Tag Archives: news

Recent News

‘Lord of The Rings’ Trilogy Will Screen with Live Symphony Silicon Valley Orchestra

The Symphony Silicon Valley is doing something pretty incredible. They plan on performing the score for the Lord of The Rings trilogy as the movies are being screened. The film will be on an enormous 48-by-20 foot HD screen with the orchestra’s 90 musicians and 160 choristers performing the soundtrack.

“The logistics are huge. It’s the biggest project we’ve ever done,” said Andrew Bales, president of Symphony Silicon Valley. The trilogy will be presented at the Center for the Performing Arts with separate screenings for each film over a four-day period from April 16-19.

The hope is fans of the films, and Tolkien in general, will want to experience the films in this new innovative way.

“We think this is a good market for it to work,” Bales said, “The gaming community and the engineering community are here. It’s an affluent community, very tech oriented. It’s the right mix of people who will want to get in on this kind of phenomenon.”

“Our musicians will be right there on stage, illuminated,” Bales added, “You’re going to see the spectacle of this music being presented.”

This feature will cost around $700,000 but could gross up to $1.1 million in ticket sales if the shows sell out. The score also runs 1,200 pages and will require about 39 hours of rehearsal to perfect the 10-plus hours of music they will be performing. That’s about as much music as the orchestra usually will perform in an entire season!

Bunny Laden, an Apple Software engineering manage and board of trustees member joked, “We know how the movie’s going to end, but will our musicians make it to the end or will they drop dead. I’m just kidding—they’ll do fine. But there’s an element of real live people here. It’s like going to a football game: How’s it going to turn out?”

This isn’t completely new. Other orchestras have presented the films but only one or two of them at a time. The Swiss Orchestra performed in 2011 at New York Radio City Music Hall and Oakland’s Oracle Arena. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra did present all three films, but it took them four years to do so.

That means if Symphony Silicon Valley pulls this off they will have accomplished something pretty extraordinary.

Recent News

The Senior Concert Orchestra of New York Returns

The Senior Concert Orchestra of New York returns! It’s always sad when a musical organization no longer has the funds to perform, and that’s why it is ­great news to hear the Senior Concert Orchestra has made a return. This is in thanks to the Music Performance Trust Fund and the Lortel Foundation for supporting the Orchestra.

The MPTF recently hired Dan Beck, a veteran music executive, songwriter and manager. It is with his lead, and the rest of the staff at the MPTF, that made the organization a supporter of the arts by awarding grants to worthy causes such as the Senior Concert Orchestra, which had to leave Carnegie Hall six years ago due to lack of funding. Not surprisingly, Carnegie Hall is one of the most expensive places to perform in The City. They will be one of the first recipients to receive this grant in 2014.

The Senior Concert Orchestra is headed by 84-year-old Gino Smbuco who is a retired violinist with the NY Philharmonic. He fought for a year to get the Orchestra back at Carnegie Hall and with the grant from the Lortel Foundation they were close to accomplishing that goal. It was Dan Beck heading the MPTF that gave them the final push.

The symphony is comprised of players in their 90s, 80s, and 70s with the old musicians being 98-years-old! The rest of the symphony is comprised of local 802 (New York City). Many attended Juilliard and have impressive resumes playing for the Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera, and City Opera. It’s a diverse group of gender and ethnicities that all have two things in common: they are in their senior years and they love music.

The show is set for November 16 at 3 PM.

Recent News

Kevin Smith New Minnesota Orchestra President

It was only a year ago that the Minnesota Orchestra was locked out, but with a new hire they are getting back into the swing of things. Kevin Smith – currently the interim president and CEO – agreed to stay on through the 2017-18 season as the official Minnesota Orchestra president.

Smith took over from Michael Henson, the former CEO who became the main target and criticism for many issues in the organization. The board was searching for a new president, and Smith wasn’t even in the running. However, he turned out to be so extraordinary the board asked him to remain in his position.

“It was not in my original plan, but I thought: Why not, it’ll be an adventure,” Smith commented.

Board Chairman Gordon Sprenger said, “Kevin exceeded my expectations and we felt that if there was anyone who could help us find solutions, this was the guy right now.”

Smith has to deal with new contract talks with the musicians whose deal ends in 2017, and music director Osmo Vänskä. While Smith said he enjoyed working with Vänskä, it is the board’s decision whether he stays or goes.

Either way, it sounds like Smith is working hard for the orchestra.

“We want to start sooner rather than later with the musicians.” He said, “We need to have a clear financial picture moving forward to show what we can offer. They know that, we know that.”

Principal cellist Anthony Ross said in a statement regarding Smith’s hiring that “the musicians are delighted.”

This all sounds like good news for an orchestra that hasn’t been having the best time recently. Hopefully, things will only improve from here on.

Orchestra News

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra President Resigns; Lockout Continues: UPDATE

The lockout of the musicians of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) continues, as the Woodruff Arts Center (WAC)—the umbrella organization for ASO—has canceled concerts through November 8. Musicians’ paychecks have come to a stop and their health insurance has been canceled.

At the end of September, Stanley Romanstein resigned his position as ASO president and executive director, stating that he believed his continued leadership would be an impediment to reaching a new labor agreement. Terry Neal, a retired Coca-Cola Company executive and current ASO board member, has been appointed interim president.

Still, WAC refuses to budge from its “best and final” offer presented September 5, which would reduce both musician salaries and the size of the orchestra, and would give ultimate control over the orchestra complement to administration. Two meetings have been held with Allison Beck, the federal mediator who helped reach a deal in the Met negotiations. WAC has since canceled meetings and has been slow to reschedule them.

ASO musicians have continued to perform concerts around Atlanta and have held daily protests outside WAC. A petition urging WAC and ASO management to end the lockout is available at: www.change.org/p/woodruff-arts-center-board-end-the-aso-musicians-lockout.

UPDATE:

On November 9th the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra musicians and management were able to negotiate a new deal six weeks after the season was supposed to have started (the season will now start this Thursday—11/13). The new deal allows musicians to receive a 6% pay raise over the next four years, and it will pay increased premiums to participate in a high-deductible health plan.

The size of the orchestra will increase from 77 musicians to 88 over the next four years.

Virginia A. Hepner, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Woodruff Arts Center said in a statement:

“We are thrilled we have been able to reach agreement with the musicians. Over the last several difficult weeks of negotiates, both sides recognized that we all share the same goals and aspirations – we all want a world class orchestra that the musicians and city are proud of and one that has long-term financial stability. We believe this new agreement is one that will allow us to achieve those goals.”

Danny Laufer, an associate principal cellist and vice president of the musicians’ negotiating team, said:

“We are grateful and humbled by the incredible outpouring of support displayed for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra from our community, as well as across the country and around the world.”

The first concert will feature Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.”