Alex Ross inspires a $2 million orchestra gift
UncategorizedThe South Dakota Symphony Orchestra has woken to an unexpected gift of $2 million – the biggest donation in its history.
It comes from philanthropists Rosemarie and Dean Buntrock who are originally from Columbia, SD. Buntrock, a life trustee of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, says he was prompted to make the gift ‘after reading about South Dakota Symphony Orchestra’s bold programming and artistic impact in The New Yorker magazine.’
Alex Ross, take a bow.
This should come as no surprise. David Gier has done a remarkable job balancing traditional repertoire with new works to please the palate of his audiences, and the orchestral musicians. Congratulations to the South Dakota Symphony for this inspiring acquisition.
Fantastic. I don’t think it’s well known how good a lot of smaller orchestras outside the big U.S. cities are. $2 million will do a “minor” group like this a lot of good.
Many good players in the U.S. travel or commute to gigs that pay, irrespective of where they may be. I can’t imagine it’s that different everywhere else.
Only thing that’s different is the distances. Minneapolis to Sioux Falls, South Dakota is farther (372 km) than, say, Berlin to Hanover (132 km) or London to Oxford (83 km).
Germany has 129 full time orchestras, which comes to one for every 643,000 people. The US situation where musicians try to piece together livings by commuting to a bunch of part time orchestras is rare in Germany.
*Originally from Columbia, South Dakota. (an important distinction)
Of course it’s important. He wanted to do something nice for his home state. Exactly what is wrong with that?
The orchestra’s current season appears to be fairly conventional in its programming, roughly on a par with the Omaha Symphony, directly to the south of Sioux Falls on I-29. Both are performing “Bolero”, in fact.