Montreal Symphony Orchestra (MSO) recently became the only orchestra in the world to posses a rare octobass. Measuring almost 12 feet tall and weighing in at more than 288 pounds, the instrument can go as low as the lowest note of the piano, almost to the lowest limits of human hearing. Because it is so large, it would be impossible for a bassist to press the strings to the neck, so the three-stringed is played with levers and pedals. Invented in 1849 by luthier Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume in France, only three were ever built. The MSO’s instrument is a modern reproduction built in 2010. For more details about this remarkable instrument visit: http://www.osm.ca/en/octobass/.
Tag Archives: news
Hamburg Aims to Become Musical Center
On November 5, the Elbphilharmonie, a glass-paneled building mounted atop a former warehouse and rising 360 feet above Hamburg, Germany, will open to the public. The hall, six years behind schedule and costing more than $860 million, 10 times more than originally projected, is part of HafenCity, a development project to increase the city center by 40%. Home to Hamburg’s recently renamed NDR Elbphilharmie Orchestra, officials hope the building containing two concert halls, a four-star hotel, restaurant, and residential apartments, will help to transform Hamburg into a musical center.
Béla Fleck Named Nashville Symphony’s 2016 Harmony Award Winner
Renowned banjoist Béla Fleck of Local 257 (Nashville, TN) will receive the 2016 Harmony Award presented each year by the Nashville Symphony to an individual who best exemplifies the harmonious spirit of Nashville’s musical community. The award ceremony will take place December 10, at the annual Symphony Ball.
Event co-chair Melissa Mahanes says, “Throughout his illustrious career, Béla Fleck has brilliantly bridged the gap between a wide array of musical genres and styles, and established himself as a pioneering instrumentalist and songwriter.”
In his 40-year career Fleck has earned 16 Grammy Awards and has been nominated in more Grammy categories than any other instrumentalist. This year he won for best folk album, Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn, which he recorded with his wife. The Nashville Symphony commissioned his first stand-alone banjo concerto, The Imposter.
Attention Canadian Traveling Musicians
USCIS Increases Artist Permit Fee: December 15, 2016 last day to Submit P-2 Visa Applications Under the Current Fee
Pour lire la version française, cliquez ici!
As reported in late spring, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) proposed an increase to the O and P visa petition fees. The AFM, along with is long-standing coalition of (US-based) nonprofit arts organizations, aggressively lobbied against the implementation of any increase. Despite those concerted efforts, late last week USCIS announced a substantial (42%) increase on O and P visa applications, from $325 US to $460 US.
The AFM of course recognizes that this increase adds a significant burden to its Canadian members, musicians worldwide, and to petitioners of artist permits such as the AFM.
On November 2,USCIS is holding a teleconference of its recognized stakeholders in the US nonprofit arts sector. The position and arguments of the AFM and others will be to urge USCIS to respond to its current lack of quality in service and to press for vast improvements and consistency in processing times—especially now that USCIS has increased the fee.
To avoid paying the new fee at this time, please submit completed P-2 applications to the AFM’s Canadian Office (CFM) ensuring receipt by that office no later than Monday, December 19, 2016. Applications received on or after December 20, 2016 will need to have the new fee ($460) included.
Also, please be reminded that at this time we are recommending 120 day’s/four month’s processing time (unless filing premium processing). The above timeline is an estimate, subject to be increased or decreased by USCIS, with no requirement on USCIS to provide petitioners advance notice of changes to processing times. AFM’s P-2 Administrative Team monitors USCIS processing progress weekly, in an effort to provide as solid a timeline as possible.
While it may be hard to believe, especially considering the processing time and fees, but for Canadians the USCIS artist visa process is much more simplified and less costly than it is for all other musicians across the globe who enter the US under the same permits.
For additional information and questions on the AFM’s lobbying initiatives to improve access to the US, or the AFM’s role as a petitioner of artist permits, please email Executive Director AFM/CFM Liana White (lwhite@afm.org).
Bob Dylan Wins Nobel Prize for Literature
Congratulations to Local 802 (New York City) member Bob Dylan, 75, who was just awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Nobel Committee said it selected the singer-songwriter for “having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.” “Since the late 1980s, Bob Dylan has toured persistently, an undertaking called the ‘Never-Endin Tour.’ Dylan has the status of an icon. His influence on contemporary music is profound, and he is the object of a steady stream of secondary literature,” the committee added Committee Secretary Sara Danius called Dylan “a great poet of the English-speaking tradition,” comparing him to ancient Greek poets Homer and Sappho. It is the first time in 23 years that an American has won the world’s most prestigious prize in literature. The prize, including 8 million Swedish kronor (about $900,000) is given based on the recipient’s lifetime of writing, rather than a single work. Dylan is the award’s 108th winner. Past Nobel laureates in literature include Toni Morrison, Rudyard Kipling, William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, and Gabríel Gárcia Marquez.
