Issue: May 2006
The Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra (PRSO) is ICSOM’s newest member, and that is something that takes both the PRSO and ICSOM to another level. The former because we have become part of the great family of symphonic musicians working towards shared goals; and the latter to have as a member an orchestra so representative of the diversity that exists in the symphonic orchestra world. The musicians of … [Read more...]
Issue: Chairperson's Reports
Just a few weeks ago, I came back from my second trip to Puerto Rico. There I helped members of the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra (PRSO), including orchestra committee chair and Local 555 president José Martin, negotiate with the management of the PRSO and the Corporación de las Artes Musicales (CAM), the governmental agency that oversees the PRSO and other musical arts in Puerto Rico. It is a … [Read more...]
Issue: May 2006
When I was a student, which seems an alarmingly long time ago, I remember reading a satirical piece called “An Efficiency Expert Looks at a Symphony Orchestra.” I thought I had saved a copy in my files, but a lengthy search the other afternoon proved fruitless. So, I “googled” it, and sure enough, I found a portion of it on some obscure website. The two excerpts I remembered most clearly were … [Read more...]
Issue: Counsel's Columns
Today’s “Peculiar Institution” The symphony orchestra is surely the only institution which, in times of fiscal distress, blames the crisis on its product and then declares that the solution lies in downgrading the quality thereof! This phenomenon was never more glaring than in the recent contretemps in Louisville, an orchestra which, after a glorious period of making some of the finest recordings … [Read more...]
Issue: May 2006
Nominating Committee Announcement In accordance with ICSOM bylaws, elections are to be held at the 2006 ICSOM Conference for the positions of Chair, Treasurer, Editor of Senza Sordino, and two Members at Large (all two-year terms), as well as for the third delegate to the 2007 AFM Convention. The duties of all ICSOM officers are spelled out in the ICSOM bylaws, which are available on the ICSOM … [Read more...]
