In addition to his May 12 concert in Liverpool, the embattled Brazilian conductor Roberto Minczuk is scheduled to conduct the BBC National Orchestra of Wales four days earlier in Cardiff. The soloist is BBC New Generation Artist, baritone Hank Neven.

The International Federation of Musicians and several unions in the US have called on players to avoid working with a conductor who had ordered all musicians in the Brazil Symphony Orchestra to reaudition for their jobs and sacked half of them for refusing.

It will be interesting to see how the BBC handles this delicate situation.

We are still waiting to hear dates and details of the auditions Mr Minczuk aims to conduct in London, seeking to rebuild his orchestra. Let us know if you hear anything.

 

Afternoon Concerts at BBC Hoddinott Hall (6 of 6): Rachmaninov

with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales

Wednesday 08 June 2011, 2pm

BBC Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff Bay, Cardiff CF10 5AL
part of the 2010/11 BBC Hoddinott Hall and Afternoon Concerts 2010/11 series

£7-£10

RACHMANINOV Isle of the Dead 

MUSSORGSKY (orch. Shostakovich)Songs and dances of death

RACHMANINOV Symphonic Dances

Conductor Roberto Minczuk

Baritone Henk Neven (BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist)

Experience the scintillating energy and joie de vivre of Rachmaninov’s final work, the Symphony Dances, next to one of the greatest and most intense masterpieces of Russian music: Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death.

To be broadcast by BBC Radio 3.

Tickets: BBC National Orchestra of Wales Audience Line: 0800 052 1812

Wales Millennium Centre Box Office: 029 2063 6464

 

And while we’re compiling charts, here’s one from 247wallst.com on the American orchestras that are deepest in trouble.

Three in the list are already out of business and a fourth has filed for bankruptcy protection.

Here’s the link to the whole article.

And here’s the doom chart. Try not to choke:

1. Philadelphia Orchestra

  • Founded: 1900
  • Location: Philadelphia
  • Operating Revenue: $33.08 million (FY 2010)
  • Structural Deficit $14.5 million (FY 2010)
  • Allison Vulgamore, CEO (Since 2009)

The Philadelphia Orchestra was driven to seek Chapter 11 last month for the same reasons many private companies do:  its expenses ($46 million) were quite a bit higher than its revenue ($33.08 million).  . ‘Although The Philadelphia Orchestra has no long-term debt, it is operating at a significant loss based upon declining ticket revenues, decreased donations, eroding endowment income, pension obligations, contractual agreements, and increased operational cost,” The Orchestra said in announcing the bankruptcy.  A spat of emergency fundraising was expected to reduce that shortfall to $5 million, but that only covers this season.  Undaunted, the Orchestra is planning a $160 million fundraising campaign.   The orchestra was without a CEO for 10 months, which surely didn’t help matters.

2. Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

  • Founded: 1916
  • Location: Baltimore
  • Total Revenue: $21.7 million (FY 2009)
  • Deficit: $5.3 million
  • Paul Meecham,  CEO

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is faced with the unenviable problem of competing for corporate patrons and ticket sales with National Symphony Orchestra in neighboring Washington,  D.C.   Its struggles have only gotten worse as the economy slowed down.  Charity Navigator shows it has a negative net asset value of $3.3 million.  In 2010, musicians agreed to accept a pay freeze for this season and take a 16.6% pay cut for the next two seasons.

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3. Columbus Symphony Orchestra

  • Founded: 1951
  • Location: Columbus, Ohio
  • Total Revenue:  $6.9 million (FY 2009)
  • Surplus:  $285,529
  • William B. Conner, Jr., Executive Director

The Columbus Symphony Orchestra calls itself the only full-time professional orchestra in Northern Ohio. Unfortunately, its modest financial success  has come at a steep price. In March 2010, the musicians agreed to $1.1 million in wage cuts through 2011.  The organization’s board had threaten to shut its doors permanently unless wage concessions were made.

4. New York City Opera

  • Founded: 1943
  • Location: New York
  • Total Revenue: $5.99 million (FY 2009)
  • Deficit: $5 million (Current)
  • George Steel, General Manager and Artistic Director

The New York City Opera was founded to make opera accessible to American audiences, perform new music and to give breaks to U.S. born singers.   Think of it as an alternative to the Met.   The current season is up in the air.  We’re working very hard to get this institution on a sound financial footing,”  Board Chairman Charles Wall told The New York Times that he is donating $2.5 million to help cover the deficit and seeking contributions. “The opera has ceded time to New York City Ballet, with which it shares the David H. Koch Theater, in exchange for a reduction in payments,” the paper says.

