Articles: Page 17

More and more orchestras, particularly in Europe, are availing themselves of the services of an animateur. What is an animateur? The English version of Wikipedia doesn’t even have an entry for it, and the French version states that an animateur is one who animates a group of people. Not a very helpful definition, is it?
So I’ll let Thomas Cabaniss, composer and animateur with the Philadelphia Orchestra, tell you exactly what it means and what he does in that capacity for the orchestra.

For eight years, 1995-2003, the Symphony Orchestra Institute (SOI) published Harmony. It was a journal of thoughtful insight and opinion about the complex dynamics of symphony orchestra organizations. The journal presented essays and reports authored by practitioners, scholars, and other close observers of orchestras. In 2004 when the founder of the SOI, Paul Judy, gifted the SOI to the Eastman School of Music, the Orchestra Musician Forum and its website Polyphonic was created. The Harmony archives were included.
Many of these articles are still considered leading literature in the field. In our continued efforts to inform the orchestral community, we will feature these articles, from time to time, for those of you who would like to reread them, or for others who may have never had the opportunity to do so before.

I spent all last week (June 17 – 23, 2007) attending two meetings: the 97th Convention of the American Federation of Musicians in Las Vegas and the 62nd National Conference of the American Symphony Orchestra League in Nashville. They couldn’t have been more different.

“One of the founding goals of Polyphonic is to explore how orchestras can adapt to a changing arts climate. One of the challenges of adapting concerts to new formats is how to do so without violating current copyright provisions.
Recently I spoke with Marcia Farabee, head librarian for the National Symphony Orchestra, a position that has given her valuable on-the-job-training about the practical side of copyright law. She also serves as president of MOLA, the Major Orchestra Librarians Association.
In September, Polyphonic will host a virtual discussion panel (VDP) with Marcia and other orchestra librarians; one of the subjects we\’ll discuss is how copyrights affect orchestras’ planning and programming.”

Marketing consultant Christopher Stager was recently invited to participate on a panel at the Int’l. Artist Managers’ Assoc. in London, and decided to present his perception of how American orchestras go about growing an audience to his European colleagues. What follows is Chris’ take on how audiences behave, and what orchestras need to do to capitalize on that behavior to sell tickets.

Orchestras are constantly exploring new technologies that can enhance the audience’s appreciation of their concerts, from multi-media concert experiences and digital program notes to new web experiences. Since February 2006, the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Ottawa Canada has been producing bi-monthly 30-minute podcasts featuring their upcoming programs. Polyphonic has been featuring the NACOcast of Gustavo Dudamel on our home page for the past month.
I recently had a fascinating conversation with Chris Millard, host of the NACOcasts and principal bassoon of the NAC Orchestra, and Maurizio Ortolani, NAC’s New Media Producer. They discussed the origins of the podcasts, how they put them together, and the technology they use. Thus far they’ve produced about 30 podcasts on a wide range of topics; click here to explore their offerings and listen, and read on to experience a behind-the-scenes view of the NAC studio.

Steven Honigberg was also hired by Mstislav Rostropovich to play in the National Symphony’s cello section. Steve has written a beautiful tribute to Slava, full of loving memories of him both onstage and off. Reading Steve’s tribute will give you a flavor of how Slava was larger-than-life yet so very loving of his friends.

Since his death last week, thousands of words have been written about our beloved Slava Rostropovich. Since I worked closely with him for 16 years, I wanted to write a more personal view of him for Polyphonic. What follows is just that: strictly personal. It is by no means comprehensive, as I could reminisce about him for hours. I apologize if some of what I remember is not what someone else remembers, and I invite others to please write to Polyphonic and add your memories to this tribute.

The 2007 Major Orchestra Librarians’ Association (MOLA) conference runs from Friday, April 13th to Monday, April 16th in Chicago. 2007 marks the 25th anniversary of the founding of MOLA. Outgoing MOLA President Karen Schnackenberg sent us the agenda for the conference – we thought symphony instrumentalists would find it interesting to see the topics that will be discussed at this year’s MOLA conference.

One of our most precious assets, as musicians, is our hearing, yet we are constantly endangering our hearing merely by going to work. Janet Horvath, Minnesota Orchestra cellist, describes some of the most common hearing injuries and offers some excellent advice as to what you can do to protect your hearing.