Chicago Teachers Reach Tentative Agreement
Chicago’s cash-strapped schools—the third largest public school system in the country—and its teachers’ union agreed to a contract proposal, narrowly averting a strike set for October 11.
The four-year agreement, which the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) will recommend to its 28,000 members, includes provisions on pensions, classroom sizes, and layoffs, says Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis. The teachers have been working without a contract since June 30, 2015.
Chicago schools are grappling with escalating pension payments that will jump to $720.2 million this fiscal year from $676 million in fiscal 2016. The city had initially pledged to give teachers an 8.75% raise in exchange for a shift pension payments to teachers.
Under the deal the existing 21,000 teachers will continue to contribute 2% to their pension, with the school board chipping in an additional 7%. However, new hires will not get the 7% “pension pickup,” but will get a salary adjustment to compensate for that, Lewis says.
Quincy Jones’ Royalty Trial Delayed
Legendary producer Quincy Jones of Local 47 (Los Angeles, CA) was set to go to trial over royalties he says he’s owed from albums released after Michael Jackson’s death. A recent development means defendants Sony Music and MJJ Productions can no longer share a legal team. Until now, Sony and MJJ have shared counsel, but because this will pit the two against each other on at least one argument, Sony will have to retain separate legal counsel.
A judge gave Jones the green light to pursue damages claims related to payment from permanent digital downloads. The producer argues he was shorted because Sony was underpaying MJJ, a song company controlled by the late artist’s estate. Jackson’s biggest hits were re-edited, and Jones says MJJ breached his contract by allowing third parties to exploit the works without first offering Jones the opportunity to perform the remixes himself.
The issue boils down to whether Sony should have been treating those downloads as licenses instead of as sales—which would have given both Jackson’s company and Jones more money. Artists get half of net revenue from licenses, but only a 15% royalty on sales.
Stop Predatory Lenders
Predatory “payday” and “car title” lenders take advantage of people in desperate situations. They currently face little regulation and get away with charging interest rates of more than 300% on loans. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has proposed a rule that, if done right, will stop these predatory lending practices and reign in these loan sharks. But it needs to hear from us because the lobbyists for the payday industry have spent more than $25 million and are working overtime to stop this rule. The AFL-CIO has joined in the Stop the Debt Trap to make sure strong rules are passed.
Help Stop the Billionaire Tax Loophole
Some Wall Street millionaires and billionaires pay less taxes than hardworking teachers, nurses, and musicians through a practice known as “carried interest loophole.” This election cycle, we need to tell our members of Congress it’s time for them to make a commitment to stand up for the best interest of working families, not Wall Street millionaires and billionaires.
This loophole has real consequences for our families and our communities. It has meant that billions of dollars that could have gone to fund education for our kids and fix our crumbling bridges and schools has, instead, gone into the pockets of Wall Street billionaires.
Politicians on both sides of the aisle recognize that closing this ridiculous loophole is common sense. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have all been calling to end it. Even Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor and Republican presidential candidate, who has supported other tax breaks for the wealthy, agrees that this practice has to stop.
But there are still far too many politicians—both Democrats and Republicans—who don’t want to take action on this. It’s up to us to make sure our members of Congress hear from working families now, more than lobbyists and wealthy campaign contributors, that ending tax breaks for Wall Street billionaires is the right thing to do.
The AFL-CIO has set up a petition so you can let Congress know that it’s time to close the carried interest loophole and stop the special treatment of Wall Street billionaires.
Gord Downie’s Last Act to Benefit First Nations Project
The Tragically Hip’s final Man Machine Poem tour generated a staggering US $1.85 million per show. According to the Canadian Cancer Society and the Sunnybrook Foundation, ticket sales helped raise more than $1 million for brain cancer research.
Gord Downie of Local 518 (Kingston, ON) announced he will be doing two additional special benefit shows for the University of Manitoba-based National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR). The project highlights the story of Chanie Wenjack, a 12-year-old Ojibway boy who died in 1966 after fleeing one of the notorious state-run residential schools. “Chanie haunts me. His story is Canada’s story,” Downie says. The multimedia project includes a solo album, animated film, and a graphic novel, The Secret Path, by award-winning author Jeff Lemire.
Day schools or industrial schools, which forced First Nations children to assimilate into the dominant Canadian culture, devastated native communities. Nearly 150,000 or 30% of native children were taken from their families, deprived of their language, and exposed to abuses in the government schools. Last year, a truth commission described the schools as a tool for “cultural genocide.” The last school was closed in 1996.