Over on Eastman’s new blog, grad student Cahill Smith fills us in on Nicolas Medtner (1880-1951):

While he would have certainly objected to this description–his style is completely unique–the quickest way to describe Medtner’s music is as a cross between Beethoven and Rachmaninoff. Medtner was a self-proclaimed follower of Beethoven and wrote music with a similar thematic unity, often using the smallest basic materials to create massive structures and dramatic contrasts: if themes were money, Medtner could feed a family of four with a few nickels and dimes.

Medtner’s familial ties to Europe might explain his affinity for Beethoven and the mainstream classical tradition, but according to Smith, the composer’s music also shows the influence of mother Russia:

At the same time, Medtner imbued his works with exotic Russian harmonies that echo Rachmaninoff or Scriabin. Intense drama, lyricism, fantasy, and childlike innocence are all to be found in Medtner’s music.

Smith will be performing an all-Medtner program in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall on Sunday. Here’s a video preview: 

Because I don’t really think the world needs more hedge-fund managers or bullying billionaires, Joan Lipman’s New York Times opinion piece linking musical training to career success left me cold. 

Much more heartening was this recent article in the Atlantic by Lori Miller Kase. Kase looks at  ongoing studies from researchers at Northwestern, USC, and University of California, San Diego on music programs for at-risk children in low-income areas of Southern California. In all three cases, researches are finding that music dramatically improves cognitive, social, and emotional development, placing children in a better position to succeed in school:

Though these studies are far from over, researchers, as well as the parents and teachers of the study subjects, are already noticing a change in the kids who are studying music. Preliminary results suggest that not only does school and community-based music instruction indeed have an impact on brain functioning, but that it could possibly make a significant difference in the academic trajectory of lower-income kids.

Unfortunately, too few school districts in low-income areas have the money for music music programs:

Ironically, these findings come at a time when 1.3 million of the nation’s public elementary school students receive no specific instruction in music—and the children who do not have access to music education are disproportionately those who attend high-poverty schools. While wealthier school districts can compensate for budget cuts that reduce or eliminate music programs with private funding, low-income school districts cannot, so the kids who might benefit most from music education are often the least likely to get it.

What’s left are programs such as the Harmony Project in Los Angeles, or any number of projects here in Rochester (Urban Strings, Strings for Success, RocMusic) that provide valuable help, but which do not operate as part of a school’s curriculum. Hopefully, the work that Kase cites will help convince district administrators and state politicians that music deserves a central place in all students’ lives, not just those with rich parents. 

James B. Stewart focused on endowment mismanagement in his Friday New York Times article on the New York City Opera‘s bankruptcy and spread the blame around: not only were board chair Susan Baker and general and artistic director Paul Kellogg responsible for “a shocking lack of financial discipline” leading up to the 2008 and 2009 withdrawls that took $24.1 million from the endowment, but New York’s attorney general Andrew Cuomo was also at fault for failing to carry out state law and provide effective oversight.

According to Stewart, nonprofit organizations must receive approval from the attorney general’s office to cut into their endowments. The NYCO got that approval in 2008 without notifying the Wallace Fund, whose restricted funds were going to be use. That notification is part of state law, and the AG also didn’t contact the fund managers. 

When NYCO went back to the attorney general’s office in 2009, its came with a turnaround plan that it said would result in a surplus in 2010-11 and a $2,000,000 endowment replenishment. Given the seven-figure deficits that NYCO had been running for years, the plan seemed far fetched; nonetheless, the company once again got state approval.

As little serious oversight that the attorney general and his staff gave, it’s up for debate as to how much they should have provided. Imagine the outcry if the attorney general had stopped the moves. Nonprofit organizations are independent for a reason, and if we don’t want the government involved in running our cultural efforts, we can’t blame it when they fail. 

As the Wall Street Journal publishes a sketchy report of a deal to merge the bankrupt New York City Opera with another Big Apple cultural institution, John Godfrey and Jason Schneiderman of Nonprofit Quarterly summarize everything that led up to the company’s chapter 11 filing, putting a focus on the fiduciary irresponsibility of the board.

