Why Is Washington’s National Symphony Such An Underachiever?

“When you go to an NSO concert, you never know what you’re going to get. Sometimes, you get very good playing. Other times, you hear unpardonable sloppiness, sections drowning each other out in a soup of sound that you don’t expect from professionals. It’s curious that an orchestra with so much talent is still able and, in some sense even willing, to sound like such a mess. There are three places to look for the problem — and its solution.”

Big Plans For Boston’s Opulent Colonial Theatre

“The theater’s opulent, barrel-vaulted lobby — modeled on the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles — could be given over to booth-style seating, and the sumptuous ladies lounge, where Bob Fosse once tap-danced upon the room’s onyx table beneath its murals of cherubs, would become an auxiliary dining room, according to the architectural plans, dated Sept. 18.”

Philadelphia Orchestra Contract Talks Break Down (Though There May Be Some Progress)

“All-night negotiations over a new contract for musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra ended Thursday morning after the session failed to produce a tentative agreement. Concerts will continue uninterrupted as negotiators ponder their next moves. … While no agreement was reached, some parameters of a deal appeared to be falling into place.”