale will feature Robert DeMaine.

Looking ahead, the audience knows that DSO is a living, growing organization. We cannot stop change, nor should we strive to stop it. Audience input, however, remains an important goal as the DSO continues to develop new offerings. We must stay involved, whether as subscribers, donors, or new media users. As we know, cultural institutions in Detroit need community support. Let’s step up and hold our orchestra out to the world as a successful example

—————————————-

David Faulkner –

Saturday, Oct 8, Michel Camilo piano concerto #2 and Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique, Leonard Slatkin conductor:

The Camilo was certainly new to my ears. I recall it being well performed by Mr. Camilo. I did not sense any real soul to the piece or Camilo’s interpretation. The Berlioz seemed rather mundane, predictable, somewhat choppy and i recall being nearly asleep after a couple movements. I believe there were about 30 substitute players that evening. Charles Dutoit’s colourful and highly dramatic reading of Symphonie Fantastique had me on the edge of my seat right from start to finish in a concert a few year’s back at OH. It seemed that Slatkin et al needed a blood transfusion in comparison to Dutoit.

Friday Oct 21, Neilsen Helios Overture, Franz Liszt piano concerto #2, Tchaikovsky Symphony #6(Pathetique), Jerzy Semkow conductor, Kirill Gerstein soloist:

The Helioz overture was rich with atmosphere and buzzed with excitement. I am not a big Liszt fan and especially not of the 2nd concerto. However it was lovingly performed by Gerstein and kind of won me over a least for that evening. Maestro Semkow has long been a favorite conductor of mine in Detroit. He has consistently given HIGHLY musical and polished performances mostly of Mendelsson, Mahler, Bruckner, Mozart and so forth. It was clear that night that Mr. Semkow was not well as he sat down to conduct the entire program. The Tchaikovsky had some wonderfully profound moments but i felt semkow took the 3rd movement (Marche) at a nearly impossible slow tempo. However Mr. Semkow should be thanked formally by DSO management for giving over 32 years of wonderful concerts to Detroit audiences. Are you listening DSO?

Thursday, Nov 17, Festival of Flutes featuring James Galway, Lady Jeanne Galway, Maria Piccinini, Jeff Zook-piccolo, Hai-Xin Wu-violin:

The program featured Bach Brandenburg concerto #4, Paquito D’Rivera Gran Danzon, Mozart flute concerto #2. The Bach was well played and quite spirited. The Gran Danzon found Maria Piccinini in great form. This piece was most interesting, with many unusual rhythms and colourful effects throughout. Jeff Zook took an engaging and fun romp thru the Vivaldi piccolo concerto. I was amazed at how zook was able to negotiate rapid-fire trills and runs and not losing his breath. Mr. Galway’s playing in the Mozart was “pretty” and technically flawless. One would have liked a little more depth and variance of tonal quality. All in all a very enjoyable night.

Friday Nov 25, Schubert “Unfinished” Symphony, Rachmaninov Symphony #3, Mason Bates “B-Sides.” Leonard Slatkin conductor, Mason Bates-Electronica:

The Schubert sounded like Mr Slatkin was in a big hurry to get it over with. Over the top dynamics and no sense of mystery. Things improved with the Rachmaninov. This was a well played but somewhat restrained effort. There were some wonderfully lush moments in the string melodies. The B-Sides exploded with all kinds of subtle color and dynamic shifts. Mason Bates is clearly an interesting composer. Although a bit repetitive the last movement was downright infectious.

Friday Jan 20, Franck Symphony in D Minor, Saint Saens Piano Concerto #2. Helen Bouchez Conductor, Conrad Tao soloist.

Mr. Tao’s playing in the concerto was full of high drama but also wonderfully tender when called for. Tao’s technical skills were enormous but he still managed to play quite musically for the most part. I enjoyed hearing the Franck which i had not heard for many years. Mrs. Bouchez’s conducting was fairly straight-forward but had moments of extra sparkle.

Friday Feb 24, John Adams, On the Transmigration of Souls, Brahms German Requiem. Leonard Slatkin Conductor, UMS Choral Union:

The Adams was plagued from the start with the “recorded” parts being too prominent against the hushed strings of the orchestra. Tho the piece was clearly moving it struck me as rather disjointed in parts. I enjoyed the Brahms. The Choral Union sang with strong conviction and produced mostly a unified fairly rich sound. There was however a very wobbly out of control vibrato from one of the sopranos which overwhelmed parts of the score. Slatkin’s conducting was fairly predictable but did have some beautiful moments.

Fri March 23, Mozart Don Giovanni Overture, Beehtoven Piano Concerto #5, Mozart Symphony # 38. Nicholas McGegan Conductor:

The Don Giovanni was rather pedestrian. The Beehtoven played by Robert Levin was rather earthbound. Levin’s brutally aggressive attack and bleached out tonal quality were not pleasing to these ears. I was lost by the end of the first movement. Nicholas McGegan led a fine performance of the Mozart symphony. Although McGegan is very much in the “original instrument” style of playing, he doesn’t go over the top with the lack of vibrato and somewhat dried-out tonal quality. The piece was quite engaging and refreshing to hear a new-”old” twist on things.

Sat March 31, Brahms Piano Concerto #2, Wagner-DEVLIEGER Die Meistersinger-Orchestral Tribute. Neeme Jarvi Conductor, Helene Grimaud soloist:

The LONG LONG overdue return of Neeme Jarvi. Mrs Grimaud’s playing in the Brahms was very competent and quite engaging overall. Once again though i thought her playing became rather strident and aggressive, almost out of control at times. Especially in the prayer-like second movement more poetry in her playing would have helped. Well the second half was all Neeme Jarvi. It took all of about five minutes to realize how much the DSO misses the charisma and innate musicality of Jarvi. It seemed like years since the sound of the cellos and strings had that much warmth and bloom to the sound. Jarvi ever the bubbly type had the audience very engaged right from the start. The two American encores were wonderful!

Avanti Summer Music Fest is well on its way.  We have over 150 students confirmed; we have our Ensemble Directors in place & an enthusiastic Steering Committee that is working hard to make this all happen.

However, we still need YOU!  We are in the midst of fundraising, having our first event on May 20^th at Our Lady Star of the Sea.  Please read about it at http://www.avantisummermusicfest.org/ . You can help!  We are having a reception after the silent auction & concert and are in need of decorations for tables and goodies to serve.

All you bakers, now is your chance to show off your skill. We are looking for cookies or brownies, any kind of hand held sweet for the reception.

Not at home in the kitchen?  How about purchasing some 2 liter bottles of soda or lemonade?  Or donating money for us to purchase them and/or the decorations (plastic table cloths, napkins, name tags for Avanti families, etc)?

Want to attend? Great!  Not only will we take your donation at the door, there will be a silent auction on which to bid and opportunities to volunteer for various tasks (helping with parking, manning the name tag table, keeping the goodies stocked, etc as well as that most important task: clean up!).

Please contact me with how YOU can help!

Bev Williams

Avanti Steering Committee

bcbjwms@sbcglobal.net

248-762-8296

The DSO is a community-supported orchestra and your commitment is essential to our success. We invite you to play your part through frequent ticket purchases and tax-deductible annual donations. Your gift supports activities including Live from Orchestra Hall webcasts, Civic Youth Ensembles and our Neighborhood Series and community performances throughout Metro Detroit.

To give a gift amount of your choice, please visit dso.org/donate.

Let’s build a community…

“Avanti is yet another example of the progressive way in which all the components of the DSO are uniting. This initiative, coming from the musicians, shows how much all of us care about the musical education of our city’s young people,” said DSO Music Director Leonard Slatkin. “With coaching, master classes, sectional rehearsals and performances, I believe that we are truly paving a path to the future.”

Open to 140 students, the program is composed of a band and an orchestra, in which students will rehearse two hours each day. Students will spend an additional two hours daily in small sectionals led by DSO musicians on their respective instruments.

Kevin Good, a 33-year veteran trumpeter with the DSO said, “This provides a much-needed local camp for music students during the summer break. We’re excited about reaching young performers who have had little to no experience with the DSO, but who have studied music in their schools and want to take it to another level.”

Open enrollment for Avanti’s workshop is currently underway and will close as each instrument section is filled. Tuition for the workshop is $300. Interested parents, students or teachers can visit www.avantisummermusicfest.org to download application forms. Applications must be fully completed and will be considered in the order in which they are received. DSO musicians contributed $5,000 to help with financial aid to students who otherwise wouldn’t be able to attend.

SOS President Judy Doyle said, “This project is a demonstration of the different parties within the DSO and the community coming together, working collaboratively, respectfully and admiring what each party brings to the table. By partnering with the community on this pilot, the musicians and the DSO created a new and fresh model for connecting with its public.” The success of Avanti this July will lay the foundation for future summer festival workshops and concerts along with additional partnership opportunities between the MDSO, the DSO and the community.

Donate to Avanti Summer MusicFest

Click HERE to read the article in the December 2011 edition of Non-Profit Quarterly

December 13, 2011
Sean Buchanan and Patricia Bradshaw

What Exactly Is Stakeholder Resistance?A board-approved merger between two nonprofits is quashed due to pressure from donors. Two Girl Scouts mobilize opposition to the use of palm oil in Girl Scout cookies and get the nonprofit to change the recipe. A recreation center on the verge of closure is prevented from doing so by the work of community members. A labor dispute between musicians and management in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra leads to the creation of an advocacy group that becomes a powerful voice in the negotiation process. These examples highlight an emerging phenomenon that is gaining momentum worldwide—that of what we are calling “stakeholder resistance,” but what some executive directors may experience as “stakeholder rebellion.”

What is interesting about stakeholder resistance is that it originates with individuals who are not “insiders” in organizations, and that these “outsiders” are at times engaging in acts that challenge, disrupt, and even change organizational policies, practices, and actions. These individuals can actually limit the autonomy of organizational decision making, yet they are not legislators, lobby groups, or key funders. Generally speaking, an organization’s stakeholders are those who are linked to an organization in ways other than a formal contract.¹

In the case of nonprofits, stakeholders often include donors, members, and community members who engage with the organization either directly or indirectly.² Frequently, a strategic planning process includes a stakeholder analysis—an exercise that involves identifying key stakeholders as well as their interests and sources of power. The really influential, or those whose interests are perceived to be a threat, are then attended to, and the rest are mostly ignored. Clients being served or small, widely distributed individual donors are examples of those who have traditionally been seen to have interests in alignment with those of the organization or as having diffuse power bases and hence not necessary to include in a strategic planning process.

The term resistance was originally used with a negative connotation, as in “resistance to planned and top-down change,” and it implied that compliance with the dictates of the leadership was expected and positive.³ Since then, the term has been reclaimed by more critical scholars as an act of purposefully undermining the status quo and the taken-for-granted ways things are always done, and resistance is celebrated as an act that pushes back on established power relations.⁴ Within the second tradition, studies have focused primarily on two types of resistance: workplace resistance and civil society resistance. Workplace resistance focuses on how workers resist employer practices, actions, and rules. This resistance consists of both overt actions such as strikes, whistle blowing, and sabotage and more covert actions of resistance through rhetoric, shirking, cynicism, and humor.⁵

Research on civil society resistance, on the other hand, has focused well outside the domain of the organization and examines social movements and the processes by which groups form resistance against dominant rules, norms, or practices in society.⁶ Environmental NGOs have received particular attention for their acts of resistance. For example, the actions taken by Greenpeace to prevent Shell Oil’s decision to dispose of an oil-storage buoy in the deep sea eventually resulted in Shell’s overturning its initial decision.⁷ Civil society resistance differs from workplace resistance because it emerges from an external source, whereas workplace resistance emerges internally.

Stakeholder resistance, we are suggesting, falls in the space between workplace resistance and civil society resistance.⁸ These stakeholders are not employees of an organization but are likely more closely connected to the organization than the broader civil society. Take the case of the failed merger between Smile Train and Operation Smile—two organizations that repair cleft palates of children across the world. The resistance to the merger planned by the two boards of directors emerged primarily from the Smile Train donors, who mobilized opposition to the merger though an online petition.

In the case of the resistance enacted against the Girl Scout organization for its use of palm oil in cookies, it was two members of the girl scouts who engaged in the resistance. Fifteen-year-old Rhiannon Tomtishen and sixteen-year-old Madison Vorva learned through a Girl Scout project that the habitat of orangutans in Southeast Asia was diminishing because rainforests were being cleared for palm oil plantations. Palm oil, as it turns out, is a key ingredient in all Girl Scout cookies. After a failed attempt at sparking change with the Girl Scouts directly, Rhiannon and Madison began mobilizing support from other activist groups such as Rainforest Action Network.

