 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: David Niethamer
Date: 2011-03-19 02:01
The Miami residency had the effect of putting the Florida Orchestra (I hope I have the right orchestra - can never keep all the similar names straight) out of business. It was an ugly story, with a wealthy donor to both orchestras convincing various Miami entities to hire Cleveland and allow the Florida orchestra to fold.
David
niethamer@aol.com
http://members.aol.com/dbnclar1/index.html
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Author: Dileep Gangolli
Date: 2011-03-19 11:26
I agree with David.
The new and evolving business model for the Cleveland Orchestra - while maintaining a 52 week season for the musicians - has become something that has some serious flaws for the industry and those should be considered.
> The Miami residency essentially put the Florida Orchestra out of business and gave the upper class Snow Birds in Miami their music while in their Florida digs during the winter. But it failed the Miami community in the process.
> The CO now does several residencies around the world in multi-week stints. While these are prestigious slots such as Salzburg, it means time away from family and home life I am sure. Anyone with a young family knows that this involves hardships that were not there when the orchestra stayed in one place and did limited touring.
> There is no correlation between selling classical music tickets and having people play world music or jazz/rock prior to a concert. While this does seem to be an attempt to get younger people in the hall and address the changing demographics of the US, I doubt it will result in an increase in subscribers.
Orchestras that operate in the US Rust Belt (Midwest) where the traditional economic driver was the auto industry are in trouble no doubt. Cleveland has been able to leverage its world-class reputation into dollars. But others such as Detroit, Columbus, and others are having a much harder time creating hardship for their musicians.
Open to responses if there are contradicting comments.
DRG
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Author: Bradley
Date: 2011-03-20 00:44
It was the Florida Philharmonic, the Florida Orchestra is still very much alive in Tampa.
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Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2011-03-20 04:29
"The Miami residency essentially put the Florida Orchestra out of business and gave the upper class Snow Birds in Miami their music while in their Florida digs during the winter. But it failed the Miami community in the process."
I think you're a little too cynical here. For anyone that's interested, the story of the Florida Philharmonic's demise as well as the Cleveland Orchestra's alleged role are documented here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_Philharmonic_Orchestra#2000_Strike
From what I can determine, the Florida Philharmonic would probably have folded even without the Cleveland residency. It also sounds more like the Miami community ultimately failed the Philharmonic not that the eventual arrangement failed Miami. Or maybe it's just cultural Darwinism -- a preference for three weeks of performances by a world-class orchestra to perhaps 14 performances spread over a longer time period by a regional orchestra.
"The CO now does several residencies around the world in multi-week stints. While these are prestigious slots such as Salzburg, it means time away from family and home life I am sure. Anyone with a young family knows that this involves hardships that were not there when the orchestra stayed in one place and did limited touring."
Hardships perhaps, but also opportunities. If I were in the orchestra, my wife would insist on coming along. 
"There is no correlation between selling classical music tickets and having people play world music or jazz/rock prior to a concert..."
I agree. But at least they are performing this other music before the concerts and not during them. That at least reduces the likelihood that they will drive some of their core audience away.
Best regards,
jnk
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