Archive for October, 2011

The LSO’s Unforgettable Beethoven and Britten

Thursday, October 27th, 2011

by Sedgwick Clark

If I never hear another concert I will die a contented music lover, having heard the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus perform Beethoven’s Missa solemnis under Colin Davis and Britten’s War Requiem under Gianandrea Noseda last weekend. To see Davis, now 84 and in declining health, haltingly ascend the podium to sit and conquer this craggy Mass was almost unbearable. But his musical powers were undiminished in a performance of logical and emotional power from first note to last. It was the slowest Missa I’ve ever heard—over an hour and a half, not counting time between movements—and I hung on every single note.

I was not alone. Lincoln Center’s usually noisy and inattentive audience was utterly rapt until some yahoo shouted bravo before the last note had a chance to settle. For nearly two centuries the Missa has defeated listeners far more comprehending and spiritually inclined than I. One has to work, unlike in the contemporaneous Ninth Symphony, which abounds in engaging melodies.

No praise could be high enough for the conviction and execution of the LSO forces. British reviews for their Proms concert this past summer with Davis were more respectful than laudatory; if accurate, all I can figure is that the performance was a warm-up for this American engagement. Mezzo Sarah Connolly stood out among the vocal soloists. Concertmaster Gordan Nikolitch played the extended “Benedictus” violin solo eloquently. The timpanist’s dynamic use of hard Beethovenian sticks provided ideal punctuation. And Davis? He has always been true to the composer, if at times too reverently. On this evening his leadership was positively humbling. 

The LSO’s performance of Britten’s War Requiem on Sunday afternoon was no less affecting. The composer, a pacificist and apparent non-believer, combined the traditional Latin Requiem Mass and poems written by Wilfred Owen, who was killed in action seven days before the Armistice. Critics have split hairs since the premiere in May 1962, but Britten’s message has never escaped any audience I’ve been a part of.

The work is no stranger to New York. Kurt Masur led heartfelt performances of it twice and recorded it during his 13-year tenure with the Philharmonic; he once said he would program it every season if he could. Robert Shaw gave distinguished performances in Carnegie Hall. My own touchstone has been an emotionally devastating performance by the National Symphony Orchestra under Mstislav Rostropovich at Carnegie in early 1979, with Peter Pears, Galina Vishnevskaya, and John Shirley-Quirk as soloists. The LSO performance under Italian conductor Gianandrea Noseda was in that league.

One knew that Noseda meant business when he stood on the podium for nearly a minute until all audience pre-performance rustling had ceased and then brought in the chorus’s “Requiem aeternam” at the threshold of audibility. There were a few more coughs throughout this performance than in the Beethoven, but not many, and at the very end Noseda drew out Britten’s pppp for all it was worth. The audience held its collective breath until he lowered his arms some 20 seconds later. In our day, when silence is intolerable, there is no higher compliment.

The success of the performance was also due, in no small measure, to the vocal forces: the LSO Chorus, again directed by Joseph Cullen; American Boychoir, directed by Fernando Malvar-Ruiz; soprano Sabina Cvilak, tenor Ian Bostridge, and baritone Simon Keenlyside.

Britten might have found it ironic that his War Requiem would be paired so rewardingly with Beethoven, a composer he disparaged. But his music, like Beethoven’s, has always spoken to distinctly human concerns, and the War Requiem may be his most enduring testimony.

Looking Forward

My week’s scheduled concerts:

10/27 Carnegie Hall. Minnesota Orchestra/Osmo Vänskä; Stephen Hough, piano. Tchaikovsky: Voyevoda Overture; Piano Concerto No. 1. Nielsen: Symphony No. 3 (“Sinfonia espansiva”).

10/28 Carnegie Hall. Budapest Festival Orchestra/Iván Fischer; András Schiff, piano. Schubert: Overture to Die Zauberharfe; Symphony No. 5. Bartók: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 3.

10/29 Carnegie Hall. Budapest Festival Orchestra/Iván Fischer; András Schiff, piano. Bartók: Hungarian Peasant Songs; Piano Concerto No. 2

10/30 Metropolitan Opera. Jonas Kaufmann, tenor; Helmut Deutsch. Works by Schumann, Mahler, Duparc, R. Strauss.

