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Music Director Salaries on the Upswing
Thanks to a Texas-sized bonus, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s Jaap van Zweden has become the first American symphony music director to earn more than $5 million in annual compensation, according to the latest conductor salary report by the industry blog Adaptistration.
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National Anthems as Raw Material for Classical Compositions
The Rio Olympics will once again put national anthems in the spotlight, as winning athletes stand on the medal podium to hear their country’s song played over loudspeakers while their respective flag is hoisted above. The medal ceremonies can make for great television, though if past games are a precedent, American viewers will hear lots of the U.S. national anthem, to the exclusion of…
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Lincoln Center’s $2.4 Billion Impact on New York City
Broadway theaters have been assiduous about promoting their value to New York City’s economy, releasing annual reports and other data on their audiences’ ticket-buying habits, demographics and consumer preferences. These are then used as evidence of Broadway’s role as a major economic engine, helping advocates lobby city and state governments for tax breaks and other incentives.
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Instagram Use Grows Dramatically Among Arts Consumers
Capacity Interactive, an online marketing consulting firm, has published a report examining how arts organizations use the Internet and social media in their marketing efforts. Surveying more than 130 U.S. arts organizations, the company identified a dramatic increase in the amount of Instagram activity over the past year.
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Conductor and Board Appointments Signal Change at Big Institutions
What to make of a day when three sets of headlines point to an ever-so-slightly more progressive direction for classical music? To recap…
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Dispatch from Belfast: The Ulster Orchestra’s Potent Season Finale
BELFAST – The Ulster Orchestra has long been regarded as one of the jewels in Northern Ireland’s cultural crown but in recent years, serious doubts emerged about its existence as local government funding was slashed and talk of bankruptcy suddenly emerged.
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Peter Gelb: Met Opera Is Exploring New Box Office Strategies
Metropolitan Opera general manager Peter Gelb said on Saturday that the company is launching new strategies to combat its lagging ticket sales, including convening a series of focus groups, hiring box office consultants and expanding its on-demand video streaming services.
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If Sea World Draws Criticism, Should the Opera Too?
A provocative article on the website Counterpunch looks at whether there is a double standard when it comes to the use of live animals in works of art. At a time when Sea World and Ringling Bros. have bowed to public pressure and changed their policies on captive orca whales and elephants, respectively, New York artists and their audiences seem particularly enthralled this season…
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The Phenomenon of the Rebel Cellist
Last week, the cellist Sergei Roldugin appeared in the Syrian city of Palmyra, performing a solo while flanked by members of Russia’s Mariinsky Theater Orchestra. The official performance has been described as a victory lap for Russia, whose special forces recently helped recapture the city from ISIS. It also represented a defiant gesture for Roldugin, a former principal cellist at the Mariinsky…
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When the Metropolitan Opera Presented Sunday Concerts
The Metropolitan Opera’s grim box office numbers have received a good deal of attention from New York’s opera lovers, including the classical music writers of the New York Times, who last week channeled their inner impresarios to offer some suggestions for the company.