Stakeholder resistance can also emerge from community members who interact with an organization. When a YMCA in Elmira, New York, was on the verge of shutting down due to a lack of funds, over two thousand community members signed an online petition urging local officials to find a solution to keep the YMCA operating. Meanwhile, grassroots groups of students from a local university and local elders met to discuss how the Y could be saved. This resulted in the adoption of the YMCA by a local senior center, allowing it to continue to operate.

On other occasions, stakeholder resistance might emerge from several groups simultaneously. The dispute between musicians and management in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra led to the creation of an advocacy group called Save Our Symphony, composed of several stakeholder groups including donors, audience members, and the local community. As the above examples illustrate, stakeholder resistance is unique in that it emerges from individuals and groups who are connected to an organization but often don’t have the immediate access of an employee.

What Is Causing These Acts of Resistance?

While the specific causes of stakeholder resistance differ from organization to organization, it appears that underlying almost all the acts is a deep dissatisfaction with the organizations’ responsiveness to their stakeholders. Specifically, in each of the examples highlighted in this article the acts of resistance against the organization resulted from a lack of voice given to their stakeholder groups in organizational decisions. This marginalization of the stakeholders may stem from the fact that they were considered to be secondary stakeholders,which afforded them less of a direct influence on organizational decision making than primary stakeholders, such as board members.⁹ Furthermore, these secondary stakeholders are less organized than other broader stakeholder groups such as social movement organizations like the environmental NGOs mentioned earlier.¹⁰ Thus, with less assumed importance to the organization and less formal power, these stakeholders are often not given adequate attention by their focal organizations.¹¹ Under these conditions of little formal voice and low organizational responsiveness, stakeholders who have a particular interest that they feel strongly about are more likely to engage in the types of resistance this article describes. It may also be the case that there may be a triggering event that activates resistance and that these events are difficult to anticipate. As the resistance mobilizes and the emotional subtext gets more heated (these acts are often accompanied by anger or anxiety), there is an amplification of a collective voice among what are normally diffuse actors.

Although these stakeholders are often in marginalized positions vis-à-vis the organizations, the organizations often attempt to communicate with them. Traditionally this has been through publications such as newsletters, which represent one-way communication mechanisms. The collective voice of stakeholders would traditionally be at a membership meeting, and while revolts have taken place in such forums, they could also at times be anticipated and managed. Nonprofit leaders recognize that these stakeholders have a critical role in the success of the organization, and failure to meet the needs of stakeholders can have many negative consequences.¹²

What Is Enabling These Acts of Resistance?

What has caused this apparent surge of stories of stakeholder resistance? Why now? One commonality to all these examples is the presence of social media as a tool for stakeholder communication, mobilization, and engagement. As recent examples in Egypt and Libya have demonstrated, social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter can play a large role in activism and resistance. There are several reasons for the effectiveness of social media in resistance—primarily, the direct, efficient, and low cost of Internet communication provides a powerful tool to engage a wide variety of stakeholders who may be isolated from traditional forms of collective action.¹³ Interestingly, the interactivity of social media facilitates an unprecedented degree of two-way communication between organizations and stakeholders. Increasingly, nonprofits are using social media to engage their stakeholders through information provision, disclosure of performance, fundraising, and two-way communication.¹⁴ This communication provides an avenue for organizations to engage stakeholders; however, it also provides a means for stakeholders to resist organizational actions or practices.

For example, the dispute in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra was made very public through social media, with the Save Our Symphony advocacy group creating a Facebook page where stakeholders could communicate with each other and the organization.

Opposition to the Smile Train and Operation Smile merger and the closing of the Elmira, New York, YMCA gained momentum through the use of social media platforms. And when a group in Minnesota started a campaign to boycott the annual Basilica Block Party to protest the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’s support of a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, it was done through the group’s Facebook page, which gained over six thousand followers.

Stakeholder resistance can also occur right on the organization’s own social media sites, albeit in a more disorganized fashion. For example, one way in which stakeholders voiced support for a ban on palm oil in Girl Scout cookies was to post negative comments on the Girl Scout Facebook page.

In all the above cases, previously diffuse actors came together virtually and thus shifted their power base.

Strategic planning processes that include stakeholder analysis of stakeholders’ respective interests and power must include a more critical appreciation of the power of these previously relatively powerless actors and take into account the impact of social media. Ironically, as with the Girl Scouts example, the sites that are often used in these resistance actions are ones established by the nonprofits themselves; when these are not managed well or monitored, there is no one to respond to concerns that are expressed or to catch the trigger events, and before long strong emotions—and then actions—escalate.

Challenges and Opportunities for Organizations

Stakeholder resistance presents a number of challenges for nonprofits. As a result of the increasing two-way communication between organizations and stakeholders, there is greater opportunity for formal resistance on the part of stakeholders than ever before. Moreover, the actions of organizations are becoming more transparent and publicly available, leaving little opportunity for organizational actions, practices, and policies to go unnoticed by stakeholders.

Another challenge for organizations with respect to stakeholder resistance is that it takes place on a public stage. In the cases of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra dispute and the Smile Train and Operation Smile merger opposition, the debates occurred in a very public way on company websites and Facebook pages. In some cases the debates can get very heated and, in some cases, reflect negatively on the organization as a whole.

Studies have shown that while most nonprofits have a social media presence, it tends to be underutilized as a communication tool. One study examined the Facebook pages of 275 nonprofits and found that relationship building with stakeholders was virtually nonexistent.¹⁵ Another study of nonprofits suggested that these organizations appeared to view the mere creation of social media pages as active engagement with stakeholders.¹⁶ Thus, it appears that while social media is providing more of an opportunity for organizations and stakeholders to communicate with each other, the bulk of interaction occurs during periods when stakeholders are unhappy with the organization.

Of course, the increasing engagement and power of stakeholders need not be viewed as a negative for nonprofits—especially considering how many of them are actively trying to increase stakeholder engagement and how many are committed to democratic participation. The generative dialogic communication between organization and stakeholder that is facilitated by social media offers an opportunity for these organizations to openly and effectively engage stakeholders and build a greater sense of community.

In the cases of stakeholder resistance outlined in this article, the organizations under scrutiny appear to have lacked a clear and open line of communication with their stakeholders. By closing themselves off, the organizations, perhaps inadvertently, created a barrier between themselves and their stakeholders. We suggest that these are the conditions under which stakeholder resistance will most likely occur.

Acts of stakeholder resistance are unlikely to disappear anytime soon. As the examples in this article indicate, stakeholders have been quite successful in their acts of resistance. Mitchell, Agle, and Wood note that organizations are likely to be most responsive to stakeholders with high levels of power, legitimacy, and urgency; and when stakeholders actively resist, they increase the power they have in relation to the organization by mobilizing opposition and resources.¹⁷ This increased power then works to heighten the urgency and enhance the legitimacy of their grievance in the eyes of the organization and the world at large. The increasing power of social media provides an important tool as well as a potential weapon for stakeholders, and the trend in stakeholder resistance will likely continue to grow in importance as more stakeholders begin to make their voices heard—making it essential for nonprofits to put serious time and effort into their active engagement with their stakeholders.

Click HERE to view the address on the DSOM website

Good afternoon, Governing Members, Members, Board Members, Staff and Colleagues,

I am Victoria King and am currently musician liaison to the DSO’s Governing Members. I have been a Detroit Symphony Orchestra bassoonist for 28 years.  

The bassoon is often referred to as the clown of the orchestra.  In order to play the bassoon well, one must be all thumbs. My left thumb alone operates ten keys.  With all of the work our opposable thumbs have to do, we bassoonists like to think of ourselves as being a little further along the evolutionary scale than other musicians. We therefore can be seen,  not as the clowns of the orchestra, but as the crown of the orchestra.

All clowning aside, we, the musicians, would like to thank all of you for several reasons: your generosity, your dedication, your enthusiasm. Whether your support comes in the form of your time, your attendance at concerts, or your donations, we want you to know that your participation has never been — and never will be — unnoticed and unappreciated. While most of you do not appear on stage or on staff, please know that you are a vital part of this Detroit Symphony Orchestra family.

We know you remember that, at this time last year, this institution was in extreme distress. Remembering last year is imperative so that everyone can step back and learn from all of our mistakes and strengthen our resolve — together — to never allow things to get to that point again.

There have been recent activities and happenings to celebrate. This institution means so many different things to so many different people — from our educational programs to our jazz concerts, for example — but let us not forget the name under which we operate: the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra — the musicians that comprise what you see and hear onstage at Orchestra Hall, in the community, on recordings and the internet, and around the world — is the true public face of what we are all about: the performance of great music by a great orchestra. This is our primary “product” and we must never lose sight of that. 

To be honest, we are concerned and will always be concerned about that product. While we remain committed to excellence, we can’t help but wonder if we will be able to attract and retain the best musicians in the future. At present, musicians are leaving at a far greater rate than they can be replaced.  The results of recent auditions have been mostly unsuccessful, a dramatic and telling indication that there is much work to be done to repair our reputation among those exceptional musicians whom we seek to fill the many open positions in the orchestra. We must have a stable team on stage to regain — and maintain — the ensemble’s distinctive sound and performing tradition that have made us unique and respected around the world. We all must do what we can to reverse this trend if we are to maintain an orchestra that is great, an orchestra that is relevant – an orchestra of which we can all be proud.

Rebuilding – whether it is an orchestra, a city — or even trust — is difficult work, but it can be done and it must be done.  With your attention, assistance, and goodwill, together we will rebuild — one step at a time — and it will be done.

Again, we thank all of you for all of the time, resources and energy that each of you have provided on behalf of this organization.

And thank you for this opportunity to share this with you and, on behalf of my friends and colleagues of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, we wish you a very happy and healthy holiday season.

This afternoon, DSO voting members, orchestra and staff met to sum up fiscal year 2011, a year that saw both a trying work stoppage and a triumphant comeback. Below is a summary of the statistics that accompanied those realities. The full press release outlining Fiscal Year 2011 is available here.

In place of a traditional concert season, DSO programming was limited to a six-week “Spring Season” (April 9-June 6), performances which saw sold-out and standing room only audiences. The total Spring Season audience totaled 40,456 (three times the expected number), meeting the Spring Season revenue goal of $456,000. In the abbreviated season, the DSO raised $9.92 million in annual, event, and project contributions and marked the achievement of revised season contribution goals. This is in contrast to $11.8 million raised in 2009-10.

Summer collaborations with the Eleanor and Edsel Ford House attracted over 5,600 attendees, exceeding the ticket sales goal by 46 percent and resulting in two sold-out concerts. The “Salute to America” concerts at Greenfield Village attracted approximately 26,000 patrons with sales of $490,726, putting it among the top five attendance years for the 19-year-old event.

These encouraging results have continued through these first seven weeks of the 2011-12 season. Through November 30, 2011, DSO reports fundraising of $5.1 million in gifts and pledges, putting the 2011-12 campaign 74 percent ahead of last year’s campaign through the same time period. Tickets sales are up 18 percent above the first seven weeks of the 2009-10 season and revenue is up 37 percent.

The DSO is reaching a broader audience than ever. Our brand new “Live From Orchestra Hall” HD webcasts have helped us share the DSO’s music with more than 25,000 people in 35 countries since April. Previewed in the May, and kicking off this weekend, the inaugural season of the Neighborhood Concert Series is expanding our audience base to six metro Detroit neighborhoods: Beverly Hills, Bloomfield Hills, Dearborn, Grosse Pointe, Southfield and West Bloomfield Township. More than 1,200 subscriptions have been sold, 80 percent of which have no recent DSO subscription history and a third of which have no recent DSO ticketing history whatsoever. And similar to the Spring Season, roughly half of the patrons buying single tickets to DSO classical concerts are new to the DSO.

The meeting was followed by a strolling dinner, generously provided by the Board of Directors in honor of the Orchestra.

Governing members (GMs), 2 musician representatives Randy Hawes and Vicki King, DSO staff and management including President and CEO Anne Parsons and Executive Vice President Paul Hogle mingled from 7 a.m. until 8 a.m. over breakfast.

SOS/DSO Governing members in attendance were David Assemany, David Kuziemko, David Faulkner and Denise Neville. Judy Doyle was unable to attend.

Welcome and Opening Remarks:

Jan Bernick, GM Vice-Chair Philanthropy, gave the opening remarks. The Governing members concept was patterned primarily after what was done by the Chicago Symphony. Other symphonies such as Atlanta and Baltimore had influence as well. The intention of the group is to present opportunities for leadership on behalf of the DSO. Active participation is a “huge part” of the concept behind the Governing members. GMs also are voting members. The DSO’s Annual Meeting is scheduled for December 8th, 2011.

