A potpourri of weekly musings thoughts and ideas collected from the blogsphere.

The Future of classical music
I am wondering out loud these days about the future of classical music, especially symphonic music. The past week has been a series of rather mixed messages. South of the border in the USA, the  Syracuse Symphony cancelled the remainder of their season this past week without warning due to financial problems and will soon be seeking bankruptcy protection while at the same time the struggling  Detroit Symphony reached a tentative agreement with their musicians hopefully ending a 6 month strike and are struggling to keep going.
On the other side of the world, the YouTube symphony concert from Australia’s Sydney Opera House was streamed by 33 million viewers from around the world.  The You Tube Symphony event is a breathe of fresh air in what has become a rather stale room. I am left with the perception that Yes, our art form is still very much alive.  How we deliver that art form, and who are audience is – well, I think that part of the business now needs to be very much under review. We now live in a 21st century world of “on demand” and “just in time” delivery.  To paraphrase a well worn cliche: is really the issue here not the message, but the medium itself?  Is the problem with classical and other art music forms the fact we are delivering a 21st century product with 19th century modes of distribution and packaging?

Welcome to the Vancouver Academy of Music
BCACMS is welcoming back the Vancouver Academy of Music to our membership. It is great to see now all non profit music schools in BC are now working together to help each other improve and serve our communities better.