5. Houston Symphony

  • Founded: 1913
  • Location: Houston
  • Operating Revenue: $8.72 million (2010)
  • Deficiency From Operations (2010) $14.85 million
  • Mark Hanson, CEO

In 2009, The Houston Symphony announced sweeping austerity measures including furloughing musicians and staff and reduce the pay of conductors to save $900,000.  It didn’t seem to do much good.  The organization’s annual report shows that its deficit in 2010 was $14.85 million, the highest it’s been since at least 2006. Revenues were at their lowest level since 2007.  As of the 2009 fiscal year, the Orchestra had negative net assets of $16.1 million.

6. Detroit Symphony Orchestra

  • Founded: 1914
  • Location:  Detroit
  • Total Revenue: $23.58 million (FY 2009)
  • Deficit: $11.89 million (FY 2009)
  • Anne Parsons, CEO

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra has had a rough few months, including a six-month long musicians’ strike that was settled this month.   According to Dynamic Arts Consulting, the DSO has been caught in an economic maelstrom since the start of the recession as Detroit’s auto industry fell into decline.   Its finances are a mess as corporate support withered away.  “The financial crisis of 2008 greatly affected the DSO, which subsequently lost $19 million in ticket sales and remains in default on the terms of its $54 million real-estate debt (to build Max M. Fisher Music Center and restore Orchestra Hall),” the company says.  The rest of the season has been canceled.

7. Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra

  • Founded: 1959
  • Location:  Milwaukee
  • Total Revenue: $14.18 million (FY 2009)
  • Deficit; $3.3 Million
  • Maryellen H. Gleason, President & Executive Director

One the youngest symphonies in major cities, the Orchestra was hit with a steep drop-off in contributions during the last fiscal year because of the recession.  Total revenue for the year was 16.5% below projections. According to the Journal Sentinel newspaper, the Orchestra is as ambitious as ever. “Belt-tightening and staff furlough days have not resulted in a reflexive lack of ambition or innovation,” it says.  Nonetheless, the Symphony slashed $500,000 from its expenses for the 2011 fiscal year.

8. Syracuse Symphony Orchestra

  • Founded: 1961
  • Location: Syracuse, NY
  • Total Revenue: n/a
  • Debt: $5.5 Million
  • Interim Executive Director Paul Brooks

The Orchestra has been in life support for a while. “Last summer the arts organization was close to collapse when it was without operating funds. An “angel investor” came to its rescue,” the Syracuse Post-Standard says. “In late January, it announced it faced a similar fate if it didn’t receive an immediate $375,000 to cover February expenses and needed a total of $1.75 million by Aug. 1 to continue its 50th anniversary season.  The campaign, which included an orchestral staging of Led Zeppelin songs, fell short.  “In plain terms, if there is to be another Symphony, it can start with a clean sheet of paper,” the Orchestra says on its website.  The season was canceled, including a  concert featuring world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

9. New Mexico Symphony Orchestra

  • Founded: 1932
  • Location:  Albuquerque, New Mexico
  • Total Revenue: $4.06 million (FY 2009)
  • Deficit: $1.45 million
  • Ruth Silva-Hernández
    Interim President/CEO

The New Mexico Symphony Orchestra filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection on April 21.  Like other orchestras,  the New Mexico Symphony was caught in the twin vice grips of the economic slowdown and rising costs.    Musicians are reportedly owed $800,000.  It also was behind in its rent.  The orchestra will cease to exist once the bankruptcy is completed.

10. Louisville Orchestra

  • Founded:  1932
  • Location: Louisville, KY
  • Total Revenue: $6.57 million
  • Deficit: $813, 676
  • Robert A. Birman, CEO

Weeks before its 75th anniversary in 2010, the Louisville Orchestra filed for protection from its creditors.  As the Louisville Courier-Journal noted,  the group sought to cut its roster of full-time musicians from 71 to 55 which would be supplemented with that with 16 part-timers to reduce costs by about $1 million.   Musicians were, of course, livid and CEO Robert Birman said at the time of the filing that he understood their frustration.

11. Honolulu Symphony Orchestra

  • Founded: 1900
  • Revenue: N/A
  • Deficit: N/A
  • Executive director: N/A

The good citizens of Hawaii may get their orchestra back, which was forced in 2010 to liquidate.  A group of local citizens bought the orchestra’s assets at an auction.  “We’re kind of taking a leap of faith in buying all the symphony’s memorabilia and musical works because we feel that is going to be necessary to restart the symphony,”businessman Mark Polivka told The New York Times.  They might just succeed, having reached a 3 year agreement with the musician’s union.  A new season is scheduled to start in September.