11/2 Avery Fisher Hall. New York Philharmonic; Philip Glass and the Philip Glass Ensemble; Collegiate Chorale. Conducted by Michael Riesman. Live performance with film. Glass: Koyaanisqatsi.

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Getting In Front of Presenters

Thursday, October 27th, 2011

By: Edna Landau

To ask a question, please write Ask Edna.

Dear Edna:

I am a flutist, a soloist and chamber musician.  I am just getting started pursuing performances, after many years playing in an established ensemble.  I have a nice website with good audio and video tracks, but I have found that if I can get a presenter to see me live, it is much more likely to lead to a gig than just sending my materials.  I have been applying to showcase at regional presenter conferences, with only a little bit of success so far.  I was wondering if there are smaller showcasing opportunities. I know of only three:  Ohio (OAPN), North Carolina (NC ArtsMarket) and Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania Presenters). Are there other state-wide organizations that host showcases for touring purposes? Is there a list somewhere of showcase opportunities? My thought is that starting small might be more successful in the long run. Thank you. —Zara

Dear Zara:

My thanks go to you for sending such an interesting question and presenting it so articulately. You are clearly already well informed with regard to this topic. In researching it further, I turned to one of my former colleagues at IMG Artists, Thia Knowlton, who told me about Tennessee Presenters, a consortium that hosts a conference along with ArtsConversation in the off years of North Carolina’s Arts Market, which includes some showcases.  My own Internet explorations did not yield a list of showcase opportunities outside the regional ones with which you are already familiar.  However I learned about numerous arts consortia that I didn’t know exist, in states such as Maine, Montana, Louisiana, Florida, Kentucky and Wyoming. Some research on your part might reveal whether they include showcases in their meetings. Some useful websites I discovered include South Arts, North Carolina Presenters and Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour.  There are some organizations that specifically offer showcase opportunities to artists interested in working with young audiences. One such organization is International Performing Arts for Youth (IPAY), which has an annual conference that includes showcases. The North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, Illinois, hosts SHOWCASE, an event designed to bring performers for young audiences to presenters’ attention.

My research on this topic also extended in a different direction. I have long admired the chamber ensemble, Fifth House, which has done excellent work in building new audiences in and around Chicago and working creatively both from the point of view of programs and chosen performance venues. I spoke with their pianist and Artistic Director, Adam Marks, who suggested an alternate approach to showcases. He agreed with your statement about the effectiveness of getting presenters to see a group perform live but felt that an informal concert in a community venue , or even a “salon concert” in a beautiful home, might provide a more meaningful experience for a presenter than the staged, carefully planned showcase for a homogeneous audience whom an artist may never get to meet, since they are often rushing off to another showcase after the performance. Furthermore, as he put it, “it can be more valuable to give a presenter a glimpse of how you interact with an audience than to put on a show for them.”  He suggested looking for opportunities to perform in cities where you are trying to target and cultivate presenters who might take an interest in you. Often you are on tour and passing through places where you may not have an engagement but where you’d love to come to the attention of local presenters. There are libraries who will pay a modest fee to present serious artists and that fee might be enough to at least cover your expenses. Once you have secured that opportunity, you can invite presenters to see you in a real-life concert, engaging with an audience similar to theirs. Of course, there is no guarantee that they will come but if your website is appealing and informative, your program is interesting and your approach to them is heartfelt and well written, your chances will be enhanced.  I think there is a lot of value in this approach. When I speak to students, I encourage them to look at every place they travel to, for any reason, as an opportunity to make new contacts and build future audiences.  When one thinks about things this way, almost everything becomes a showcase opportunity and one is not forced to depend on organized conferences and presenter meetings.

I would love to have YOUR question! Please write Ask Edna.

© Edna Landau 2011

 

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Final curtain

Friday, October 21st, 2011

by Keith Clarke

The Royal College of Music always keeps its music staff busy, but it looks like the lawyers might be earning their keep on its latest offering. Lisbon Contemporary Music Ensemble is visiting with the world premiere of a new one-act opera “based on the real-life events surrounding Dominique Strauss-Khan.”

