In addition to deciding to deciding to integrate into the life of the city, the Memphis Symphony has made an adventurous choice for music director.
She (that's right) hails from Taiwan.
The Memphis Symphony Orchestra, seeking a rising star as its new conductor, on Monday named Mei-Ann Chen to be its fourth music director.
Her three-year contract with the MSO starts with the 2010-11 season.
Members of the search committee said last year that they were looking for an "up-and-comer" to be the musical leader of the symphony. Chen's impressive résumé includes jobs in Portland, Ore., Atlanta and Baltimore.
Born in Taiwan, she has lived in the United States since 1989.
She holds a doctor of musical arts degree in conducting from the University of Michigan.
She was the first student in New England Conservatory's history to receive master's degrees simultaneously in violin and conducting.
In 2005, she became the first woman to win the Malko International Conductors Competition.
During her five-year tenure with the Portland (Ore.) Youth Philharmonic, she led its sold-out debut in Carnegie Hall and received an ASCAP award for innovative programming.
In other words, she has great American training, and long experience with making a symphony orchestra work in the context of a heartland American context. Unlike many conductors, she also knows what it means to be an accomplished performer at an orchestral instrument, and would have put in significant time in the orchestral trenches as a player at New England. She knows how to work with young people and parents, which may well be her greatest long-term asset.
Three cheers!
The right person, in the right place, at the right time, can have a huge impact for good on the culture, for a long, long time. Good wishes go her way, and here's hoping all hands pull together to create a success for that city.
An earlier post about Memphis Symphony can be found here.
Showing posts with label memphis symphony. Show all posts
Showing posts with label memphis symphony. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Monday, February 1, 2010
In Contrast To Cleveland, A Peek at Memphis
The Memphis Symphony Orchestra, in contrast with the Cleveland Orchestra, seems to be grappling with the realities of a changing culture.
This is a good thing, to borrow a phrase from Martha Stewart. Management and musicians alike decided that the way to survive and thrive in the 21st century is to actually be of real service to the community, to actually become part of the warp and weave of local life. Again. Like they used to do, before they decided that were minor gods who needed only practice and perform, always and only under a union contract.
The first need is to play fewer concerts. In countless communities, large and small, the concert supply outstrips demand. Orchestras are burdened with contractual obligations that compel them to produce - laboriously and expensively - concerts without a ready audience. Fundraising and marketing resources are overstretched and stretched again.
The second need is for orchestras to define themselves less narrowly as concert producers and more broadly as education providers, engaged with schools, universities, museums, with the community at large.
Music blogger Joe Horowitz offers some good words on behalf of this approach, and has more good words from an earlier post as well.
Why does this matter?
Well, let's assume we find our way through the economic maze, and five years from now, we emerge with a stable society that employs its people producing real goods and services, with healthy compensation, low taxes, civil liberties intact, etc.
We'll also want it to be a society that knows how to make music, write books, teach its children about Shakespeare and Bach, and remember that it stewards the cultural and spiritual riches of The West.
OldSouth's darkest fear is that we're failing at both big tasks, and wonders if we struggle with the first task in part because we failed so badly for so long at the second.
This is a good thing, to borrow a phrase from Martha Stewart. Management and musicians alike decided that the way to survive and thrive in the 21st century is to actually be of real service to the community, to actually become part of the warp and weave of local life. Again. Like they used to do, before they decided that were minor gods who needed only practice and perform, always and only under a union contract.
The first need is to play fewer concerts. In countless communities, large and small, the concert supply outstrips demand. Orchestras are burdened with contractual obligations that compel them to produce - laboriously and expensively - concerts without a ready audience. Fundraising and marketing resources are overstretched and stretched again.
The second need is for orchestras to define themselves less narrowly as concert producers and more broadly as education providers, engaged with schools, universities, museums, with the community at large.
Music blogger Joe Horowitz offers some good words on behalf of this approach, and has more good words from an earlier post as well.
Why does this matter?
Well, let's assume we find our way through the economic maze, and five years from now, we emerge with a stable society that employs its people producing real goods and services, with healthy compensation, low taxes, civil liberties intact, etc.
We'll also want it to be a society that knows how to make music, write books, teach its children about Shakespeare and Bach, and remember that it stewards the cultural and spiritual riches of The West.
OldSouth's darkest fear is that we're failing at both big tasks, and wonders if we struggle with the first task in part because we failed so badly for so long at the second.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)