If you care about the Minnesota Orchestra lockout, you should probably be reading Emily anyway, but here’s a really good one. Her incredulous rage is my incredulous rage. Other letters are worthwhile, too.

In the last week, the Orchestra Board has openly declared their willingness to treat us as commodities. I don’t mean “us,” the orchestra ( Read more... )

I am long past being surprised by anything the Minnesota Orchestra Board does. But this article, while not surprising, was pretty frustrating. “Let’s do mediation! Crap, mediation seems to mean that we don’t just get our way! Let’s go outside the mediation! To ask for the same things as we did in mediation!”

There was a perception in the Mpls ( Read more... )

Last night markgritter and I went to the celebration concert for the Minnesota Orchestra's Grammy nomination. Walking in was a bit like going to a large convention where you don't know very many people (but still recognize the people around you and know that you're all anticipating the same thing) and a bit like coming back to Gustavus after the tornado, ( Read more... )

Yesterday I got the e-mail (and phone call! and phone call to the other line!) I had been expecting for the last few weeks: management was canceling more of the Minnesota Orchestra's concerts, including the Dvorak and Bartok I was looking forward to in late January. The management is trying to claim credit for being the flexible ones for inviting ( Read more... )

So I have a letter in the paper today. I wish I'd been able to get in more stuff about the sleazy verbal side-stepping the management has been doing, but letters to the editor are a brief form, so I did what I could ( Read more... )

Dear Minnesota Orchestra Management:

Please stop sending me letters badmouthing your musicians. Stop sending them to my e-mail. Stop sending them (in duplicate copy, no less!) to my postal address. Stop calling me to ask for money while you are making this mess with your musicians, but particularly stop badmouthing your musicians. I have asked ( Read more... )