A hue and cry went up in Vancouver this March, and rippled across Canada when Mark Steinmetz, head of CBC Radio Music, announced that the Vancouver-based CBC Radio Orchestra is being disbanded.
Why should anyone care about a 35-piece orchestra that gives 6-8 concerts per year? Well, Canadian music-lovers see this action by CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) bureaucrats as [...]

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The Austin Symphony Orchestra’s (ASO) closing concert at Riverbend, their temporary home, featured an all-French program highlighting soloist André Watts in Saint-Saens’ Piano Concerto No. 2.
This was certainly Watts at his best! Technically thrilling! Full of intensity and personality without being vulgar or self-indulgent!
I have followed Watts’ career since he first appeared with Bernstein on [...]

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The Shreveport Symphony is in financial trouble – again.
The orchestra’s deficit is up to $500,000. After reviewing reports from two consultants, the board recently announced its decision to eliminate all full-time musician positions, and to revert to a wholly “per-service” orchestra. Predictably, the distraught musicians are fighting back.
We have seen this scenario before – several [...]

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