A press release outlines the plot: “A middle-aged businessman arrives at a hotel run by a concierge who promises to provide him with anything he could possibly desire. Fearing the best years of his life are over – despite a loving wife at home – he finds himself haunted by ghosts of desire and jealousy. Accepting the concierge’s offer, a young maid soon arrives at his suite. However, she later claims she was savagely attacked, while he protests his innocence.”

With fresh allegations swirling around the former International Monetary Fund chief, he will probably be too busy to turn up in South Kensington to judge the artistic merits of the piece.

>>>

If you were going to try and get inner-city teenagers interested in classical music, would you start with a three-hour piece about the crucifixion by a long-dead German? That is the brave plan of Suzi Digby, aka Lady Eatwell, who has launched an enterprising scheme – Vocal Futures – to sign up some 1,500 young ambassadors worldwide and build an online community to spread the word about classical music via Facebook and Twitter. The whole thing kicks off with three performances of the St Matthew Passion in a London bunker designed for testing concrete, launching a project which then goes on to Los Angeles, Cologne, Shanghai and Johannesburg. Read all about it at http://www.vocalfutures.org/

>>>

This completes my tour of duty on the MusicalAmerica blogspot, which I hope has given some kind of idea of the musical world as seen from a London perspective. I shall still be popping up at the sharp end of the site for as long as the editor puts up with me, but from the blogosphere it’s cheerio. As the BBC presenter John Ebdon used to say, “If you have been, thanks for listening.”

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Gateways to Jobs in Arts Administration

Thursday, October 20th, 2011

by Edna Landau

To ask a question, please write Ask Edna.

Dear Edna:

I hope you won’t mind a slightly different question from those you have been answering so splendidly and thoroughly in your excellent columns, asked by one of your former colleagues and longtime friends. I come from a small town in the United Kingdom. Many decades ago when I was in my teens, I knew that I wanted to work in the international music business but in those days it was impossible to find anyone to advise how to achieve that goal. I therefore decided to apply for a graduate traineeship with the BBC, which I was exceedingly fortunate to get. With that grounding, I was able to move into opera and orchestral management. I now receive requests from a lot of younger people who genuinely want to work in an administrative capacity but have absolutely no idea how to enter the business of arts management. What advice would you give to those wishing to get on the first rung of the ladder, whether that be working in an artists’ management company or a professional performing arts organization? —John Duffus

Dear John:

Great to hear from you and happy to answer such a fundamentally important question to many of our readers. The happy news is that there are probably many more opportunities available to those aspiring to jobs in arts administration than there were when you and I were young. It seems less critical to have participated in an arts administration program if the objective is to secure a position in artist management, than it might be to work in a performance venue or organization such as an orchestra or opera house. There is an extremely gifted and capable young man working at IMG Artists by the name of James Egelhofer, whom we hired while I was working there. He had just graduated from Brown University with an interesting and promising resumé but he obviously had no experience in the field. I could tell after a few minutes of his interview that he would be a star and he went on to manage significant artists while still in his 20’s,  after having learned the trade by servicing a group of artists, observing his co-workers’ activities and asking a lot of terrific questions. IMG Artists is lucky to still have him. In recognition of the indistinct path towards jobs in artist management, a joint venture was recently undertaken by the University of New Orleans, Arts Northwest and the North American Performing Arts Managers and Agents (NAPAMA) to launch a professional certification program for performing arts and managers. Courses are offered online and in person at professional conferences.

The pathway to other arts administration jobs might also consist of working one’s way up the ladder from an entry level position. However, it should be noted that there are some wonderful arts administration programs throughout North America and in Europe as well. Among them is an arts management program offered by Teachers College/Columbia University, whom we are delighted to have as our “Ask Edna” sponsor this month. A comprehensive list of such programs is offered on the website of the Association of Arts Administration Educators. Musical America also offers a list of such programs on its website (available to subscribers) and in their annual directory, which is accessible in many school libraries.