The Governing members had over 50 new members last May and added another 34 this season.

Jan asked everyone present to introduce themselves and give a brief statement regarding their connection to the DSO. While this did take some time, it became very clear that this group is comprised of enthusiastic supporters of the DSO with a long history of involvement who were glad to be there in spite of the very early start time of 7 a.m.

Introduction of GM Committees:

Several committees comprise the GMs with Arthur T. O’ Reilly serving as the Chairperson. The committees and their corresponding Vice Chairs are as follows:

Communications – Frederick (Fritz) J. Morsches Build awareness of GMs, assist with DSO website and other written materials; in development is the GM newsletter High Notes

Membership – Maureen D’Avanzo Bring new members into the fold, look for prospective hosts for future GM functions

Engagement – Bonnie Larson Offer different events and opportunities for governing members to come together

Outreach – James Farber Outreach with musicians and the community; Dave Assemany is Chair of musician outreach

Philanthropy – Janice Bernick

Governance – Mary Mansfield This will help establish ways for GMs to communicate ideas to the board possibly through quarterly town meetings, for example. Since it is new, the scope and responsibilities are still being developed.

Each Vice Chair gave brief overviews of their respective areas of responsibilities and invited GM participation on their committees.

Special Presentation by Vince Ford, DSO Digital Consultant

DSO Consultant Vince Ford also worked this past year as Executive Director for Media Development for the New York Philharmonic. He restated the goal announced at the DSO’s December 2010 Annual Meeting which is “to make the DSO the most accessible orchestra on the the planet.”

During the past year, this goal was accomplished through patron engagement, digital distribution and culture change that includes, for example, lowering the price of ticket sales, the DSO Sound Card for students, Detroit’s Rush ticket program.

Under “Digital Distribution,” the DSO accomplished the following:
1. Upgrades to the website to make it more professional, user friendly
2. New Email Program: DSO Concert Insider sends out program notes and other concert announcements via email prior to upcoming concerts.
3. DSO YouTube channel
4. Mobile phone application: DSO To Go
5. Webcasts “Live From Orchestra Hall” Latest numbers show that these webcasts have been watched by 3,000 viewers and 30 countries world-wide

Remarks by Anne Parsons:

Anne Parsons spoke briefly about the how exciting, rapidly changing and fast-paced these times are for the DSO. Along with other issues facing the DSO, she stressed that “retention and attraction of top talent is most important.”

Due to lack of time, she was unable to address questions, but promised that all questions were important and would be answered at a later time. She turned the floor over to Paul Hogle.

Breakout Discussions – Paul Hogle

Paul cited some statistics about the recent successes of the DSO: Concert attendance is up 40 percent over 2009-10 pre-strike levels; 16 percent increase in classical subscriptions; the community concerts netted 1000 subscriptions in 30 days with an 80 percent of these subscribers having no former history of subscribing.

Paul Hogle organized the tables into groups of four and assigned each table a topic to be discussed amongst the GMS who were given 15 minutes.

These topics were as follows:

Goal No. 1: Artistically & educationally vital while becoming financially viable, resulting in being vigorously celebrated
(Cultivate DSO’s artistry/sound, build music education programs, articulate blueprint for financial viability, attract and retain outstanding artistic, volunteer and executive talent, capitalize on the DSO’s existing/emerging critical acclaim)

Goal No. 2: A Community Supported Orchestra
(Engage in activities that increase the value of the DSO to Detroit and community, grow DSO patron base, become patron-centric institution)

Goal No. 3: The most accessible orchestra on the planet
(Launch neighborhood series across suburban Detroit and reach a worldwide network through media, webcasts and other digital outlets)

Goal No. 4: Playing our part as a community gathering place sounding brightly from the Woodward Corridor
(Realize vision of the Max M. Fisher Music Center and optimize Orchestra Hall)

Each table met, discussed ideas regarding these goals and then presented those ideas to the group.

The meeting adjourned on schedule at 9:30 a.m.

SYMPHONY CORNER

DSO Aftermath

by Doug Cornelsen

In an article last September 23^rd titled Debt Threatens DSO Turnaround, Mark Stryker of the Detroit Free Press  rehashed the problem of the flawed financing of “The Max,” the lavish 2003 addition to Orchestra Hall which has imposed an annual three-million dollar cost over-run on the DSO’s operating budget.  Mr. Stryker’s article tendentiously presents “The Max” money problem – a consortium of five banks holding a $54 million loan on which DSO management has long defaulted – as a new hurdle facing the DSO organization.  In reality, the overwhelming finance debts on “The Max” are at least eight years old.  Nearly two years ago, this column pointed out that, in the face of their self-created debt, management appeared alarmingly willing to cut orchestra costs as a means of saving money, thereby risking artistic standards.  In view of subsequent events, this Symphony Corner observation has assumed the understatement proportions of Noah saying, “It looks like rain.”

The 2010-11 DSO strike was terribly destructive artistically, a fact unmentioned in Mr. Strykers article.  Taking severe hits in the strike-ending contract were not only salary but also the size of the orchestra and length of season.  From a pre-strike contractually-required size of 95 musicians, the orchestra is now down to no more than 70.  Auditions are planned this season to fill only several of these positions.  (The world’s finest orchestras usually number slightly over 100 musicians.)  The DSO’s historic 52-week season will be 40 weeks this contract year.  The events surrounding the strike have caused some wonderful DSO musicians to leave for positions with 52-week orchestras — there are at least fifteen in America — and there has been a precipitous number of retirements.  The supreme irony is that for several million dollars, a mere fraction of the cumulative budget loss on “The Max,” the contract could have been settled with no strike and no musical damage to the orchestra.  When, during the strike, picketing DSO musicians chanted, “Built the Max, on our backs!” they were not kidding.

Michael Kaiser could be accurately called Dean of American Arts Managers. His stellar career rests on dramatic rescues of a number of arts organizations that were floundering when he took over.  President of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. since 2001, last year Mr. Kaiser founded an Arts Management Institute to train arts administrators.  A Kaiser precept for arts boards experiencing financial trouble is that they must not cut costs in a manner which damages their product nor their public reputation.  This frequent mistake, he says, precipitates more of a downward spiral, making ticket sales and fund raising even more difficult.  Mr. Kaiser also dislikes the tendency of arts boards to blame unions for their problems:  “It is impossible to blame unions for the lack of revenue for arts organizations when so many are doing such a poor job of managing themselves.”

Seen from a Kaiser perspective, DSO management’s post-strike thinking, as described in Mr. Stryker’s article, is eye-brow-raising to say the least.  DSO leaders, wrote Mr. Stryker, had three goals in mind as a means of “fixing the troubled finances for good…the musicians’ contract, the real estate debt and the endowment.”  Management considers the musicians’ contract successfully completed, but is now concerned about their ability to successfully fund raise with a $54 million unpaid loan hanging over their heads.  A Kaiser consultant might point out that six months of negative strike publicity culminating in a musically denigrative orchestra contract, followed up with a prominent news article trumpeting the DSO’s massive bank indebtedness, is not an optimal way for management to achieve their third goal, substantially rebuilding the sadly depleted endowment. It must also be mentioned (though Mr. Stryker doesn’t) that the DSO board’s reappointment of the manager who led the strike does nothing to inspire musician confidence in turnaround success.

In spite of the front office, however, the orchestra is back to work for the winter season and, with a little effort, it’s possible to take a glass-half-full approach to the post-strike DSO.  As the old saying goes, it could be worse.*   Even with many DSO musicians gone the orchestra sounds thoroughly professional, partially due to the excellent skills of the host of subs now on stage.**  And there are few venues anywhere more sonically gratifying, for both performers and audience, than Orchestra Hall.  So listeners at DSO concerts will predictably hear creditable performances.

For musicians, if — IF! — management can keep the post-strike contract going, Detroit will still have an orchestra which offers a livable wage.  Though no longer upper echelon, it will remain an appealing opportunity for musicians direct from college or from smaller orchestras.  Especially in these times of shrinking employment, musicians who join the DSO during the next several years will be happy to have a decent job and will not be embittered by pre-strike memories.  For them, unpaid summers off, for example, will not represent management’s long-term failure to rebuild a quality summer season, but a time to play festivals elsewhere, or, with careful budgeting, to relax, travel, pursue hobbies — or practice for 52-week orchestra auditions.

And as far as that horrible Max debt is concerned, there is already a backstage rumor that the board is going to attempt some decisive action before year’s end.  But glass-half-full or not, it’s impossible to feel very good about the DSO these days. To try to do that, we need to look farther into the future, when some of the DSO leaders, to use Mr. Stryker’s term, take actions which set the Detroit Symphony back on a road of significant recovery and finally recreate an organization of which all can be proud.  Accompanying this vision of the future is Emily Dickinson’s famous poetic description of hope, which perches in the soul, and sings the song without the words, and never stops at all.

*    It could have been worse indeed.  Management’s most noxious proposals were deflected at the settlement negotiations by the DSO musicians negotiating committee along with Local 5 President Gordon Stump and Attorney Leonard Leibowitz.

** Some of the substitute musicians are Syracuse Symphony members, whose board of directors  demolished their orchestra with a Chapter 7 bankruptcy last April.    

So far there is nothing to report regarding Governing Members activity. The first meeting is on Thursday November 17th. We are looking forward to engaging in dialogue with the other Governing Members. At the meeting we will address the concerns and questions you have brought to us, and report back to you. SOS is prepared to participate fully once the Governing members have decided how to best support the DSO.

In the meantime, SOS continues to meet with DSO board members, management and staff, and musicians. As a result, SOS is developing a better understanding of the inner workings of the DSO as an organization.
Please stay tuned. SOS has faith in the DSO’s vision for the Governing members. We will report on future developments as they unfold.

Gratefully,
Your SOS/DSO Governing Members

We are eager to get to work with the other Governing Members in the “substantive, hands-on” way that is the DSO’s intention for this group.

As an SOS member, you are encouraged to give us your input, ideas and feedback so that we can take it to the DSO via this new group.

Come back to this page for information on Governing Member activities.  We will post updates as soon as we have any information to share. You can still donate to support our effort.  Remember, all donations will go directly to the DSO through SOS, giving our members a voice in the future of the orchestra.

DSO ANNOUNCES INAUGURAL COMMUNITY SUPPORT MONTH

(DETROIT, November 1, 2011) — The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) has announced November, 2011 as its inaugural Community Support Month, which will kick off with the opening of the DSO’s Paradise Jazz Series on Thursday, Nov. 3. This effort marks the first concert-based fundraiser in DSO history.

As the DSO establishes its identity as a community-supported orchestra, Community Support Month is aimed at greatly expanding the Annual Fund donor base and providing each ticket buyer with more meaningful opportunities to make Annual Fund gifts to the DSO.

“I think everyone understands that ticket sales account for a smaller and smaller portion of our annual operating costs and the DSO’s vitality and sustainability relies heavily on the engaged support of individual members from our community,” said Anne Parsons, DSO president and CEO. “Investment in the DSO through participation in our Annual Fund validates that what we do for music, musicians and audiences alike truly matters. This regular support also helps keep the lights on and our education programs running throughout the year and for years to come.”

Concert goers can make a contribution via envelope, pledge card, by phone, or even by text from anywhere, including right from Orchestra Hall. Each donor will receive access to the Herman and Sharon Frankel Donor Lounge, on the evening of their gift and a parking voucher. November is the first of two Community Support Months this season. The second will take place in May, 2012.

Videos of board members, donors and Detroit moguls will open each concert during Community Support Month, with the featured patron explaining why they support the DSO and what role the organization plays in the future of Detroit.

Community Support Month festivities are scheduled the following concerts.

November 3, 4, 5, 6, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 27

December 2-4

May 3, 4, 6, 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19

About the DSO

The internationally acclaimed Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the fourth-oldest symphony orchestra in the United States, is known for trailblazing performances, visionary maestros, collaborations with the world’s foremost musical artists, and an unwavering commitment to Detroit. Esteemed conductor Leonard Slatkin, called “America’s Music Director” by the Los Angeles Times, became the 12th Music Director of the DSO during the 2008-09 season. The DSO offers a performance schedule that includes Classical, Pops, Jazz, Young People’s, Neighborhood concerts and festivals. The DSO makes its home in historic Orchestra Hall, one of America’s most acoustically perfect concert halls, and actively pursues a mission to impact and serve the community through music. For more information visit www.dso.org.

