Issue: October 2016
On September 8, 2016, after 15 months of unproductive negotiations, the musicians of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra left the stage of the Bass Performance Hall, walked outside, and replaced bows and bocals with picket signs. The decision to strike was painful, but we had reached our breaking point. The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra has a relatively short history. Founded in 1925 as a … [Read more...]
Issue: October 2016
The 54th ICSOM Conference was held August 24-27, 2016 at the Loews Madison Hotel in Washington DC. Our hosts were ICSOM’s resident orchestras of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts—the National Symphony Orchestra and the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra—and their local, the Metropolitan Washington DC Federation of Musicians, Local 161-710. Last year in Philadelphia, ICSOM … [Read more...]
Issue: Chairperson's Reports
After ten years of dedicated service to ICSOM, Bruce Ridge has stepped down from the position of Chair. His visionary leadership has raised the profile of ICSOM and changed the public dialogue around classical music and the health of our orchestras. Bruce has touched the lives of countless musicians through our Call To Action advocacy and the utilization of social media. I am honored to have been … [Read more...]
Issue: October 2016
Of the many lessons absorbed during ICSOM’s 2016 conference, one of my “eureka” moments took place far from the air-conditioned comfort of Loews Madison. Nats Park on a sticky summer night might not conjure images of a setting ripe for introspective discovery, but then again, learning can take place at any time, any place. Although I dislike the term ex-patriot (expat) with its implications of … [Read more...]
Issue: October 2016
The commute couldn’t be beat. When sitting in traffic along the way to New York’s Lincoln Center from my home in New Jersey, I can’t help wistfully recalling a time when I could take a boat to work. The high-speed ferry ride lasted 11 minutes over the most beautiful harbor in the world, docking at Sydney’s busy transport hub, the Circular Quay, within steps of my destination: the breathtaking … [Read more...]
Issue: October 2016
At the ICSOM conference in Washington DC, Dr. Heather Malyuk, a full-time music audiologist, offered vital information about hearing damage and loss and the best ways to proactively avoid and/or treat them. She urged us to take care of our hearing with the same devotion that athletes keep themselves in shape, and to think of ourselves as “small muscle athletes”. Trained as a violinist, she … [Read more...]
Issue: October 2016
On Wednesday, September 21, all of the employees of Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and Duke Energy in Charlotte, NC, were told to go home in anticipation of planned protests over the police shooting of Keith Scott. Downtown was basically being evacuated. In the nine years I’ve lived in Charlotte I never have witnessed anything like the frenetic exit that all were attempting to make. That night the … [Read more...]
Issue: October 2016
Detroit Honors Exceptional Giving The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) recently celebrated the extraordinary generosity of Peter Cummings and his wife Julie, whose accumulated giving to the DSO has exceeded $10 million. The Music Box, a multi-purpose entertaining space, was renamed the Peter D. & Julie F. Cummings Cube. The Cube is located within the Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Music … [Read more...]
Issue: October 2016
Lew Mancini Whereas, Lew Mancini had a long and active career with the American Federation of Musicians (AFM), beginning with his membership in Local 248 Patterson, New Jersey, and continuing through his work for seven different AFM presidents; and Whereas, The AFM was a family business for Lew as the son-in-law of Bob Crothers, the former executive assistant to AFM President Hal Davis, … [Read more...]