Although you only asked about getting on “the first rung of the ladder,” I would like to add that there are some important programs available to individuals who have already gained experience in the arts management field but who wish to graduate to a more advanced position. These should be treasured in our difficult economic climate. Among them are the League of American Orchestras’ Orchestra Management Fellowship Program and Essentials of Orchestra Management, National Arts Strategies’ executive education and organizational leadership programs, and the Clore Leadership Programme in London. If one were to look at the resumés of those currently holding leaderhip positions in the arts throughout the world, a good number would reflect participation in the excellent arts administration programs mentioned above and on offer throughout the world. I am sure that our readers have information to share on this topic and I hope we will be hearing from you soon!

I would love to have YOUR question! Please write Ask Edna.

©Edna Landau 2011

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“Pina,” Wim Wenders’ 3D Dance Film

Tuesday, October 18th, 2011

By Rachel Straus

“You just have to get crazier.” These words came from Pina Bausch, the late choreographer, whose dance troupe made the industrial city of Wuppertal, Germany an avant-garde theatrical destination for 36 years. In Wim Wenders’ 3D documentary “Pina,” screened on October 15 at Alice Tully Hall for the New York Film Festival, audiences got a taste of what Bausch’s crazy looks like. In one scene, a Bausch dancer walks through a park in a floor-length dress like a zombie queen. The woman careens to the ground, flat as a board. Right before smashing her face, her suitor scoops her up like a crane lift. Then she falls again, and again. The effect is part amusement ride, part suicide watch.

Bausch’s surrealistic collage-structured dances revel in the frightening, funny, fragile inner states of the human psyche. On Bausch’s stage compulsive disorders, misogynism, sadism, and run-of-the-mill cultural oppression cavort like lunatics at an insane asylum. Fortunately, Bausch chose her inmates well. Her cadre of dancers resemble one-of-a-kind flowers, grown in places as far afield as Brazil and Tokyo. Before one’s eyes, their limbs uncoil, tendril-like, always searching for something to grasp. Inevitably they fall. The metaphor is an obvious one, but Bausch won die-hard fans around the world with this trope in her 40-plus works. Her dances evoked desperate perseverance, in all of its illogical inanity. Her singular message was digestible because she made human effort, and failure, look beautifully irresistible.

Pina Bausch, 68, died June 2009, the night before Wim Wenders was to begin shooting their long-postponed film collaboration. Since 1985 Wenders, whose films include “Buena Vista Social Club,” “Paris, Texas,” and “Wings of Desire,” had been discussing with Bausch a project featuring her choreography. On stage Wenders explained that it wasn’t until he saw 3D film technology, he felt he could do Bausch’s work justice. Regular film, Wenders said, creates an “invisible wall” between the dance and the celluloid image. “Something,” he said, “did not work.” With that comment, Wenders invited the audiences to consider whether his 3D “Pina” does.

When Wenders’ 3D segments captured Bausch’s dancers on tramcars and busy roadways, in parks and glass houses, the film became bigger than life. The dancers’ gesture-driven performances in these hyper-pixilated landscapes grew mesmerizing with the sharp, glistening quality of the film. Among the rush of cars, swaying of  trees, and presence of pedestrians, the dancers became absorbed into a heightened but familiar reality, a piece with Bausch’s style of magic realism.

When the dancers were shot in the theater, however, Wenders encountered less success. His close-up camera work felt intrusive and aggressive. In one segment, Wenders’ camera closed in on a woman’s squirming back in Bausch’s 1975 “Rite of Spring.” By zeroing in on her struggle, Wenders made the moment personal instead of archetypal. In “Rite,” the cast resembles primitives. Their landscape is a dirt-strewn stage. The proscenium frames them the way an icon painting is framed by an architectural portal. The dancers become effigies; their individual features are abstracted through their unison, slicing movement.

Though Bausch’s performers occasionally saunter through theater aisles looking glamorous and talking to regular folk, when they represent universal beings, they do it on stage at at remove from the audience. Bausch didn’t offer ticket holders intimacy. She created a theatrical portal for her vision to be perceived. Her method was simple: She distanced the performer from the spectator. She created just the kind of wall that Wenders wants to permeate.