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These links are taken from, and will direct you to, the webpage of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra Musicians.  Check out their excellent webpage at http://www.detroitsymphonymusicians.org

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One year ago, on October 5, 2010, the musicians of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) struck against massive concession demands, including a more than 30 percent pay cut and drastic changes in work rules. The strike ended in April of this year, with musicians forced to accept a large pay cut and other concessions.
DSO musicians picketing on the first day of the strike

On the anniversary of the walkout, this reporter and WSWS Arts Editor David Walsh interviewed DSO violinist Marian Tanau at Orchestra Hall in downtown Detroit. The Romanian-born musician, a member of the negotiating committee for the striking musicians, reflected on the strike and the current situation facing the orchestra.

The DSO strike took place under conditions of a general and ongoing attack on arts funding in the US and internationally. Faced with declining ticket sales and falling private and corporate donations orchestras and opera companies are continuing to impose deep cuts.

Since the end of the DSO strike, the world famous Philadelphia Orchestra has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and musicians at Colorado Symphony have been forced to accept an effective 14 percent pay cut in the face of a financial crisis at that orchestra. In June, members of the Pittsburgh Symphony agreed to a new three-year contract containing a 9.7 reduction in wages.

Meanwhile, management of the DSO seems determined to pursue the same reckless course that provoked the strike last year. In June, the DSO Board of Directors announced the renewal of the contract of DSO President Anne Parsons for three-years. The management team headed by Parsons spearheaded the attack on musicians. While demanding drastic cuts from the musicians, Parsons received some $400,000 in pay and expenses in 2009.

CLICK HERE to see the entire article and interview with DSO violinist Marian Tanau…

To purchase, call the Max M. Fisher Music Center Box Office at 313.576.5111.

Available Concerts will be posted on September 24, 2011.

* Soundcard is valid for Classical, Pops, and Paradise Jazz Series concerts performed in Orchestra Hall. Membership is valid from October 8, 2011 – June 17, 2012. Tickets are issued up to two weeks prior to each concert. Cardbearer must present a valid student ID to will call attendant or usher upon arrival. The name on the student ID must match the name on the cardbearer’s account. Cards and tickets are non-transferrable. Admittance is subject to availability and seating is at the discretion of the Box Office.

We believe that together we can make a difference:

The members of the DSO Board of Directors shape the institution and sustain it through extraordinary donations of both dollars and time. We applaud them for this, and would like to offer them the benefit of a new perspective: that of ordinary audience members. To do this, we need to obtain seats on the Board and among the DSO Governing Members. Individually, most audience members do not have the resources to obtain these seats as they come with a substantial financial commitment. Together, we can accomplish this goal, build our voice, and make a difference.

If you want to have a voice in the future of the DSO, please consider making a contribution to SOS. Any amount that you are able to give is welcome. These dollars will go directly to the DSO, funding positions for SOS members among the Governing Members and Board of Directors. Your contribution not only gives you, through SOS, a voice at the organizational level of the DSO, it also helps DSO, Inc., to rebuild. As a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt entity, all contributions to Save Our Symphony, Inc are tax-deductible according to law.

SOS will work actively and collaboratively with the DSO leadership to bring about the changes necessary to return the DSO to its former level of artistry and excellence and keep it there for future generations. SOS will hold quarterly meetings where contributors at any level will be welcome to bring their concerns, suggestions and experiences to our notice. SOS members on the DSO Governing Board or the DSO Board will then take your input to the DSO.

This is your opportunity to help ensure the future of one of Detroit’s cultural gems. Through the support of your voice and dollars, SOS will continue its mission: “To promote and support the world-class artistic excellence and stature of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and to hold its management and board of trustees accountable for their fiduciary responsibilities to the public trust including the preservation of this great orchestra and its future.”

Please help SOS bring the voice of the audience to the DSO. Contributions can be made to:

Save Our Symphony
PO Box 2403
Birmingham, Michigan 48012

Donations may also be made with your credit card or PayPal by following this link:

Support the DSO!

Thank you for your continued support. We hope you will consider a donation to SOS. Remember, your donation will go directly to support the Detroit Symphony Orchestra!

Launched this spring, the new Governing Members program has attracted over 20 new members who join 85 legacy donors at the $2,500 and up level. Inspired by the DSO’s movement to address the deeper engagement of its leadership-giving patrons, the majority of these donors graduated to the $2,500 level from the $400 and up range of giving. Seven of these donors had either not made a gift in recent years or had never given a previous gift to the DSO’s Annual Fund. As the Spring Season concluded, Governing Member giving exceeded $1 million.

Stanley Frankel, Chairman of the Board

Executive Committee

Paul M. Huxley, First Vice Chair

Marlies Castaing, Second Vice Chair

Glenda D. Price, Ph.D., Secretary

Arthur A. Weiss, Treasurer

Lloyd E. Reuss, Officer At-large

Clyde Wu, M.D., Officer At-large

Phillip Wm. Fisher, Officer At-large

Lillian Bauder, Ph.D.

Penny B. Blumenstein

Lynne Carter, M.D.

Ron Fischer

Herman Frankel

Ralph J. Gerson

Alfred R. Glancy III, Chairman Emeritus

Kelly Hayes

Dr. Arthur L. Johnson

Richard P. Kughn

Bonnie Larson

Melvin A. Lester, M.D.

Arthur C. Liebler

David Robert Nelson

James B. Nicholson, Chairman Emeritus

Bruce D. Peterson

Bernard I. Robertson

Jack A. Robinson

Alan E. Schwartz

Barbara Van Dusen

Directors

Ismael Ahmed

Rosette Ajluni

Robert Allesee

Daniel Angelucci

Janet Ankers, Volunteer Council President

Floy Barthel

George J. Bedrosian, Esq.

Mrs. Mandell L. Berman

Robert H. Bluestein

John A. Boll, Sr.

Richard A. Brodie

Marlies Castaing

Gary L. Cowger

Peter D. Cummings, Chairman Emeritus

Stephen R. D’Arcy

Maureen T. D’Avanzo

Karen Davidson

Peter J. Dolan

Walter E. Douglas, Jr.

Linda Dresner

Marianne Endicott

Jennifer Fischer

Sidney Forbes

Laura L. Fournier

Mrs. Harold Frank

Barbara Frankel

Paul Ganson*

Herman Gray, M.D.

Brigitte Harris

Gloria Heppner, Ph.D.

Nicholas Hood III

Ronald M. Horwitz

Sharad P. Jain

Mark Jannott

Renee Janovsky

Chacona Johnson

Michael J. Keegan

The Hon. Damon J. Keith

William P. Kingsley

Harold Kulish

Harry A. Lomason II

Ralph J. Mandarino

Florine Mark

David N. McCammon

Lois A. Miller

Ed Miller

James C. Mitchell, Jr.

Sean M. Neall

Faye Alexander Nelson

Arthur T. O’Reilly, Chairman, Governing Members

Robert E. L. Perkins, D.D.S.

William F. Pickard

Marilyn Pincus

Stephen Polk

Marjorie S. Saulson

Lois L. Shaevsky

Mrs. Ray A. Shapero

Wei Shen

Jane Sherman

Shirley R. Stancato

Stephen Strome

Michael R. Tyson

Ann Marie Uetz

David Usher

Arthur A. Weiss, Esq.

R. Jamison Williams

John E. Young

Lifetime Members

Samuel Frankel†

David Handleman, Sr.†

* Ex Officio

† Deceased

Click here to see the article on the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians Website

On April 9, 2011 the musicians of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra returned to the stage of Orchestra Hall for the first of two triumphant concerts. Just one day earlier, a vote to ratify the DSO’s new four-year contract had brought an official end to one of the longest strikes in North American orchestra history. Readers of Senza Sordino and visitors to the website detroitsymphonymusicians.org are already well aware of the past year’s events in the Motor City. The six-month work stoppage took a painful toll on the members of the orchestra and their families as well as Detroit’s music lovers, and the future of the venerable institution is far from assured. At the same time, the members of the DSO hope that their struggle will have done more than just help one orchestra survive a crisis. Ideally, symphony boards and managements everywhere seeking to tame deficits will draw valuable lessons from Detroit about what not to do.

While blessed with an outstanding concert hall and proud musical traditions, the Detroit Symphony had historically faced financial challenges as it maintained top-ten status in the United States. When the world financial crisis hit in 2008, the DSO was already weakened by a narrowing of its donor base, declining ticket revenue and the burden of real estate debt from its 2003 hall expansion. Management asked to reopen the orchestra’s contract during 2009, but discussions broke down when management refused to consider an agreement with any extension in term or even partial recovery of givebacks. The stage was set for a confrontation upon contract expiration in August 2010.

Given the magnitude of the economic downturn in Detroit, musicians knew that they would need to sacrifice to keep the DSO viable. The fundamental problem in what played out—and what turned a concessionary contract negotiation into a conflagration—was the decision of the DSO board and management to use the crisis to try to impose sweeping changes on the institution and working life of the musicians. At various times in the negotiations the musicians were confronted with proposals to eliminate tenure, remove the librarians from the bargaining unit, hire and retain new musicians at sharply lower wages, remove orchestra representatives from board committees, freeze the orchestra’s pension plan while withdrawing from theAFM-DPF plan, perform unlimited free media services, and institute an extreme version of service conversion (developed without any musician input although a comprehensive strategic plan had just been jointly written and adopted) up to and including assignment to non-musical duties for weekly scale.

Predictably, DSO members were unified in their opposition to such tactics. They saw a threat not only to their own institution and working lives, but to professional musicians everywhere. Once the strike began on October 4, 2010, the musicians attracted public attention and support from Detroit and far beyond. Most observers seemed to realize that too-drastic cuts, especially combined with harmful changes which didn’t even address the money problems, would make it impossible to retain and attract the top musicians who would ensure the DSO‘s continued high quality. With the help of generous guest conductors and soloists, the musicians organized and performed more than twenty successful concerts in and around Detroit. Local music lovers made contributions and formed a powerful audience advocacy group, Save Our Symphony, which is still very active post-settlement. Overwhelming financial contributions from fellow professional musicians, largely ICSOM, OCSM and ROPA members, made a huge difference in enabling DSO members to continue their struggle. President Gordon Stump and Secretary-Treasurer Sue Barna-Ayoub of Local 5 provided unhesitating and seamless support.

Meanwhile, the bargaining process itself was at a near standstill. Despite the expertise of Counsel Leonard Leibowitz and attempts to assist from community leaders and politicians such as Governor Jennifer Granholm and Senator Carl Levin, months passed without any progress. In the end, the involvement of business leaders Dan Gilbert and Matt Cullen seemed to break the deadlock, and a tentative agreement was reached on April 3. Of course, by then most of the season had been lost and millions of dollars in ticket revenue refunded to patrons. Several orchestra members had taken other positions. Trust within the institution had been badly damaged.

The new DSO contract is detailed in an ICSOM settlement bulletin. While it is deeply concessionary, the agreement does not contain any of the proposals from management’s grab bag listed above. It is frustrating to realize that without those unreasonable demands, the entire strike and its fallout could probably have been avoided. Essentially, the bargaining team spent the better part of a year fighting off changes that should never have been put on the table. The DSO musicians were glad to ratify the agreement and to bring their utmost professionalism back to the stage. The future will bring continued challenges. One major goal will be to bring about greater board understanding of how to preserve and enhance a great symphony orchestra.

The musicians of the DSO owe a great debt of thanks to their fellow ICSOM members and leaders, as well as the national AFM officers who provided support at key moments. We are honored to be the host orchestra of the 2011 ICSOM Conference this August and look forward to meeting many friends and colleagues.

Is Detroit poised to become the next, gulp, Brooklyn (by that, we guess they mean a welcoming environment for creatives and cutting-edge entrepreneurs)? NPR”s Tell Me More interviewed Detroit native and 71 Pop founder Margarita Barry and new Midtown resident Scott Harrison, the director of patron engagement at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Their message to Michel Martin listeners? While Detroit’s problems are oft-covered and obvious, the quality of living in neighborhoods like Midtown is comparable, at least, to that found in any other cosmopolitan American city — at a fraction of the cost.

Excerpt:

So, I mean, I think within a 15 to 20 minute walk of where I live, I can find just anything, whether it’s food, whether it’s culture, whether it’s entertainment, whether it’s shopping. You know, we don’t have the big box stores. If I need a Target, sure, I’ve got to get in the car and drive, but, I mean for day to day, six out of seven days of the week I’m sufficient and content just in my area.

Listen to the story here.