The news (published rumor?) that horrible human being David H. Koch passed on bailing out the NYCO because it produced an opera based on Anna Nicole Smith, whom Koch hates, is hilariously depressing, and a case study in just how sleazy it can be to work in non-profit performing arts. The New York Times recounts NYCO head George Steel’s night out with Montgomery Burns:

The opera they saw, Mark-Anthony Turnage’s “Anna Nicole,” tells the more-or-less true life story of Anna Nicole Smith, a former Playboy model who married an octogenarian oil tycoon, J. Howard Marshall II, and who waged a fierce battle with his heirs over his estate after he died. Mr. Marshall, it turned out, had owned 16 percent of the Koch family’s business, Koch Industries. When Mr. Steel asked Mr. Koch if he could make further gifts to save the company, Mr. Koch demurred, telling Mr. Steel that the Marshall family might be less than pleased, according to a person familiar with their conversation. 

Wow. Awkward.

If you’re looking for historical background on the New York City Opera, Fred Cohen’s piece in Opera News is the place to go.

The St. Louis Symphony is touting the financial results of its last fiscal year as good news. Apparently they had raised $25.5 million in operating revenue–and suffered only a $2.62 million deficit (covered through separate fundraising). And it was their smallest deficit since 2005.

Glad to see that things are looking up, but one season with a small, manageable deficit does not erase history, nor does it guarantee success in the future. The orchestra has been running large deficits for almost a decade every year, resulting in debt that can constrain the orchestra as in plans its upcoming seasons.

A day-by-day recap:

On Monday, the Minnesota Orchestra started it right by announcing it was canceling its Carnegie Hall concerts.

Osmo Vanska quit on Tuesday, as did the orchestra’s Composer Institute head, Aaron Jay Kernis.

Wednesday started miserably when my boss, Eastman’s dean Doug Lowry, passed away. Later in the day, we found out that Carnegie Hall’s stage hands were on strike because they wanted to control of its educations spaces (the strike is over now).

New York City Opera officially declared bankruptcy on Thursday. 

TGIF, eh?

Yesterday, the Minnesota Orchestra board offered its musicians a new agreement to end the year-long lockout: while the base pay for musicians would see base pay shrink by 25% after three years, the board did offer a one-time $20,000 payout to mitigate the shock.

This is an improvement over previous offers, but the musicians union didn’t take kindly to management circumventing mediator George Mitchell to make the offer directly to them, and certainly didn’t appreciate that it went public.

“We are further offended that they have again broken the confidentiality of the mediator’s process,” said spokesperson Blois Olson. “We encourage management to stop playing games and work through the mediator.”

At least that’s not a “no,”right?

Back in January, halfway through the 2012-13 season, the Cleveland Orchestra announced that its student-ticket sales were up 55% over the previous year, helping to account for a 24% increase in earned revenue. On May 30, the orchestra released its final numbers: a 65% season-over-season increase in student tickets sold, and a 27% increase overall increase in ticket sales.

These are great numbers, but it’s important to note that Cleveland has a $20-million fund to help cover the discount that students receive. Not all orchestras have that cushion to help them absorb the added cost of marketing to students, a notoriously fickle and transient group. 

Yesterday, Tim from Irondequoit inadvertently reported on a falcon abducting a pigeon when he called into John DiTullio on 1280 WHTK to talk about how bad the Bills will be this season; here’s the call.

DiTullio’s awesome for turning this into a great talk-radio moment. Mike Francesa: pay attention.

Another person who makes it worth living here is Ira Jevotovsky. I caught more of his handiwork on a bike ride Monday night:

Keep keeping Rochester weird, guys. 

If you’re a fan of Cold War history and find yourself in Nova Scotia, you should check out the Atlantic Canada Aviation Museum out by the Halifax airport.

Here’s their F-86 Sabre (with daughter), a plane that went into production right after World War II, and entered the Canadian Armed Forces in the 1950s as tensions with the Soviet Union were really heating up:

It also has in its collection a CF-101 Voodoo, the plane that Canada decided purchased from McDonnell in 1961, two years after Diefenbaker canceled the supersonic Avro Arrow (it was a controversial decision, as many believed that the Candadian-made Arrow would have made the country a major global military player in the fight against Communism):

Yesterday, my wife and I went to Rosie’s Hot Buns for dinner on Monroe Avenue (right next to the bong shop). It’s a high-end fast-food joint that sells fancy tasting $4 sandwiches. Get two of them, and you’ve got a good meal.

Rosie’s is just down the block from Dogtown, which makes this our new go-to area for cheap eats, on our own or with the kids. We also like Pizza Stop on State Street (good if you’re over at Hochstein for lessons or a concert) and Bill Gray’s in the ‘burbs (don’t judge me).

In the East End, the new local lunch spot Camarella’s closed after less than a year. Working down in that area is a dismal proposition, and losing this place doesn’t help.

It’s not like I’m going to be going out and getting $10 mimosas for lunch at Fraiche.