“Carnegie Hall celebrated the American orchestra last week,” writes Anne Midgette in Sunday’s (5/12) Washington Post. “Except that Spring for Music, the festival that ended Saturday, wasn’t actually a Carnegie Hall festival. It was sponsored by patrons and foundation grants. And given the turmoil across the country as orchestras battle financial duress and strikes and lockouts lead to concert cancellations, some might ask what exactly there is to celebrate. It’s a hard time for orchestras. But then, it’s a hard time for a lot of traditional institutions—newspapers, record labels, book publishers. … ‘We see in all walks of life . . . tremendous volatility,’ says Jesse Rosen, president of the League of American Orchestras. ‘So it’s not surprising that in orchestras there is a lot of tension. … I think the strain that orchestras have been experiencing has been a positive influence with regard to experimentation,’ he says. … Spring for Music was built around some ideas that are fast becoming buzzwords along with the catchword ‘the 21st century orchestra.’ First, community. The idea that orchestras need to connect better with the world they live in has become something of a byword. … Second, contemporary music. … Spring for Music, accordingly, encourages orchestras to program, to use an overused term, ‘outside the box.’ And third, cost-cutting—the hot-button topic around the country as orchestras. … The other key issue in developing the 21st-century orchestra involves redefining what a musician does.”
Posted May 13, 2013