Whether 3D films like “Pina” will fan the flames of the American dance audience is much in discussion. Thus far a handful of 3D dance films have been produced, including The Kirov’s “Giselle,” Matthew Bourne’s “Swan Lake,” Michael Flatley’s “Lord of the Dance, and “Step Up 3D.” Turning a dancing body into a 3D piece of digitalia is fascinating, but whether it can compete with the power of live dance performance isn’t a slam dunk. When Wenders’ camera gave Bausch performers the space to disport themselves, he captured their beautiful craziness. He transmitted their quality of dangerous freedom. He didn’t come in for a close up. At these moments, I think, Pina Bausch would have been pleased.

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Ruminations and reflections, Lyonnais

Monday, October 17th, 2011

By Alan Gilbert

I’ve recently tried my hand at acrylic painting, and just bought a how-to book that stresses the overriding importance of composition — i.e. form and the use of spatial elements — in a successful work of art. By that measure, I can tell you right now that this blog entry will not be successful, since for my return to this space after a series of hopelessly sporadic postings, for which I apologize and beg your indulgence, I anticipate a random series of thoughts and musings.

At the moment I am looking out the window of my sister’s sun-drenched apartment in Lyon, France. This is undoubtedly one of the great gastronomic capitals of the world, and I am looking forward to a great meal tonight at Mère Brazier with Chef Mathieu Viannay, a restaurant I’ve long wanted to try.

Last night we ate at Yomogi, a hugely popular Japanese noodle bar, of which my sister is a part-owner. I think this is very cool — in addition to being concertmaster of the Orchestre National de Lyon, Jenny followed through on a dream we have talked about for years: she actually opened a restaurant in Lyon, a city where half of all new food establishments close after six months. Yomogi just celebrated its first birthday, and from the quality of the food (the gyoza were particularly yummy) and the good vibe I experienced, it looks as if they are in for a good run.

Yomogi is going through some changes in staff, and it was interesting to observe Jenny interacting with the people she manages. In many ways the analogy of a restaurant to an orchestra could not be more apt: both rely on goodwill and effective teamwork, and when these elements are in place and functioning well, both are better able to please and fulfill their customers. I was also struck by the behind-the-scenes dimension (planning for renovation of the ventilation system, hiring new cooks, mediating tensions between the workers) that reminded me uncannily of experiences I’ve had with orchestras.

I was able to make this quick two-day jaunt to Lyon because I am between two performances with the Munich Philharmonic. The first concert was yesterday at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, and the other is not until Tuesday evening. Jenny has left to hear a contrabass audition for her orchestra, and as I sit here alone in her flat, it feels like the first real breather I’ve had since early September (not to mention the first chance I’ve had to address my blogging responsibilities!).

That month was insane for the New York Philharmonic — many members told me that they could not remember a period in which they played so much repertoire under such intense conditions. The season opened with three wonderful programs that included Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony, an important premiere by John Corigliano, and Frank Peter Zimmermann’s first concerts in his season as our Artist-in-Residence. Frank Peter really wanted his first appearance this year to underline the collaborative spirit he likes to feel, and so the first piece on the program, preceding his magnificent reading of the Berg Concerto, was the Bach Double Concerto for two violins, for which I joined him as the other violin soloist.

Before the subscription season proper even began, the Philharmonic was already in full swing: working backwards, we had Opening Night, with the incredible Deborah Voigt in great voice; a memorable Henry V by Walton, with Christopher Plummer’s profound Shakespearean presence; and A Concert for New York on September 10th, marking the 10th anniversary of 9/11. And if this were not enough, the Orchestra also played the fiendishly difficult sound track to Bernstein’s West Side Story with the film projected live in Avery Fisher Hall, and a few days later I joined them for by an outdoor extravaganza in Central Park with Andrea Bocelli, Bryn Terfel, Tony Bennett, and Celine Dion.

All in all it was, despite the intensity, a great stretch for the New York Philharmonic: the Orchestra is playing unbelievably well and is truly fulfilling our hopes to be an important cultural force in the U.S. and abroad. During the last few days I have been struck by how many people in Europe have told me that they have been following us on European television and in the news. I think it is fair to say that for many of them the New York Philharmonic is a major icon.

