I think you have your fingers on the pulse here: this time feels different and there is no sense of urgency about getting key relationships with artistic staff back on track.
Maybe finances really are precarious and management feels a complete reset.
But I doubt they’ll get it - at least for long. Major American orchestras just don’t shrink a size or two.
And the recent settlement in New York only complicates matters for management. How did New York find the 30% increase? Some respond: ‘well San Francisco is small and we can’t compete with big New York,’ which is of course nonsense. I would suggest we more than competed with every US orchestra throughout the MTT years.
One last thought. Could a small part of what’s going on be possibly related to lovely and generous Mr. Getty beginning to approach the end of his philanthropy to the Symphony? Have they looked into their crystal ball and disliked what they saw!
“I don’t detect any of that urgency this time around, at least not from the management and board…At no point has anyone in the organization’s leadership stepped forward to publicly acknowledge that there’s a four-alarm fire tearing through Davies Hall at unnerving speed.”
I’m positively heartbroken by this. Thank you for your honest observations, Joshua.
Blushing over here on this coast…
xoxo
Virgil
I think you have your fingers on the pulse here: this time feels different and there is no sense of urgency about getting key relationships with artistic staff back on track.
Maybe finances really are precarious and management feels a complete reset.
But I doubt they’ll get it - at least for long. Major American orchestras just don’t shrink a size or two.
And the recent settlement in New York only complicates matters for management. How did New York find the 30% increase? Some respond: ‘well San Francisco is small and we can’t compete with big New York,’ which is of course nonsense. I would suggest we more than competed with every US orchestra throughout the MTT years.
One last thought. Could a small part of what’s going on be possibly related to lovely and generous Mr. Getty beginning to approach the end of his philanthropy to the Symphony? Have they looked into their crystal ball and disliked what they saw!
“I don’t detect any of that urgency this time around, at least not from the management and board…At no point has anyone in the organization’s leadership stepped forward to publicly acknowledge that there’s a four-alarm fire tearing through Davies Hall at unnerving speed.”
I’m positively heartbroken by this. Thank you for your honest observations, Joshua.