Live Blog: A chat with the Boston Symphony Orchestra

4:08: Morlot: It’s also important to give new works multiple hearings, to bring them back in subsequent seasons. To give the players and the audience the opportunity to experience the piece again.

4:05: Sommerville: one of the BSO’s most valued traditions is identifying the greatest composers of the day and commissiong them to write great works. It’s always been a central part of the BSO’s mission. Someone needs to be out there to commission the great works of the second decade of the 21st-century. Many orchestras do not have the resources.

4:03: The BSO took the plunge in the middle of the depression to launch Tanglewood. The tradition is built on innovation.

4:00: Volpe: the S&P 100 years ago: there are only three companies that remain. The great universities from 100 years ago: many more are still with us.

3:58: Morlot: One change since his tenure as Assistant Condcutor in 2004-2007–the BSO is more aggressive about creating media and making connections to the community.

3:55: Sommerville: Touring has a huge beneficial effect on orchestra. Socially, it just brings the group together, which is positive. It matters to the musicians how they are perceived, so people bring their A-game. Makes the orchestra better.

3:52: Harbison: A tour is like the Tanglewood experience, your all together but somewhat displaced. Orchestras are all different in how the chemistry works. One thing he’s noticed: the SF Symphony hangs together after concerts much longer than most. SPCO: there’s a lot more socializing between concerts and rehearsal. That cosmos seems to develop very individually.

3:49: Morlot: communication is key. Going to Seattle, for example, and starting as Music Director, the first thing he did was to encourage dialogue. It’s like what we do on stage. Best ideas don’t just spring from one mind.

3:47: Sommerville: BSO administration is made up of people who came up in the orchestral world or are musicians themselves. In some cases, that’s independent of–and perhaps more influential–than the music director on the culture of the orchestra.

3:43: Fogg: One unique thing is that we are very close physically to the players–the administrative offices are right in the hall–and we spend all summer living together at Tanglewood. It’s different psychologically than if the office is two blocks down the street. A united understanding of the “business” side is important. Mark Volpe does that well.

3:37: Do you talk like this in your daily life at the orchestra? Volpe: maybe more than most orchestras, yes. The dialogue is very healthy. Sommerville: every orchestra has different structures for dialogue. But it mostly comes down to the culture in the orchestra, which filters down from the head of the administration.

3:27: Panelists have arrived and introductions are being made.

Content from the discussion will be used in a podcast to be distributed in early January.

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