For the moment that feels very far away, though: my pressing concern is what to eat for lunch, knowing that a traditionally heavy Lyonnais meal awaits tonight. See you soon!

(For more information on Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic, visit nyphil.org.)

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Tooting Your Own Horn

Thursday, October 13th, 2011

by Edna Landau

To ask a question, please write Ask Edna.

Hi, Edna. My name is Caitlin Mehrtens and I’m a first year harp student at the Oberlin Conservatory. I have a question about being humble and marketing oneself as a musician. I have struggled in part with balancing being humble and writing a bio or practicing my “elevator speech”. I feel like one can completely turn someone off from themselves by being too forward or boisterous in an introduction. What do you recommend in this situation? Where is the balance between sparking someone’s interest and being overpowering in listing impressive accomplishments? Thank you so much for your time.  —Caitlin Mehrtens

Dear Ms. Mehrtens:

Thank you for writing with such an interesting question. It struck a chord with me because I was brought up to be humble and perhaps even self-effacing about my accomplishments. As an artist, you are joining a community in which it is expected that musicians will have a current bio summarizing their accomplishments. Nothing about such a bio would appear boastful unless the writer employed superlatives that could be considered questionable. An artist who is described as “in great demand throughout North America” had better truly have a busy schedule. An artist whose bio states that they “captivated audiences with their compelling performances” should have some concrete critical acclaim that attests to that. The people who will matter in your performance career will generally disregard vague, unsubstantiated verbiage and focus on the actual achievements enumerated in the bio. They will look for signs that the artist is an interesting individual and performer. Musical signs might include choice of repertoire, commissioned works, construction of programs or interesting collaborations with fellow musicians. If you have been entrepreneurial in your activities to date, perhaps having started your own festival, brought concerts to seniors who couldn’t leave their residences or established a harp and poetry series at a local bookstore on weekends, it will tell them more about you than some vague unsubstantiated adjectives. Although bios don’t usually contain quotes in them, it is all right to start a bio with a phrase such as “hailed by the Cleveland Plain Dealer as a most accomplished and riveting artist” (their words, not yours!). However, bios that are dotted with phrases or sentences in quotes are cumbersome to read and also frustrating, when the reader is simply trying to get at the facts. Such review quotes are better left to a page of review excerpts or the acclaim section of a website. As to your “elevator speech” or chance encounter with anyone who might prove helpful to you some day, the key element is your naturalness and ability to genuinely convey enthusiasm for something that is very important to you. If you say “a year ago, I never thought I would have an opportunity to make a recording but now, thanks to Kickstarter.com, I was able to raise $8000 and I’m excited that it will be available for sale next week,” no one will find that boastful. They will admire your initiative. If you enter a competition and you triumph over 50 other contestants, you would be justified to feel proud of your accomplishment. If you say “I just returned from Israel where I spent a week participating in a harp competition; I would have been happy to even get into the Finals but I’m so excited that I won,” you share an accomplishment with a touch of humility that almost anyone would find admirable.

To ask a question, please write Ask Edna.

© Edna Landau 2011

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The Unglamorous Life

Saturday, October 8th, 2011

By James Jorden

The Metropolitan Opera debut of Donizetti’s Anna Bolena, an amazing 180 years into the work’s history, won mostly respectful reviews last week—in between snipes at Anna Netrebko’s momentary breaking of character during the “Tower Scene.” A common thread in both published and popular opinion, though, was that the piece itself was not very interesting, at least absent a Maria Callas or Edita Gruberova to kick a little life into it. It’s hard to argue with taste, but possible, I think, to propose that the perceived longueurs of the opera are not integral to the work but rather a function of the way it was presented. (more…)

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Janet Baker’s lifetime

Thursday, October 6th, 2011

by Keith Clarke

On the day that she receives Gramophone’s Lifetime Achievement Award at London’s Dorchester Hotel, mezzo-soprano Dame Janet Baker gives a fascinating interview in today’s Telegraph [click here].
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She reveals her regret at how when Karajan contacted her agent, the legendary Emmie Tillett, to book Baker for the Salzburg Festival, he was sent on his way because the mezzo had a prior engagement.