Jonathan Berr

Read more: The Death Of Classical Music in America – 24/7 Wall St. http://247wallst.com/2011/05/01/the-most-cash-strapped-classical-music-organizations/#ixzz1LOX8RjqI

 

 

You – like me – may be struggling with the new-look Slipped Disc format, but nothing can stop the blog’s steepling rise up the UK user charts.

The latest wikio rankings for music blogs confirm it as number 1 for classical music and number 5 overall.

That’s three places higher than last month, 12 above February’s. We must be doing something right.

Here’s the chart:

1 Musicrooms.net
2 SoulCulture.co.uk
3 St. Peter’s View
4 Lil Wayne HQ
5 Slipped disc
6 Alter The Press!
7 Matrixsynth
8 No Rock And Roll Fun
9 LondonJazz
10 Word Magazine blogs
11 Sweeping The Nation
12 Live4ever – The Brit Rock Daily
13 Song, by Toad
14 uncarved.org blog
15 We Plug G.O.O.D Music
16 Intermezzo
17 Southern Hospitality
18 Tom Service on classical music
19 Stereoboard.com Music & Tour News
20 We Are Pop Slags

Ranking made by Wikio

 

Thanks to all for your kindly interest.

 

That estimable orchestra of the north, The Royal Scottish National – sounds like a railways train, I know, but they’re rubbish at branding up there – anyhow, the RSNO have a new boss, and he’s a good’un.

Michael Elliot his name is, Mick to his Merseyside muckers. He’s the chap that dragged the Royal Liverpool Phil out of the do-dos a few years back. In 2008 he got poached to be Head of Kulcher at the department of culture, media and sports, a very big job indeed and closer than most orchy types ever get in their wettest dreams to the seat of power.

But Mick’s had enough of London and its wicked fleshpots and he’s moving up to Glasgow for a touch of authentic austerity.

Or is that, perhaps, what he’s running away from?

Director of Culture was a good job under the last government, not so good at the moment when you have to say No to all you old chums.

Mick’s a very good catch for the Scots, but I wonder if the real deal for his is getting away from a government with which he has no evident sympathy at all. I’m sure the Scots Nationalists would like to know that.

 

Here’s the press release:

Michael Elliott appointed new RSNO Chief Executive

 

The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) announces the appointment of Michael Elliott as its new Chief Executive.

 

Mr Elliott has been Director of Culture at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in London since June 2008 and was formerly Chief Executive of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, including the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. He will take up the position with Scotland’s national symphony orchestra on Monday 1 August 2011, succeeding Simon Woods, who assumed his new role as Executive Director of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra in April.

 

RSNO Chairman Brian Lang led the Search Committee: “It is with great pleasure that we announce Michael’s appointment. His experience and knowledge of orchestra management and the wider cultural sector will be of great benefit to the RSNO. Michael will join the team in good time for the start of Stéphane Denève’s final season as Music Director and will have the pleasure of working with incoming Music Director Peter Oundjian, creating a formidable partnership.  Together they will deliver artistic excellence for the people of Scotland.”

 

New RSNO Chief Executive Michael Elliott: “I am delighted to accept the post of Chief Executive of an organisation of such musical stature and heritage.  It is my aim to build on the recent successes of the musicians and staff under the leadership of Simon Woods and Stéphane Denève and to see the RSNO playing a key role in Scottish society, cultural life and education, and in the promotion of Scotland to the benefit of its trade, tourism and economy.”

In 2001 Mr Elliott was appointed Chief Executive of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, driving the organisation’s artistic and financial recovery and contributing to Liverpool winning European Capital of Culture for 2008. In 2006 he was seconded to the role of Associate Cultural Director for Liverpool Culture Company, leading the partnership of Liverpool’s major cultural institutions which was successful in gaining significant additional national investment for the City.

His current post at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport involved senior responsibility for government policy, funding and relationships across the arts, museums, libraries, cultural property, heritage, architecture and design, royal parks and the Government Art Collection.

Mr Elliott currently also serves as Chairman of the Board of Governors at the University of Wolverhampton and has previously served as Chairman of the Belgrade Theatre Trust and Deputy Chairman of the Sheffield Crucible Theatre Trust. He also served as a governor and Chair of the Finance Committee of the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts.

 

Mr Elliott is a graduate of the University of Sheffield and has a son, Peter, and a daughter, Chrissie, with his wife, June.

 

Riccardo Muti has just been awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts in Spain.

That’s on top of the Birgit Nilsson award a couple of months back.

Birgit left him a million bucks. The prince is only worth fifty-k in Euros.

Just about one Chicago concert fee.

I expect he’ll turn up for the ceremony but don’t ask him to conduct as well.