Podcasts | Event Videos | Video Interviews
Podcasts
Highlights from our live events and behind-the-scenes conversations with musicians, scholars, composers, executives, critics and technologists. Duration: approximately 10-15 minutes per chapter.
Chapter One: Historic Context of the American Orchestra
Drawn from the October 23, 2011 public Forum during the Los Angeles Philharmonic residency and a backstage interview with Alan Gilbert, Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, Chapter One addresses the historical and cultural roots of American orchestras and how those traditions impact and inform an orchestra’s place in the contemporary American community.
Play Chapter One | Download | Transcript
Chapter Two: Personal Stories
The second chapter in our podcast series is about personal stories, those intimate connections between a student and a teacher that, like a pebble in a pond, send waves radiating outward. Few stories are more compelling or influential than that of Gustavo Dudamel, the Venezuelan-born conductor—and now Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic—who found his own pebble-in-the-pond experience in his home country’s visionary music education and social program, El Sistema. This podcast was developed from the October 23, 2011 public Forum.
Play Chapter Two | Download | Transcript
Chapter Three: Considering Technology
No conversation about music—about any art form, for that matter—gets very far these days without addressing the impact, potential and pitfalls of technology. From high- definition broadcasts of live performances, to an audience tuned in to Facebook, Twitter and other social media, classical music must find its place in an increasingly digital community. This podcast was developed from our October 23, 2011 public Forum.
Play Chapter Three | Download | Transcript
Chapter Four: The World Has Changed
No orchestra, large or small, ever has a settled relationship with its community. It’s always a thing in flux, dynamic, fluid, fragile and complex. This podcast was developed from our behind-the-scenes conversations with leaders from the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Play Chapter Four | Download | Transcript
Chapter Five: Orchestral Creativity, On the Stage
Where does the marvel of musical creativity come from and how does it work? In this podcast, we examine the ways in which creativity can flourish, or falter, in the symphony orchestra hall. Drawn from our March 2012 public Forum, participants include Michael Tilson Thomas, John Adams and Mason Bates.
Play Chapter Five | Download | Transcript
Chapter Six: The Creative Challenge, Off the Stage
Orchestras today are challenged as never before to find creative ways of making music and making it matter to their communities. This podcast was developed from our public Forum in March 2012 and a “Conducting Business” podcast by New York radio station WQXR.
Play Chapter Six | Download | Transcript
Chapter Seven: The View from Cleveland
The Cleveland Orchestra is one of the world’s great orchestras in by far the smallest market supporting such an institution. This podcast was developed from our behind-the-scenes conversation in April 2012 and an interview with Music Director Franz Welser-Möst.
Play Chapter Seven | Download | Transcript
Chapter Eight: Considering Audiences, Part 1
Like many relationships in our times, the orchestra’s relationship to its audience has changed, grown more volatile, and become anything but straightforward. This podcast was developed from our May 2012 live forum event and a behind-the-scenes conversation with The Cleveland Orchestra in April 2012.
Play Chapter Eight | Download | Transcript
Chapter Nine: Considering Audiences, Part 2
Confronted with fundamental changes in their audiences, orchestras are thinking about what they do and how they do it as never before. In this chapter we explore some of the ideas, innovations, optimism and uneasiness of the American orchestra, as it finds it way toward the audiences of the future. This podcast was developed from our May 2012 live forum event with The New York Philharmonic and backstage interviews.
Play Chapter Nine | Download | Transcript
Chapter Ten: Looking Ahead, in Philadelphia and Beyond
In both its difficulties and its stategies for confronting and transcending them, The Philadelphia Orchestra strikes a resonant chord with other American orchestras, large and small. This podcast was developed from our June 2012 behind-the-scenes discussion.
Play | Download | Transcript
Event Videos
Videos and transcripts from our free, live events.
Talking About Audiences
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Keynote: Alan Gilbert, Music Director, New York Philharmonic, in conversation with Matthew VanBesien, Executive Director Designate, New York Philharmonic Keynote Transcript (PDF) |
Spotlight #2: Elizabeth Scott, Chief Media and Digital Officer, Lincoln Center, in conversation with Steven Winn, San Francisco arts journalist and critic Spotlight #2 Transcript (PDF) |
Spotlight #1: Sunil Iyengar, Director, Office of Research and Analysis, National Endowment for the Arts, in conversation with Mark Clague, Associate Professor of Music, University of Michigan Spotlight #1 Transcript (PDF) |
Roundtable: Spotlight speakers and Brent Assink, Executive Director, San Francisco Symphony, in conversation with Steven Winn and Mark Clague, plus audience Q&A Roundtable Transcript (PDF) |
Talking About Creativity
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Keynote: Michael Tilson Thomas, Music Director, San Francisco Symphony, in conversation with Brent Assink, Executive Director, San Francisco Symphony Keynote Transcript (PDF) |
Spotlight #1: John Adams, composer, in conversation with Mason Bates (a.k.a. DJ Masonic), composer; moderated by Mark Clague, Associate Professor of Music, University of Michigan Spotlight #1 Transcript (PDF) |
Spotlight #2: Margo Drakos, cellist and Co-founder, InstantEncore, in conversation with Ed Sanders, Group Marketing Manager, Creative Lab at Google, moderated by Steven Winn, San Francisco arts journalist and critic Spotlight #2 Transcript (PDF) |
Spotlight panelists in conversation with Steven Winn and Mark Clague, plus audience Q&A Roundtable Transcript (PDF) |
Talking About Community
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Keynote: Gustavo Dudamel, Music Director, Los Angeles Philharmonic, in conversation with Deborah Borda, Executive Director, Los Angeles Philharmonic Keynote Transcript (PDF) |
Spotlight #1: Jesse Rosen, President/CEO, League of American Orchestras, in conversation with Neil Harris, Professor of History and Art History, University of Chicago; moderated by Mark Clague, Associate Professor of Music, University of Michigan Spotlight #1 Transcript (PDF) |
Spotlight #2: Afa Sadykhly Dworkin, VP / Artistic Director of the Sphinx Organization, in conversation with Amos Yang, Assistant Principal Cellist, San Francisco Symphony; moderated by Steven Winn, San Francisco arts journalist and critic Spotlight #2 Transcript (PDF) |
Spotlight panelists in conversation with Steven Winn and Mark Clague, plus audience Q&A Roundtable Transcript (PDF) |
Video Interviews
Backstage interviews with some of our participants.
Alan Gilbert, Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, on Community |
Malcolm Lowe, Concertmaster of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, on Teaching Creativity |
Alan Gilbert, Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, on Audiences |
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Music Director Designate of the Philadelphia Orchestra, on Community |