Tag: 12.08.16

“Is music meant to be ephemeral or enduring? And indeed, are those two goals consonant with one another, or at odds? For those who take as their mentors, our sources of inspiration, and our measures of quality long-dead Germans like Bach, Brahms, and Beethoven, perhaps the ultimate goal would be to write, like they did, something of value that transcends our era. But can one write a piece with the goal that it become ‘an important part of the repertoire’?”

“In the two years of Jeff Melanson’s tenure, total expenses at the orchestra increased by almost a third, administration costs by 80 per cent. In previous years, the TSO’s expenses had either stayed flat or declined. The TSO did not see an accompanying increase in revenues in the last fiscal year. Ticket sales declined slightly in fiscal 2015-16, as did government support. Thus the organization’s surplus was created, in the first instance, by having the Toronto Symphony Foundation, the organization’s long-term funding support, make a contribution to the orchestra of almost $5-million in fiscal 2015-16, more than double its usual contribution.”