Click here to see the original article on insidethearts.com

• Michaela Boland
• From: The Australian
• June 04, 2011 12:00AM

Click here for the original article in The Australian

WHEN the Philadelphia Orchestra filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April it sent a shiver through classical music groups worldwide.

The Pennsylvania-based orchestra is considered one of the five best in the US but faced with what its chairman described as a “fantastic imbalance” of costs versus income, the board sought drastic action.

Orchestra management projected a $US14.5 million structural deficit through declining earnings from ticket sales, a drop in donations and an increase in both operational costs and pension obligations.

A fortnight earlier, in Britain, public funding for the arts was slashed by 15 per cent as part of new austerity measures, leading orchestras there to scramble for their lives.

Back in the US, the Louisville Symphony is bankrupt and the Syracuse Symphony and New Mexico Symphony have shut down.

Orchestras worldwide are having a white-knuckle ride due to shifts in the global economy and their Australian counterparts are looking on with trepidation.

A spokesman for the orchestra’s union, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, Howard Manley, says: “The circumstances of the Australian economy are substantially [better] than most other Western economies.”

Yet he says there’s no question “things are incredibly tight”.

Last year Adelaide Symphony Orchestra members campaigned loudly against the erosion of their playing entitlements, Orchestra Victoria is in serious financial difficulty and NSW’s Opera and Ballet Orchestra annually contributes a $1m loss to Opera Australia.

Australia’s funding system is aligned historically with that of Britain. For the state-based symphony orchestras, box-office and commercial earnings account for a significant proportion of income, but underpinning this is a mix of federal and state funds. However, in the face of those public funds remaining largely static the boards of Australian orchestras increasingly have sought to mimic the US philanthropic model to accommodate increased costs.

In common with American orchestras, audiences in Australia are declining too as they age. Increased pops programming is viewed as one way to expose new audiences to orchestral music, but the jury is out on whether pops audiences necessarily go on to take an interest in the core classical repertoire.

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Sydney Symphony in particular have embraced the pop business, with recent concerts of computer-game scores, concerts by Burt Bacharach and the Beach Boys, Disney movie scores, and the tunes of ABBA. Musical comic Tim Minchin undertook a national tour supported by the bigger orchestras.

The MSO last month posted a slight surplus of $31,420 for the past calendar year, while Sydney Symphony recorded its third successive deficit, albeit a smaller one than the year before, of $236,769. For the MSO, box-office revenue is considerably down, but so is expenditure.

The MSO’s managing director, Matthew VanBesien, says it’s difficult to draw too many conclusions about his orchestra’s future from its present programming and the 2010 financial results, given the closure of its home auditorium, Hamer Hall, for renovations that began halfway through last year. He says classical programming has not been eroded in favour of pops programming: “The commercial things we do don’t replace core activities.”

But The Australian’s music critic Eamonn Kelly has called on the orchestra to speed up the process of appointing a new chief conductor, a role left vacant since the acrimonious departure 18 months ago of Oleg Caetani.

“Urgently locating an outstanding new leader is the most important artistic and administrative issue the MSO board and management face,” Kelly says.

Sydney Symphony managing director Rory Jeffes declined to discuss the challenges facing his group, which has not managed to parlay the popularity of its chief conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy into either a surplus or increased audiences, which have shown no growth for five years.

Greg Sandow, an American lecturer and author of Rebirth: The Future of Classical Music, says the crisis affecting classical music in the northern hemisphere could spread to Australia.

He says careful examination of financial reports is necessary to see if occasional small surpluses are in fact concealing actual structural decline, which is what he suspects is under way.

The last great shudder of nervousness about the decline of classical music audiences was in the 1960s, after which the industry made a strong recovery.

Sandow says since the 90s, audiences have been declining in the US for both cyclical and non-cyclical reasons. “Now that orchestras in America are starting to haemorrhage and die, they are starting to come out with numbers,” he says.

Philadelphia has had a 40 per cent decline in 20 years that has accelerated in the past five years, he says. The number of subscribers, the ticket buyers who underpin orchestra programming and funding, is declining.

“The core of the audience is people who got into it when they were young and they’re not being replaced,” Sandow says.

And he says the same people who go to the concerts are those who donate money, “so the donor pool is drying up the way the audience is drying up”.

Sandow has also observed donor fatigue, where philanthropists grow cranky about mismanagement or an orchestra’s poor performance and remove their support.

Among the orchestras that have shut their doors and dismissed players there are some groups that have survived due to radical restructuring, which is where Sandow sees the future of the industry. Columbus Orchestra, by way of example, staved off closure in 2008 and retained 53 full-time players by reducing salaries by 27 per cent. Detroit Symphony Orchestra is engaged in similar talks with players.

Sandow argues that players in America’s top orchestras have traditionally been well paid, with salaries above $100,000, and the cuts are having an invigorating effect. “It’s interesting to talk to young musicians about this; they don’t see it as a problem, they’d consider themselves lucky to get any of these positions,” he says.

Historically, however, because of the status and the good pay, few of them could secure such jobs.

Sandow says that if the Philadelphia Orchestra were to suddenly discharge all its musicians and replace them with young players on contract, what might be lost in polish could easily be made up for in pizazz.

“I wonder if that wouldn’t be more exciting to hear,” he says. “It might really surprise people.”

A couple of weeks ago, Greg Sandow was quoted in The Australian as follows:

Sandow says that if the Philadelphia Orchestra were to suddenly discharge all its musicians and replace them with young players on contract, what might be lost in polish could easily be made up for in pizazz.

“I wonder if that wouldn’t be more exciting to hear,” he says. “It might really surprise people.”

Sigh. I wish people would stop and think before they say things like that. He’d just throw out an enormous body of accumulated knowledge and playing experience to reduce costs and possibly gain “pizzazz.”

Is there any evidence that the Philadelphia Orchestra lacks, um, pizzazz or excitement? Has Greg heard the orchestra play in the last few years? Does he understand what goes into orchestra building?

But getting back to the idea that a reasonable way to reduce costs is to break unions (as, perhaps, NYCO is about to try) or to talk the musicians into taking enormous cuts or to generally blame union and musician wages for the financial difficulties faced by some arts organizations today (see Detroit, see Philadelphia, see NYCO, see the quiet threats emanating from David Gockley’s office at San Francisco Opera).

First, let’s remember the division of labor at opera companies and symphonies:

• The musicians and singers are paid to put on concerts and operas.
• The nonmusician union members are paid to make costumes and sets and wigs and move stuff around the stage.
• The administrators are paid to raise enough money to pay for putting on concerts and operas, and to perform myriad administrative tasks with some degree of smarts.

If an opera company or symphony orchestra finds itself in financial trouble, it’s rarely because the musicians can’t play and the costumers have forgotten how to sew. (If you know of such a case, please provide details in the comments.) It’s invariably because the administration has failed in some way or there has been a major economic downturn. They haven’t raised enough money, there’s been some kind of major leadership failure, they have incurred new costs for some reason – and so on. And it’s important to keep in mind that the administrators were involved in union negotiations, and signed the contracts with their eyes open.

We are currently in a serious economic downturn, and coming out of it very slowly – read Paul Krugman’s column and blog at the NY Times, if you need more information about that. Or keep an eye on the unemployment numbers. This has affected every arts organization in the country.

NYCO and the Philadelphia Orchestra are poster children for weak or incompetent administration. At NYCO, the board made at least two terrible mistakes: the appointment of Gerard Mortier, evidently without due diligence about what kind of budget he would want, and the renovation of the NY State Theater at Mortier’s request, which left the company with their usual bills to pay, no place to perform, and no income. Mortier skedaddled without ever coming to NY or staging a production, leaving the board scrambling to find a new director. They wound up with George Steel, who had about as much experience running an opera company as do: several months at Dallas, which was preceded by great success as the concert presenter at the Miller Theater. Maybe Steel is the third big mistake; hard to say at this point. He’s in a terrible position, where he’ll get blamed for mistakes other people made. Honestly, you’d have to be a miracle worker to pull them out of the current skid.

Oh, I forgot about the way NYCO has run through its endowment. Once valued at $55 million, presumably at the height of the boom, the endowment is down to $9 million. That’s the fourth terrible mistake. They’ve also got an inexperienced board president, appointed just a few months ago, who says things about not disclosing their finances. As a non-profit, hello, you are legally required to release financial information to the public. Don’t talk about keeping things under your hat. It only makes you look bad. So, let’s call this the fifth mistake.

The Philadelphia Orchestra has been having various problems since the 1990s, when they stopped contributing to the musicians’ pension plan. I’d call that a long-term governance issue. They’ve had music director issues, with Christoph Eschenbach coming and going rather quickly; a successor has been found, but he is not in place yet. So there’s been weak, or no, musical leadership. I understand there have been problems with the administrative leadership as well, with Alison Vulgamore appointed after a chaotic period with no general director. (Oh…and it is not good that she is taking a big pay raise when the orchestra has just declared bankruptcy.)

Guess what? The Philadelphia Orchestra could try to lower its costs by firing all its musicians, and it would still have the higher costs of the Kimmel Center over the Academy of Music, the low ticket sales, the problems in their administrative leadership. And they would have a gigantic public relations failure on their hands too. I bet most of their audience would flip out if the orchestra replaced 100% of its musicians with recent conservatory graduates. The loss of good will would be immense. I myself would never set foot in their hall or give a penny to an organization that had done such a thing, and I know that I am not alone in that.

Click here to see the article on Adaptistration.com

Today’s headline is an excerpt from a piece by San Francisco Chronicle music critic, Joshua Kosman, in an article that was published on 6/19/2011. Kosman’s article is the latest in a growing chorus of voices within the extended field that are taking a much harder look at the root of problems among performing arts organizations since the economic downturn…

Kosman’s piece begins by examining one of the more dire situations at New York City Opera and then touches on everyone’s favorite anti-crisis, the Philadelphia Orchestra. But mid way through his piece Kosman acknowledges the real elephant in the room by looking inward.

How did these venerable, well-established institutions come to such a sorry pass? The same way Lehman Bros. and Bear Stearns did: through poor – and specifically shortsighted – leadership. And just like on Wall Street, the people making these decisions aren’t really the ones whose livelihoods are on the line.

In the article’s penultimate section, Kosman drills down into some specific examples of failed leadership.

No, the truth is that just like in the corporate and financial world, these failures began at the top, and go back a long way.

The history of weak management in Philadelphia is decades old, and includes mishandled decisions about recording contracts, embarrassing struggles to settle on a music director and the construction of a concert hall, Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, that is widely regarded as overpriced and acoustically poor.

And just to make sure he’s covering all of the bases, Kosman also acknowledges the very real cash flow and audience development problems faced by most groups. But he goes the extra mile by acknowledging the mutually exclusive nature of this reality as compared to a history of bad management.

And it’s just as easy to make vague protestations about prevailing financial conditions and the shifting patterns of culture consumption. Those observations are accurate as far as they go – money really is tight nowadays, and the role of orchestras and opera companies in American life really is changing – but they don’t account for all the arts organizations that are doing OK.

If you’re looking for more examples of Kosman’s perspective, stop by The Iron Tongue Of Midnight where author Lisa Hirsch points out a few more scantily clad Emperor’s. If that’s not enough, she includes a handy list of related opinions from around the culture blogging community and traditional media outlets.

PR Backlash

Does this mean we should drag all executive boards and CEOs out and put them up against the wall? Of course not.

But the reality is that business practices and poor leadership are just as much to blame as the economic downturn for some of the larger powder kegs that have blown up since the economic downturn.

But that’s not how League of American Orchestras president Jesse Rosen sees it. Rosen took issue with one of the more poignant articles in recent weeks written by John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts president Michael Kaiser.

On 6/6/2011 Kaiser posted an article at his Huffington Post column that takes issue with the blame game when it comes to artist stakeholders and instead, encourages organizations to look inward before laying down a beat on the drums of labor war.

It is impossible to blame unions for the lack of revenue for arts organizations when so many are doing such a poor job of managing themselves.

Rosen to Kaiser: How Dare You! 

Rosen’s video response (0:22 – 1:00) was to deny the value of accountability and openly scold Kaiser for even mentioning the notion.

Ultimately, any group experiencing extreme difficulties will have an enormously difficult time improving their situation if they fail to investigate whether or not the problems are the result of bad business decisions and a lack of accountability. Unfortunately, the League has yet to adopt measures to help members do exactly that and as any good doctor, engineer, investigator, or IT professional will tell you, willful shortcuts in the diagnostic process is an invitation to misery and disaster.

