Reason In the Air: Tim Cavanaugh Talks Longhair Music on WQXR

Forget about The Man busting our music. Have we busted The Man's music?

Reason Senior Editor Tim Cavanaugh discusses the economics of music in an interview with New York's WQXR.

The discussion focuses on the neverending crisis in classical music performance, as strikes, bankruptcies, shrinking endowments and some market-oriented comments from National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman have wilted the bowties of classical players all over the country.

Cavanaugh, who covers the market for classical performance here, here and here, talked about alternative performance models, the Nouveau Classical Project and more with League of American Orchestras president Jesse Rosen and WQXR vice president Graham Parker. (This is the interview that was prematurely announced here last week.)

Full interview.

Comments

[Ice Nine]

Maybe if the Detroit Symphony Orchestra did a Notorious B.I.G. retrospective they could turn it around.

[Otto]

"The DSO Presents - Night of the Juggalo: An Evening of Symphonic ICP"

[Otto]

Semi-on-topic: Ana Vidovic plays Asturias. It's a brilliant rendition, and she's nicer to look at than Segovia...

[P Brooks]

"KILL THE WAAAAAAAAABBIT!!

KILL THE WAAAAAAAAAABBIIIIIIIIIIT!"

[Jo Dean]

Oh wow, how do they come up with all that nonsense??

http://www.real-privacy.it.tc

[Geoff Nathan]

Speaking as someone peripherally involved in the DSO negotiations I should mention that there are a number of issues that come under the heading of 'elephant in the room' and neither Tim nor Mark Stryker mentioned them, Mark because it's rather delicate and Tim perhaps because he doesn't know about it.
About seven years ago Orchestra Hall was renovated and an office building was constructed next to it with rehearsal halls, a black box concert hall, dressing rooms, offices and meeting rooms. It was supposedly to be funded by Max Fisher (late of GM fame), but there is now considerable debate about whether the funding was appropriately done. Further, there's debate about whether the endowment (which, as was mentioned in the program) is rapidly being burned through was properly invested. Of course, given the crash of two years ago, it's not clear it could have been invested properly.
In any case, the musicians are claiming malfeasance on the part of the Executive Committee (you can read about it here: http://www.detroitsymphonymusicians.org/ )
and, of course there's the fact that the attorney advising the musicians' union is a crook, and may have been encouraging the musicians to strike (you can read about him here: http://tinyurl.com/4c6afl8 )
So it's a much more complex issue than even these three guys suggest.

[johnl]

If your name is Graham Parker you need to use an initial.

[Douglas Fletcher]

What if they both have the same initial?

[Douglas Fletcher]

Maybe if they just got rid of Brahms, I always found him a snore too far.