It’s a familiar story, for regret seems to be Baker’s middle name. She regretted that it took the opera establishment so long to book her for the big roles. She regretted, as she tells Rupert Christiansen in this Telegraph piece, that “musicians weren’t, as I had naively assumed, always the nicest or easiest people to work with.”

And the regret went deeper, for a singer who has always been more interested in honesty than public relations. In a radio interview some years ago, the presenter asked her, looking back over her career and its cost to her personal life, had it all been worthwhile? There was a long silence before she said, simply – no, it hadn’t.

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A recent survey revealed that 90 per cent of UK surgeons have music playing in the operating theatre as they work. Of those, about half worked the scalpels to up-tempo rock music, 17 per cent favored pop, and 11 per cent classical. Plastic surgeons played the most; ear, nose and throat specialists the least.

The question is, which piece of classical music would you want blasting away as the surgeon set to work? Top choice for pop fans is easy: Rolling Stones, Let It Bleed.

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Is There a Good Way to Cancel?

Thursday, October 6th, 2011

by Edna Landau

To ask a question, please write Ask Edna.

Dear Edna:

I am a cellist studying at an American conservatory and I try to read your blog regularly. A few weeks ago, you wrote about proper etiquette for working with a presenter in a case where a member of your ensemble is unable to perform and you wish to use a substitute. Can you please tell me what proper etiquette is in a case when someone like myself has accepted a solo date and then a much more significant one comes along. I have made a commitment to play a concerto with the youth orchestra in my home town, of which I was a member for five years, and I just learned that the conductor of a more prominent professional orchestra, who heard me at a festival last summer, would like to engage me on the same date in the Dvorak concerto. It would be my debut in that particular city. I am thrilled at the prospect of playing the Dvorak with him but how can I go back on my word?  —Jeffrey

Dear Jeffrey:

Since orchestral concerts are usually booked at least 12-18 months in advance, it is not uncommon to find oneself in the situation you describe. Some artists delay for quite a while before accepting a not so prestigious date so that they will remain available if something better comes along. I’m not a big supporter of that approach. A little delay is ok but anyone presenting concerts at any level needs to plan ahead and be assured of getting the artists they want. In your particular case, there is a personal relationship that led to the engagement which can potentially make it more difficult to back out, especially if the youth orchestra is proudly advertising an appearance by one of their most prominent alumni. If there has been no advertising or announcement of the season as of yet, it might be easier to back out of the date. You don’t mention whether or not the youth orchestra date has already been contracted. If it has, you are on less secure ground but you still have options. Contracts can be nullified or modified if both parties are willing. A key element in your approach will be to understand the inconvenience you will be causing and to anticipate some displeasure on the other end of the phone. (I strongly urge you to contact the orchestra by phone, not by e-mail.) In explaining the situation, you should be careful to avoid giving the impression that the new offer is much more important to you. Instead, you should say that you have been very much looking forward to appearing as soloist with the youth orchestra, which was an important part of your musical upbringing, but that you feel that this new offer will advance your career in an important way and you are very much hoping to preserve both opportunities.  You should ask whether it might be possible to move the date by a week, or to another part of the season. If the date cannot be moved, remaining strategic options will depend somewhat on how imminent the concert is. If your participation has not yet been announced, you can promise the youth orchestra a firm date the following season, and maybe even some kind of free educational activity the next time you will be at home. If it has already been announced, they will incur expenses in the process of informing the public of the change. To show your understanding and appreciation, you can offer to take a reduced fee for the rescheduled engagement. If your request is accepted, it would go a long way if you would write a heartfelt  letter  to the orchestra, thanking them for their understanding and paying tribute to them for having provided you with valuable training and musical growth that led to this wonderful opportunity. You will want to assure them that you are not a person who easily goes back on their word but that you know how genuinely the audience in your home town wants you to succeed and you hope they will be generous with their support  and understanding. In announcing your cancellation or the postponement of your performance,  the orchestra might wish to quote from your letter and make the audience feel invested in this important step forward in your career.  If you are successful in orchestrating this scenario, your concern and diplomacy will be remembered and much admired.

Your questions are important to me and can be about anything! Please write Ask Edna.

© Edna Landau 2011

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