To that end, what’s missing in this business are processes those other professions have relied on to implement meaningful oversight. In the medical field, they call them autopsies and given the uptick in institutional corpses right now, it would make sense to examine those cases with an eye toward identifying items suitable for inclusion in institutional oversight processes throughout the field.

Anything less is an invitation to make things worse before they can get better.

• Recognition once annually in a DSO Honor Roll
• Personalized DSO Donor card
• 10% off all purchases at the Shop @ The Max
• Invitation to DSO Open Rehearsals

Serenade: $250-499

• All previous benefits, plus:
• An invitation for two to attend the annual
Donor Appreciation Event
• Opportunity to purchase single tickets during Ticket
Priority Week, one week before the general public

Concerto: $500-999

• All previous benefits, plus:
• Two complimentary tickets to a Detroit Symphony Civic Youth Ensembles concert

Encore: $1,000-2,499

• All previous benefits, plus:
• Invitation to a backstage tour
• Season listing in Performance magazine

Symphony Society

Donors celebrated at $2,500, $5,000, $7,500, and $10,000+

• All previous benefits, plus:
• DSO Concierge – priority access to DSO concerts and events
• An invitation for four to attend the annual Donor Appreciation Event
• Two single-use valet parking passes
• Two complimentary passes (admit 2 each) to the Herman & Sharon Frankel Donor Lounge
• Listing on the Annual Fund donor wall
• Invitation to travel with the DSO on national and international Patron Tours

*The opportunity to be nominated as a Governing Member, including an invitation to attend and vote at the DSO Annual Meeting with a donation of $2,500
* Membership to the Herman & Sharon Frankel Donor Lounge with a donation of $3,000
* Complimentary unlimited valet parking at Orchestra Hall with a donation of $7,500

Donors celebrated at the $15,000, $25,000, $50,000 and $100,000+

• All previous benefits, plus:
• Personalized, signed DSO recording
• Opportunity to sit on-stage during a DSO rehearsal
• Invitation to the Annual Maestro’s Circle dinner
• Opportunity to dedicate a concert in your name or in honor/memory of a friend or family member

Sunday, 12 June 2011 14:56
Written by Andrew Druckenbrod

Pittsburgh Symphony, Inc. and orchestra members of Local 60-471 of the American Federation of Musicians have reached an agreement for a new three-year contract nearly three months ahead of schedule.

The current three-year pact was set to expire Sept. 4 and the new contract, ratified Saturday night, takes effect Sept. 5 and runs through Sept. 1, 2014.

The agreement calls for a 9.7 percent wage cut in musicians base salary the first year: in 2011-12 the annual base salary will be $100,110, down from $110,764 in this season. The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s fiscal year runs from September to August.

The musician’s base salary will remain the same in the second year of the contract. The final year will be a “wage-opener,” for which PSO musicians and management will examine the possibility of an increase in salary. The musicians also agreed to contribute $100,000 to the orchestra’s annual fund in the first and second years of the new contract.

In the past 18 months, several major American orchestras have faced financial turmoil. In April, the Philadelphia Orchestra filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and the musicians of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra ended a bitter six-month strike. In January of 2010, Cleveland Orchestra musicians staged a one-day strike.

Crain’s Detroit Business

Our members from around the metro area and around the continent have contacted us with questions about the issues raised in these columns, so in the interest of transparency and open communication, we are posting them here and invite comments and input from all interested parties.

On the Contract Extension of DSO President Anne Parsons
by johnrockneguinn – June 10, 2011

The apparently blue skies that opened up with the ending of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra strike turned grey and stormy with the recent revelation that the orchestra’s board had offered DSO President Anne Parsons a three-year extension of her contract.

In March, shortly before the orchestra’s nearly six-month strike ended, the board approved the extension of Parson’s lucrative contract. That wrong-headed decision, preceded by the sad news that Emmanuelle Boisvert, the orchestra’s longtime concertmaster, was departing to join the Dallas Symphony, makes the DSO’s weather forecast gloomy indeed.

Clearly, Parsons’ contract extension is a collective slap in the orchestra’s face, an arrogant confirmation by the board that her campaign to severely alter the orchestra’s artistic purpose and vision will continue.

But it is vital to remember that the blame for the ongoing struggle for our orchestra’s future lies not with the inept Parsons but with the board and its autocratic chair, Stanley Frankel, who issued a lavish statement supporting her.

As long as Frankel and those misguided DSO board members who agree with him continue to exert power within the organization, the future of the orchestra as a viable  artistic force remains in serious jeopardy.

So the storm clouds continue to gather. Don’t expect to hear any thunder, though. The entire DSO percussion section has already departed for more secure artistic futures.

Internal loyalty
by David Zoltan

Anne Parsons is the kind of arts manager that gives the rest of us a bad name. The president of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra has been in the news quite a bit over the past year. The latest news to feature her is perhaps one of the most telling, however.

In March, while the fight was still raging between Parsons and the musicians over a 23% pay cut for the musicians as well as some other issues surrounding outreach and community involvement, Parsons got her contract extension with the DSO board wrapped up and then kept under wraps, waiting until after breaking the strike and the spring concert series to announce her contract extension. And who could blame her considering that announcing the fact that she was being brought back for exactly the same pay would have given the musicians even more resolve to wait out Parsons and the board?

Parsons reportedly makes close to $300,000 per year along with a long list of fringe benefits, not the least of which is the house she lives in. I haven’t looked deeply into top-tier orchestra management salaries of late, but that doesn’t sound out of the ordinary, for better or worse. So by pure market value of experienced top-level management, I’m sure that it’s reasonable for the level of management talent we’re discussing. Of course, the argument that Detroit would lose its status as a first class orchestra if it made such drastic cuts was summarily dismissed by management, so why would the market for management talent be different? But this isn’t purely a factor of economics.

Parsons already has an image as a union-breaker given her role in the strike and her intransigence in negotiating, even when top politicians and mediators came in to try to help put an end to the long dispute. The loss of Emmanuelle Boisvert, the long-time concertmaster of the DSO, to Dallas where she will be willingly taking a demotion to associate concertmaster, as well as the loss of other musicians towards the end of the strike, showed the lack of trust and confidence already prevalent among the musicians.

So now, how can these musicians that finally bowed to time and accepted that huge 23% cut in pay possibly feel to this latest slap in the face that Parsons will force them to take hugely painful cuts without bothering to take any of her own?

Would $69,000 make everything at the DSO better? Of course not. But one of the constant refrains before and throughout the strike from Parsons was the need for more outreach and community programming, a fact I strongly supported. $69,000 would certainly make an impact on expanding such programs. I could still think of many interesting things to do with $69,000 that would help reach out to new audiences.

More important though is the sense of shared sacrifice that was asked of the musicians that Parsons abandons completely here. After all, if the average musician was making just over $100,000 (about a third of what Parsons makes), each individual musician’s share of about $23,000 that they sacrificed won’t make or break the orchestra either. It’s the shared sacrifice together that makes it possible for the orchestra to realign itself, but it’s not one that Parsons contributes to in any real sense.

This is why artists rail against arts management so often. This is where the accusations that we’re exploiting their work to make money for ourselves comes from. Parsons shows with such a simple misstep that she doesn’t believe in supporting artists, just institutions. This makes it just a little bit harder on the rest of us that are working to ensure that starving artists are a thing of the past to earn the trust of the artists we work so hard to support.

This comes down to my favorite topic on this blog, loyalty. This move shows a complete lack of leadership on Parsons’ part, and in the aftermath of the strike, she needs to be rebuilding loyalty if the rest of her programming has a real chance to help rebuild the audience base and expand into new audiences. She needs willing and enthusiastic collaboration with the musicians that decide to stick it out.

Let’s assume for a moment that her salary is deserved for those “deep connections within the national funding community” among other things. Fundraising is going to be a critical part of rebuilding the orchestra’s position in Detroit and the world stage. There’s still a chance for her to lead here, to make a very substantial commmitment to the orchestra and its musicians.

So I call on Parsons to donate 23% of her salary back to the orchestra as long as the musicians also must sacrifice for the health of the organization. Parsons is already a donor, as I’d hope all arts managers would be to the organizations they love and support, but at a more modest 3-7% level according to the article.

This is a chance for her to make a powerful statement to the musicians, to donors spooked by the strike, to those national funders to which she has deep connections that she believes in the orchestra, in the city, and in the long-term strength of the organization and its mission. This would allow her to match action to her words. And as it would be a voluntary effort, it may even mean more, in the end, than had the DSO board done its fiduciary and moral responsibility and reduced her salary through negotiations.

Detroit Symphony renews contract of Anne Parsons
By Shannon Jones – 7 June 2011

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra board of directors has agreed to a three-year contract extension for DSO President and CEO Anne Parsons. Parsons oversaw the imposition of drastic concessions on musicians in the agreement ending the recently concluded six-month strike.

Parson’s contract renewal was agreed to late last March, but management delayed making public its decision until the conclusion of the strike-shortened 2010-2011 concert season and the announcement of the 2011-2012 season.

The decision to retain Parsons is an expression of the contempt of orchestra management for DSO musicians and the broader musical community in Detroit, as it continues its plan to impose a for-profit business model at the expense of artistic excellence.

Parsons received $299,679 base salary in 2009 and $93,000 in “other compensation,” including a house, pension, health care and a car allowance. For their part, DSO musicians took a more than 23 percent cut in pay under terms of the agreement ratified in April at the conclusion of the strike. The cuts dropped the DSO, long considered one of the best orchestras in the United States, out of the top 10 in terms of pay.

Linton Bodwin, a DSO bassist and chairman of the orchestra committee, told the WSWS that the decision by management to retain Parsons was “puzzling based on what has happened over the last five years, that she would be rewarded. We had hoped for a clean start at the top. It wasn’t a great surprise, but it wasn’t great news. It boils down to a few people making a decision to continue carrying out their philosophy.”

Musicians struck on October 4 last year against concession demands, including a more than 30 percent pay cut and changes in work rules that would turn orchestra members into little more than servants at the beck and call of management. Musicians turned out to the community, organizing well-attended support concerts that kept the dispute in the public eye.

As important as the economic issues were in the strike, perhaps more significant was the determination of the musicians to defend the DSO as one of the greatest orchestras in the world. However, the efforts of the musicians could not overcome the impact of the isolation from the official labor movement, which refused to organize any serious support for the strike in the Detroit area. In April, musicians were finally forced to agree to a contract with deep pay cuts.

The DSO strike drew national attention as orchestras across the United States struggled with declining corporate donations and ticket sales in the wake of the financial crash. The end of the DSO strike was followed within days by an announcement from the Philadelphia Orchestra that it was declaring bankruptcy and would seek to abrogate its contract with musicians.

Since the end of the strike, the orchestra has lost several of its most talented musicians, including Emmanuelle Boisvert, DSO concertmaster for the past 23 years. Boisvert joined the DSO at the age of 25, the first female to win the concertmaster position at a major US orchestra. Her departure is an implicit rebuke to DSO management. She is leaving to take a lesser associate concertmaster position with the Dallas Symphony. On previous occasions Boisvert had indicated her intention to remain with the DSO until the end of her musical career.

The DSO has suffered other major losses, including Philip Dikeman, acting principal flute since 2010; violinist Lilit Danielyan, an 11-year DSO veteran; and the entire percussion section.

Concerning the departure of Boisvert, Bodwin indicated that the highly talented violinist had been the target of personal attacks on the DSO Inc. Facebook page during the strike, which at least in part influenced her decision to leave for Dallas. He added, “We are sorry to see her go. I hope she will be better off where she is going. It is a gamble, because she is leaving some of her family behind.”

Reflecting on the mood of orchestra members, Bodwin added, “It is still an unsettled situation. I think the musicians are unified as a group and are not prone to letting themselves be divided. Unfortunately, we still have to be in a reactive position.

“I have to say that the reception we have been getting at concerts is like we are heroes. I think the public is standing with the musicians.”

DSO musicians gave thanks to supporters of their strike, including the World Socialist Web Site, at a post-concert party held backstage at Orchestra Hall on June 4. Musicians expressed their appreciation to this reporter for the honest coverage and analysis of the strike, which stood in sharp contrast to that provided by the corporate media. Many musicians indicated that they felt their struggle was part of a broader defense of art and culture and expressed determination to continue to oppose the agenda of DSO management.

Click here for the Article on the Huffington Post

A recent article I read suggested that labor unions are a primary cause for today’s financial problems in the arts. I could not disagree more.

It is absolutely true that when income falls precipitously, as it has for many arts organizations, costs must be realigned. And it is also true that unions, in protecting their workers, fight tooth and nail to maintain their members’ standard of living and work environment. That is why there are unions in the first place.

