Women in a Men’s Collective in the 1970s and 1980s

For many years, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra was an exclusively male organization despite the increasing number of women in Czechoslovakia joining the workforce. This paper, which is based on oral history interviews with members of the orchestra, the paper will attempt to identify the reasons why almost no women were employed there during the period of Czechoslovak Socialism and under what kind of conditions the only two female members worked. Through interpretation and depth analysis of the oral history interview with one of the two female musicians employed by the Philharmonic before 1989, the paper will primarily map the issue of how women reconciled work and family life, which was considered one of the main obstacles for female musicians, while also taking into consideration the Philharmonic’s prestige and its frequent tours abroad. The acquired experience of a female musician is interpreted within the context of male narratives and is embedded in the study’s theoretical framework. This framework is defined by the available research on women’s emancipation and transformations of the gender order of the Czechoslovak socialist society, as well as research comparing the career patterns of musicians (both female and male) and the inclusion of women in the world’s leading symphony orchestras.

Re-inventing and Re-shaping the Symphony Orchestra for Sustainability

The performing arts industry has always been an ever-evolving industry due to the creative nature of this industry. Although the symphony orchestra has not seen much physical dramatic changes since perhaps the late 1800’s, current events worldwide such as the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the economic uncertainty as well as technological advancements has seen the operations of many symphony orchestras hitting the pause button, many unsure if the orchestra might resume their operations. Symphony orchestras worldwide are forced to come out with various ideas to re-invent and re-shape itself. This paper aims to examine the possibilities of how a symphony orchestra, an institution that is heavily dependent on audiences filling up their concerts is re-inventing itself in order to sustain their very existence. Ongoing efforts such as digitalising ‘live’ concerts through digital platforms and other arising issues such as choice of technological equipment, cost and revenue as well as the perception of orchestral musicians and audiences of such re-invention and re-shaping of the symphony orchestra will be discussed. The findings from this paper may be used to further develop the ideas of re-invention and re-shaping symphony orchestras based on the demands and needs of each individual orchestra.

Captivating and Encouraging Music Experiences ‘Wherever You Are Whenever You Want’, when Symphony Orchestra Performances are Provided Online

The purpose of the article is to examine what listening practices are constructed when symphony orchestras provide concert performances though streaming services. This is done by paying attention to how listening situations connected to symphony orchestras’ digital performances are characterized, how the audience is positioned in relation to the performances and the involved musicians, and furthermore to how the music is represented in text, images and verbal statements. The empirical data comprises the streaming services of two concert institutions, London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) and Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (GSO), and was gathered during spring 2020, i.e. when concert halls were closed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The article demonstrates how online listening practices are characterized as disconnected from constraints of time and space, and free for anyone to use, anytime and for almost any reason, yet also as strongly connected to the temporal and spatial dimensions. Furthermore, it is demonstrated how the listening practices connected to online symphonic performances are constructed in line with discourses on music as a health resource or as a mood enhancer and emotional regulator, but also in line with romantic aesthetic ideals. Even if the romantic aspects are less openly stated, and thus could be understood as being challenged, such ideals seem to remain uncontested as long as they are combined with more recent discourses on music.

The Cypriotization of Beethoven or Beethoven’s Cypriotization: The Composer’s Traces Throughout the Foundation of the “Westernized” Cypriot Music Scene

The focus of this paper is the reception of Ludwig van Beethoven’s works at the turn of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, from the establishment of symphony orchestras and other cultural institutions. These works include symphonic and chamber music, performed in the framework of symphonic concerts as presented by the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra and chamber music as presented by chamber music festivals. This paper will shine a light onto the preserved concert programs of the orchestras, as well as other concerts that can be traced in newspapers and other printed magazines, in order to demonstrate how Beethoven’s compositions became part of the concert programming. The rapid but simultaneously abrupt growth of the cultural scene in the twentieth century, was interweaved with what kind of compositions and what composers could be included in concert programs, taking into consideration the restrictions that governed large performances such as performers’ numbers and the diversity of instrumental players, who would support the staging of certain works. The reception of Beethoven’s works is studied in the changing local political, historical, social and cultural context.

Horizons

The downtown marathons of Bang on a Can might seem worlds away from the American symphony orchestra, but in the mid-1980s they shared a common context: David Lang worked for the New York Philharmonic in this period as an assistant to composer-in-residence Jacob Druckman. His assistantship was part of the granting organization Meet the Composer’s Orchestra Residencies Program, which placed American composers in residencies with symphony orchestras and fundamentally reshaped the relationship between new music and the marketplace. The program’s most high-profile success, the Philharmonic’s 1983 Horizons festival, captured an unprecedented audience for new music via its heavily publicized theme of “A New Romanticism?” And Lang’s subsequent work with the Philharmonic provided him with experience and connections, as well as a growing ambivalence toward the orchestral sphere that shaped the maverick mindset of Bang on a Can.

ON THE CONDUCTOR TRAINING SYSTEM IN CHINA (methodological observations)

The article, which has a historical and methodological orientation, focuses on issues that are indicative both for the development of orchestral music in China and for the training of students in conducting. This work reveals the typology of expressive possibilities of mono-timbre and poly-timbre folk orchestras, as well as certain provisions concerning the mutual influence of folk instrument orchestras and symphony ensembles. The conductor's curriculum adopted at The Central Conservatory of China is presented and its specific features are reviewed. It is noted that due to the intensive development of symphony orchestras and symphonic genres, as well as compositions for musical theater, the process of training conductors and composers in conservatories and music faculties of universities in China is being improved. The cumulative world pedagogical experience was selected to develop the conductor training programs in Chinese conservatories, taking into account the positions most important for national pedagogical adaptation. The educational program for conducting was created in China considering the practice of the Saint Petersburg and Moscow conservatories.