Full Issue – Symphony: Fall 2019, Beethoven Now
Read the whole issue online via Issuu.
Prelude and Table of Contents: Fall 2019
If Beethoven were a candy, how would he taste? A goofy question, admittedly, but at airport duty-free shops everywhere, Mozartkugeln turn Mozart into a confection: an orb of marzipan and dark chocolate enrobed in a flattering foil portrait.
Digital Media Digest: September 2019
$150k to the SPCO; Turns out online opera is a good idea; Knight Foundation launches $750,000 initiative for immersive technology for the arts; Bernstein’s ‘Mass’ gets brilliant encore, bound for TV; What is Spotify thinking with its ‘Dance Like Nobody’s Paying’ ad campaign?; Spotify tops 108 million paying subscribers; Spotify abruptly shuts down its direct upload & distribution plans; For new video game music, Salt Lake City is becoming a hotspot; Digital tools and community first — A bright future for the TSO; Taylor Swift says she will rerecord her old music. Here’s how; U.S. copyright office awards mechanical licensing collective contract to NMPA bid; Amazon music has 32 million subscribers — and a 70% yearly growth rate; Is traditional radio about to crash?; Apple decides to invest in original podcasts — Putting a buzzkill on Spotify’s expansion; Exploring an immersive future in classical music; Imagine being immersed in the OSM — without the orchestra present; Stanford researchesrs point to dramatic improvements in virtual reality sound; Apple music’s analytics dashboard for artists is offically out of beta; Spotify, Apple, Pandora, Amazon, Google, warns against ditching PRO consent decrees; Spotify, Amazon, Pandora, Google/Alphabet protest streaming royalty rate increases; Commentary: Classical streaming has arrived. How do the new services stack up?;
Discovering What It Takes to Attract—and Keep—Young Audiences
How does a performing arts group draw younger audiences and build loyalty? A case study in the September 2019 issue of American Theatre magazine reports how Portland Center Stage in Oregon used support from The Wallace Foundation to experiment with its marketing and engagement programs for new theatergoers—and gained insights that are relevant to orchestras seeking to strengthen their own audience-building efforts.
CITES Protected Species Travel Tips
Updated January 29, 2025 Efforts to increase restrictions on travel and trade in African Elephant ivory and other endangered animal and plant species has placed a new focus on long-existing permitting rules for international travel with instruments that contain endangered species material. Those rules are contained in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, otherwise …
Travel with Instruments Update
Following three years of consensus-building among music stakeholders, governmental authorities, and conservation experts, policy requests put forward by the League of American Orchestras (the League) and partners in the international music community gained approval today at the gathering of 183 parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), where musical instruments in use by musicians across the globe were on the agenda August 17 through 29, alongside urgent new policies shaped to address threats to plant and animal species worldwide.
Assessment Board Announces Plan to Eliminate Nation’s Arts Report Card
In late July, the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) announced its intention to narrow the breadth of subjects assessed by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), eliminating the next Nation’s Arts Report Card, the only nationally-reported measurement of what students know and are able to do in the arts.
Ford Musician Awards for Excellence in Community Service – 2019 Awardees
Now in its fourth year, the League’s Ford Musician Awards program, made possible by the generous support of Ford Motor Company Fund, honors and celebrates professional orchestra musicians who provide exemplary and meaningful service in their communities and make a significant impact through education and community engagement.
Videos: 2019 Ford Music Awardees
Now in its fourth year, the League’s Ford Musician Awards program, made possible by the generous support of Ford Motor Company Fund, honors and celebrates professional orchestra musicians who provide exemplary and meaningful service in their communities and make a significant impact through education and community engagement.
Coda: String Crossroads
Chris Thile plays everything from Bach to bluegrass, has been touring since he was a pre-teen, and in 2012 won a MacArthur “genius” grant—all for playing the mandolin. Thile is Carnegie Hall’s 2018–19 Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair, and this March Carnegie Hall hosted an episode of his National Public Radio Live from Here show featuring American folk music and music from the British Isles, as part of Carnegie’s “Migrations: The Making of America” festival. He’s a musical omnivore with a deep love of classical music who has hosted chamber ensembles like The Knights and yMusic on the radio show, and has toured and recorded Bach with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and bassist Edgar Meyer. He brought the mandolin to the orchestra world with a 2009 concerto he wrote and performed with eight U.S. orchestras.