But the key issue is: why has revenue fallen so far for so many arts organizations?

It is not the fault of union members that we are selling fewer tickets or raising less funds. We can blame a terrible economy, lack of arts education in our schools, substantially lower government grants at every level and new forms of entertainment that compete for the time and resources of our audiences for much of the reduction in resources available for arts organizations. A recent study, for example, found that contributions for the arts fell much farther during the recession than had previously been expected.

But this is not the entire story.

For while many arts organizations are cutting budgets and reducing their service to their communities in response to falling revenue, many others are doing very well, thank you.

They may have to work harder for the resources they require for growth but they are still growing. These are the organizations that are smart about building revenue. They produce important art, they market this art and their institutions aggressively, and they are especially good at making people feel welcome as members of their extended families.

I have been surprised (and dismayed) to see how many arts organizations handle their donors, manage their special events and treat their board members. One arts manager I met told me that her organization never communicates with its donors except for writing them once a year and asking for their annual contribution! I recently went to a board member event for one organization where the board members were left to fend for themselves as the staff members sat and drank and ate! Another arts executive told me on several occasions how he “hates his board members and wishes they would go away!”

And then they are surprised when their levels of contributions fall.

It is impossible to blame unions for the lack of revenue for arts organizations when so many are doing such a poor job of managing themselves.

In any event, cutting wages is not a long term strategy for success, nor does it ensure that the mission of an organization will be pursued with vigor. (And you can only cut for so long before there is nothing left to cut.) The only way to assure success for any not for profit is to build a sustained and growing revenue producing capability.

On Sunday, Hanna and I enjoyed a performance by Ballet Renaissance (see www.balletren.org) students and instructors, “Ballet with Bach,” at the Detroit Institute of Arts auditorium. With at least three DSO musicians leaving Detroit to join the Dallas Symphony, it may be of interest to you to know that a gifted ballerina and ballet teacher, Brianna Furnish, came from Dallas to study (at Wayne State) and live and work in Detroit some years ago, and she has put down roots here; fourteen years ago she founded Ballet Renaissance, a non-profit organization “committed to establishing quality, affordable professional ballet training and performance opportunities in the heart of Detroit” (from the group’s mission statement). In 2006, a Polish-born professional ballet dancer named Radoslaw (Radek) Kokoszka, joined Brianna as Co-Director of Ballet Ren. I learned about Brianna and her organization from her father, a good friend and college classmate of mine (at Cornell College of Iowa) whom I have kept in touch with over the decades; he is a retired professor (of theology) at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. (He and his wife came up from Dallas last weekend to visit briefly, and to attend this performance, and we had the pleasure of lunch with them at the DIA Cafe beforehand.)

What is special about Ballet Renaissance, and about Sunday’s performance? (1) Brianna and Radek teach students of all ages, girls and boys (although there are many more girls), all economic and racial backgrounds, from the ages of four on up to adults, and they all get a chance to perform at least a couple of times a year. They now hold many of their classes at the Detroit Opera House. (2) At the end of a performance, all the groups who have participated are invited back to the stage, and each child or young person or adult is identified by name and presented with a red rose. The parents who work back stage are also recognized. Love, support, safety and appreciation characterize the whole process. This time, parents of both co-directors also came to the stage and were introduced and acknowledged. (3) The fact that the music of Bach was choreographed for this performance seemed to me to be both daring and appropriate; it was very satisfying, both musically and visually. (4) While much of the musical “accompaniment” was recorded, Nadine Deleury, principal cellist with the Michigan Opera Theater Orchestra, provided exquisite cello accompaniment (from Bach suites for unaccompanied cello) for certain of the dances, and a young woman named Klara Eikoff–just finishing her freshman year in high school–sang a beautiful Bach aria for another. (5) Two other groups, the Madame Cadillac Dance Theatre of Detroit, which has been celebrating Detroit’s French roots since 1981, and a group of guest dancers from the Detroit High School for Fine and Performing Arts, also performed and added to the interest of the afternoon’s program.

I mainly wanted to alert you to the fact that, with several DSO musicians abandoning Detroit for Dallas, at least one gifted artist from Dallas has established herself in Detroit and adds importantly to the cultural and educational life here. Not only do Hanna and I support our DSO musicians, but we are pleased to support Ballet Renaissance and the important–and not well enough known–work this organization is doing.

Phil

Amy Taylor, piccoloist from MIlwaukee (frequent piccolo sub with Chicago Symphony) and Josh Romatowski, former DSO Civic Member, my former student who is currently a Masters Student at the San Francisco Conservatory.

Don’t miss these concerts featuring music from Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters including “James Bond”, “Jaws”, “Superman” and “Star Wars.” This will be your last chance to hear the DSO in Orchestra Hall until October.

Jeffery Zook, DSO Piccolo/Flute

If you would like to send Emma a farewell message you can write to her at:

info@SaveOurSymphony.info

or by clicking HERE.

We will forward the messages to Emmanuelle and publish them on this site.

All of us here at SOS wish Emmanuelle the very best in this new and exciting chapter of her life!

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Dear DSO musicians,

My soul and every fiber of my being belongs here, on this stage, amongst you, part of you, part of your past, present and future. I would like to acknowledge a debt of gratitude, to everyone who nurtured my path and still does so everyday toward becoming a more skilled orchestral musician.
To every musician who has been here 30, 40 and plus years, and to all the ones who have already departed, I wish to thank you for fostering, encouraging, and teaching me. I thank you for the vast wealth of knowledge and the traditions that this orchestra, and only this orchestra could have passed along. I would like to particularly thank Geoff Applegate for whom I would not have become the orchestral player I am now, he surely has to be the best principal second violinist in the world!
I wish to thank also former Concertmaster Gordon Staples who helped support a smooth transition into my first year, offering guidance every steps of the way. Next to thank are my wonderful stand partners, first the calm, skilled and talented Joe Goldman, again very patient and supportive during the “green” years of my life, I wish to apologize to him for everything I did not know. Then the sweet and passionate John Hughes, followed by the magnificent Laura Rowe, whom I have always called “my rock”, so steadfast and calm, I miss you here very much. Also Hai-Xin Wu who through his refined musicianship thought me how to play Mozart symphonies and piano concertos, and then last but not least, the ultra-talented, god-gifted Kim Kaloyanides Kennedy, who gives so much of herself, in order to continually blend, match, support, and elevate me. As I have worked with other orchestras lately, having to now do the “blending” with players around me, I realize that I haven’t thank you enough Kim for all these years of sublime partnership.

Next, I wish to express gratitude to the musicians of Save Orchestra Hall movement of the 70′s and 80′s, without whom we would not be here today, on the stage of this magnificent Orchestra Hall. It has been a revelation for me to finally view the 70′s video, posted on our MDSO website, of the musicians walking in a circle as the wrecking ball lurks somewhere near. I had heard the story many times, but had never visualized it before.
I would also like to offer a lifetime of gratitude to all past NCs who had vision, strength, courage, talent and dedication, to believe in and uphold this great orchestra. You taught be how to be a dedicated member of AFM.
I would also like to thank past and present members of management and Board who have continually showed kindness and understanding.
Not least is Norris, whom I consider a brother, for whom the fifth paragraph of the press release is dedicated. He and I joined the DSO the same month of the same year. I thank you, Norris and all your team, for protecting and keeping me safe, not only here but also during some of our touring. I will miss you.
Comes to mind next are the smooth, skilled, tireless, and fantastically devoted stage crew, Frank, Larry, Matt and Micky, as well as the extras, who deserve more than our thanks for seamlessly handling all of us, I don’t know of any other orchestras with a stage crew as magnificent as you guys!

To conclude, I wish both of our DSOs fantastic years of great symphonic music and much longevity during these turbulent times.
Music is always timeless,
Best wishes always,
Emmanuelle

Our readers respond:

A magnificent letter from a magnificent musician – and person. Thank you for these many wonderful years.
~ Carole Keller

Ms. Boisvert: I am deeply saddened (and shocked!) that you are leaving out beloved DSO. However things change in one’s life and I realize that you are doing what is best for you and your amazing career. Congratulations and best wishes for your new life in Dallas!
~ Rita Kerr

Has it really been 23 years since she replaced Gordon Staples? Wow, time flies when the music is great. Thank you, Ms. Boisvert, for your leadership of the DSO and all the beautiful music you have given us. I’m so glad I heard your performance of the Beethoven Romances last week. Best wishes to you and your family in Dallas
~ Joan Berndt

A beautiful letter that embodies what it is to be a high-level orchestral musician …
~ Suzanne Bilyeu

I had the great fortune of speaking one-on-one with Emmanuelle during the intermission at last Saturday’s concert. Pure charm and grace. I have always been stirred by Emmanuelle’s emotion conveyed through her craft. My heart is broken again… by another departure from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. I commend Ms Boisvert for the difficult decision that was before her but applaud her decision to continue to share her remarkable gift in a more conducive atmosphere. We will miss you Emmanuelle.
~ Brian Patek

We will certainly miss you – the radiance in your playing and your radiant face when you play. Congratulations! Dallas’ gain is truly our loss.
~ Jenn K

A tearful good-bye. We cannot thank you enough for your singularly beautiful music, your presence and your integrity. To us the Detroit Symphony will not be the same without you. We wish you all the best!
~Phil and Hanna Clampitt

What a blow to all music lovers in Michigan to see you go, Ms. Boisvert. From your impeccable musical roots at Curtis and with Cleveland to your masterful presentation of the solo literature, we looked forward each year to hearing and watching you perform at Orchestra Hall. It is sadly telling, it seems, that you have not expressed any feelings about your current MD, only about ones past. Could there be more to this story than disappointment solely with orchestra management? Whatever the case, your professionalism was fully on display this past Sunday when you so passionately collaborated with M. Slatkin in the two Beethoven Romances. We will be sad to see you leave but equally proud to have had you in our musical lives. Ave atque vale!
~Robert Glassman and Jennie Lieberman

Dear Friends,

I cannot adequately express my thanks to Emmanuelle Boisvert, departing concertmaster of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, for her artistry and good will.

For example, I recall a performance by the Detroit Symphony of Verdi’s “Requiem” some years ago. Ms. Boisvert’s setting forth of the violin solo in that work was far the best that I have heard in decades of concert-going.

May Ms. Boisvert’s association with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra bring her self-fulfillment and happiness.

Further, I cannot adequately voice my concern about the situation that has occasioned Ms. Boisvert’s departure from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

May the orchestra survive the overwhelming loss of Ms. Boisvert and other distinguished musicians.

May the orchestra’s board and management sincerely express thanks to Ms. Boisvert for her meritorious service and demonstrate to the orchestra and the community that supports it an honest commitment to the secure future of this world-renowned ensemble.
~James Toy MSW

The internationally acclaimed Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the fourth-oldest symphony orchestra in the United States, is known for trailblazing performances, visionary maestros and collaborations with the world’s foremost musical artists. Esteemed conductor Leonard Slatkin, called “America’s Music Director” by the Los Angeles Times, became the 12th Music Director of the DSO during the 2008-09 season. The DSO offers a year-round performance schedule that includes classical, pops, jazz, young people’s concerts and festivals. The DSO makes its home in historic Orchestra Hall, one of America’s most acoustically perfect concert halls, and actively pursues a mission to impact and serve the community through music.

The number to the DSO Box Office is 313-576-5111

Click HERE to go directly to the DSO Calendar of Events

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Join the SOS Core Group at DSO concerts:

Please consider joining us! We gather near the Top of the Grand Stairway before the concerts, during intermission and afterward to meet with you, enjoy a cocktail and discuss ways in which SOS can support classical music in Detroit! Added bonus – DSO Musicians tend to hang around us!

We will gather before the concerts, during intermission and afterward to meet with you have some fun and discuss ways in which SOS can support classical music in Detroit!

Added bonus – DSO Musicians tend to hang around us!

Get your tickets soon, these concerts are filling up quickly. Follow the links to purchase your tickets online, or call the DSO Box Office at 313-576-5111

Born in Yerevan, Armenia, in 1975, Lilit’s talent for music was recognized at a very early age. When she was just 12, she made her professional debut with the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, performing Saint-Saens’s Violin Concerto No. 3 and, as a student, won numerous awards including Second Prize at the Soviet Youth Violin Competition in Odessa, Ukraine, in 1989 and First Prize at the International Mozart Competition in Belgium in 1991. Following an intense period of study in London and the United States, Lilit joined the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 2000.

A Message from Lilit Danielyan:

Music is the universal language of the heart. Music, in all its variety, speaks to and is understood intuitively by every person on this planet. As a member of Detroit Symphony’s violin section, I helped each week to bring music to life on the magnificent stage of Orchestra Hall. It is this music that gathers our beloved audiences together, no matter their nationality or mother tongue, to listen, enjoy and experience a deep inner resonance as our music touches them in a way that the spoken word cannot.

Please know that the Detroit Symphony Orchestra is doing its very best to keep the heart of Detroit alive at home, through its many performances, and away, when on tour or being broadcast.

Dear Audience Members, You have been wonderful in your support of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Please be there to help the musicians of the DSO continue their work of bringing spectacular classical music performances in the spirit of beauty, harmony, kindness and goodness to Michigan and the world.

My Dear Colleagues, Thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart for the many years of friendship and wonderful memories. I will cherish them. Although I have decided to move to Dallas to continue my career, I am ever so proud to have been part of this orchestra performing alongside each of you, where I was privileged to share my gift of making music at the highest possible level.

We, in turn, wish Lilit God’s speed as she and her husband, Grigor Poghosyan, and their two children, Shackay and Arman, embark on a new voyage. We will surely miss you all.

—The Musicians of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra

DSO Concertmaster Resigns

By now most everyone has heard about the latest developments in Detroit. My first reaction was one of shock and surprise; the surprise lessened considerably after I thought it through a little more. In fact, I found myself wondering why she hadn’t bailed out sooner. But nobody should misconstrue what’s happened- a major loss for the orchestra at a precarious time, and a definitive vote of no confidence from one of its most prominent and visible musicians.

I don’t know Emmanuelle Boisvert very well, only peripherally during our time as “co-concertmasters” in Seattle, more recently through some informal email exchanges, and of course from her excellent reputation. On the surface, it might seem odd that the CM from Detroit would up and leave after 23 years for an associate position in Dallas, a group with a traditionally smaller budget and perhaps less historical cachet. But I also played in Dallas several times this year as CM (the orchestra had many guests this season), and there are a lot or compelling things happening there. Attention Mr. Woodcock/Teachout/ other Chicken Little charter members: the Dallas Symphony has it going on.

As I can attest, and as Ms. Boisvert noted in her eloquent statement, the Dallas orchestra currently functions in an atmosphere of respect, ambition, financial stability, and an upward artistic trajectory. Jaap van Zweden has big plans, and despite some recent leadership changes on the admin side, things are moving in a notably positive direction. Contrast this with the catastrophic events in Detroit over the last year coupled with their current habitual inertia and the Board’s evident refusal to make the necessary leadership adjustments at the top, and a large middle finger is not unexpected from any musician.

Consider the colossally tepid statement from the Detroit board chair, Stanley Frankel:

“The DSO learned of this disappointing loss just this morning. We thank Emmanuelle Boisvert for her many years of dedicated service and artistic excellence and wish her much happiness and success in her future endeavors with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

Retaining and attracting top talent remains a priority for the DSO at every level and under the leadership of our Music Director Leonard Slatkin, the DSO will continue to achieve tremendous artistic success while building a sustainable and viable business model going forward.”

Huh? 23 years as Concertmaster, and that’s it? Incidentally, the silence from Executive Director Anne Parsons was notable, as was the absence of a comment from Music Director Leonard Slatkin (in my opinion he’s about the only beacon of hope left around there).

I have news for Mr. Frankel, the Board, Ms. Parsons, and other subscribers to the absurd notion that top musicians can be easily and quickly replaced without substantially damaging the brand name and artistic quality: that won’t happen.

A great ensemble (or business, or team) is dependent on well-developed and sophisticated working relationships that can take years to refine. Further, musicians who stay for decades develop deep roots in the community, which benefits everyone. At this point Detroit has very little chance of attracting anything close to experienced “top talent”, especially for the position of Concertmaster. Of course there are legions of kids coming out of music schools who will play beautifully. Over a period of years (yes, years), some will be hired to replace departing musicians from this season. With rare exceptions they will be stand-ins; proxies for experienced artists that made the orchestra what it was for all those years before the strike.

My sense is that Ms. Boisvert will not be the last veteran musician to depart Detroit over the next several months; time will tell. Beyond the strike-ending settlement, I suppose one can hope that the Board will eventually realize what other changes are necessary to stop both the hemorrhaging of talent and the Detroit Symphony’s race to the bottom.

Adaptistration.com

Following the news that Detroit Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Emmanuelle Boisvert decided to leave her position for an associate concertmaster position at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony issues a brief statement from board chair, Stanley Frankel. Frankel’s statement could perhaps best be described as profoundly indifferent…

“The DSO learned of this disappointing loss just this morning. We thank Emmanuelle Boisvert for her many years of dedicated service and artistic excellence and wish her much happiness and success in her future endeavors with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

Retaining and attracting top talent remains a priority for the DSO at every level and under the leadership of our Music Director Leonard Slatkin, the DSO will continue to achieve tremendous artistic success while building a sustainable and viable business model going forward.”

The obligatory “retraining top talent remains a priority” phrase certainly has a hollow ring to it in light of the fact that losing a concertmaster, the primary artistic member next to the music director, to an orchestra with a traditionally smaller budget is an intense event. Make no mistake, this is a profound blow to the Detroit Symphony. It delivers exponentially more punch when said concertmaster left for a position that is considered a step down.

If you run Frankel’s message through a spin filter, it might come across something like this: So long as Leonard sticks around we don’t care who leaves and the more high price salaries we can get rid of, the better. Don’t expect a bon voyage party and don’t bother cleaning out your locker, we’ll send* your things along to your new address.

If there is any doubt behind Boisvert’s motivation, it will be washed away with the following passage from her press statement.

“This winter I performed with the Dallas Symphony on several occasions and marveled at their organization’s commitment to classical music, the intrinsic respect offered to musicians by the administration and esteemed Music Director, Jaap van Zweden, and the emphasis they place on communication and teamwork at all levels. I had planned to stay in Detroit for my entire career, but Dallas presented me with an opportunity I simply couldn’t refuse.”

In case you didn’t catch the message in the Grand Canyon size gaps between the lines, then allow me: I’m leaving because I can’t stand working for our current board and administrative executive leadership. Sticking around to make things better from the inside out is neither sustainable nor viable. I don’t care that my new gig is a step down in status (and perhaps pay), but the thought of working for this leadership team is so impalpable I took the first reasonable offer to come my way from a group that isn’t a fire to the frying pan that is the new Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

In case anyone was wondering whether or not Detroit Symphony musicians were capable of getting out of Dodge post-haste in the face of the “oversupply of musicians” and/or “lack of openings” arguments, Boisvert’s defection should pretty much put a railroad spike size nail into that coffin.

*C.O.D, parcel post.

Detroit – Emmanuelle Boisvert, Concertmaster of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for twenty-three years, will be moving to another DSO to continue her career. Emmanuelle has accepted an Associate Concertmaster position with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra beginning September 2011.
Ms. Boisvert joined the Detroit Symphony at the age of 25, becoming the first woman to win the concertmaster position at a major American orchestra and, for more than two decades, has led DSO musicians with consummate professionalism and dedication. During Emmanuelle’s tenure, the violin section maintained and intensified its deep sonority and virtuosity, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra matured into one the most respected major orchestras in the United States.
“When I arrived Detroit in 1988,” said Emmanuelle, “ I was quite young – just beginning my career, really. After graduating from Curtis, I freelanced in Philadelphia and subsequently joined the Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of Christoph von Dohnanyi. Two years later the Detroit Symphony and its Music Director Gunter Herbig presented me with the performance opportunity of a lifetime – the chance to lead a great orchestra. To this day, I remain grateful for their decision to place such trust in me.”
She continued, “It has been a privilege for me to work with my colleagues and to make spectacular music both live and recorded with Maestro Neeme Javi in our magnificent home — Orchestra Hall. I have been the fortunate recipient, through veteran musicians in the orchestra, of the wisdom of such DSO Music Directors as Paul Paray and Antal Dorati. I have also enjoyed sharing the duties of selecting new, amazingly talented musicians for the orchestra with the goal of ensuring highest quality in classical music performances for Detroit and Michigan for many years to come.”
“On the personal side,” she said, “The great City of Detroit and it residents have taught me to be patient, loving, kindhearted, devoted, strong, and tenacious – the qualities also possessed by my three children, who were all born in Detroit.”
“This winter I performed with the Dallas Symphony on several occasions and marveled at their organization’s commitment to classical music, the intrinsic respect offered to musicians by the administration and esteemed Music Director, Jaap van Zweden, and the emphasis they place on communication and teamwork at all levels. I had planned to stay in Detroit for my entire career, but Dallas presented me with an opportunity I simply couldn’t refuse. Making the decision to leave Detroit has been heart wrenching,” said Emmanuelle.
Geoffrey Applegate, DSO’s Principal Second Violin, added, “Emma will be distraught at leaving her colleagues. We are a very close-knit team on-stage and our success is due in large part to our intricate working relationship. This Friday will mark Emma’s final performance as Concertmaster with us in Orchestra Hall and we will make it a very special concert for her — she has been the heart of our orchestra for a long time and we will miss her terribly. We wish her nothing but the best in her future endeavors.”
Emmanuelle will be joining Brian Jones, DSO’s Principal Timpanist, who also is departing for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra at the end of this season.

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CONTACT: Linton Bodwin, MDSO Committee Chairman 248-227-3367 (cell) or 248-642-3384 (home), limelakeman@comcast.net

A few summers ago, one of the DSO evening concerts Hanna and I attended at Meadow Brook lingers in my memory because of an unusual event. My memory of this concert is selective. I recall that Thomas Wilkins conducted, and that the weather was problematic. We had purchased lawn tickets. The rainstorm held off during most of the first half of the concert, which as I recall featured a piano soloist (who, or what he played, I can’t remember). Then the thunder and lightning and rain came, and many of us scurried as quickly as we could from the lawn to seats inside the pavilion–there were plenty of unoccupied seats there–where, with a roof over our heads, we stayed relatively dry. By the time intermission ended, the worst of the storm had passed. Dvorak’s Eighth Symphony, which deserves more performances than it usually gets, was scheduled for the second half. Shortly after the first movement began, the very loud trill of a tree frog (the frog is quite small, but it has a very loud voice), up in the rafters of the pavilion, began accompanying the music of Dvorak coming from the orchestra! After the first movement ended, Maestro Wilkins turned to the audience and remarked: “And he didn’t even buy a ticket!” Laughter and applause. The frog eventually lost interest, apparently, and maybe moved on, but the delightful music of Dvorak continued. I like to think that Dvorak himself, had he been present, would have enjoyed the spectacle of having his 8th Symphony accompanied by a frog!

That’s not quite all of the story. A generally favorable review of the concert, by Mark Stryker, appeared in the Detroit Free Press a couple of days later. But what I (as a biologist) knew to be a gray tree frog (Hyla versicolor*, I think; there is a closely related species that it can be confused with) was, to Mr. Stryker’s ears, “a pigeon.” His great knowledge and love of classical music was not accompanied by an equal knowledge of the music of the natural world. I was sufficiently exercised by the error that I wrote a letter to the Free Press to point it out. Sadly, they never printed my letter. Most of those who heard the concert probably believe, to this day–if they read the review and didn’t know better–that the creature who joined in with the music of Dvorak that night at Meadow Brook was a pigeon. Now all of you who read this will know the TRUTH!

Phil

One of my parents’ deepest fears, I suspect, is that society would not properly value me as a musician, that I wouldn’t be appreciated. I had very good grades in high school, I was good in science and math, and they imagined that as a doctor or a research chemist or an engineer, I might be more appreciated than I would be as a musician. I still remember my mother’s remark when I announced my decision to apply to music school—she said, “you’re wasting your SAT scores!” On some level, I think, my parents were not sure themselves what the value of music was, what its purpose was. And they loved music: they listened to classical music all the time. They just weren’t really clear about its function. So let me talk about that a little bit, because we live in a society that puts music in the “arts and entertainment” section of the newspaper, and serious music, the kind your kids are about to engage in, has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with entertainment, in fact it’s the opposite of entertainment. Let me talk a little bit about music, and how it works…

Click HERE for a link to the entire article on The Boston Conservatory.edu

I’ve been known to take 45 minutes traveling to Commerce Township and other places out in “pick-a-lake” Michigan (Waterford and beyond), and no one complains about that!

My son-in-law is a 15 year veteran of the Detroit Police Force and he worries about my safety more in the burbs than in The D! I LOVE DETROIT! More on this later!

~ Judy