News Roundup (posted 7/13/03)
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Ah, the delights of summer, when awards, honors, and comings and goings are announced! Here’s the latest, culled from various sources.
 
Among the recipients of the 2002 Raleigh Medal of Arts is Hugh Partridge, Principal Violist of the NC Symphony, who has devoted a large portion of his working life to education. The award is for his work as Artistic Director of the Philharmonic Association ( http://philharmonic-association.org/ ), which under his overall leadership now fields three youth orchestras; the senior one – the Triangle Youth Philharmonic – is the official youth orchestra of the NC Symphony, whose members and artistic staff have been heavily involved with the program since its inception. Partridge accepted the medal in a ceremony held in Fletcher Opera Theater on the evening of June 30. The other awardees, in this, the 19th annual presentation of the medals, were the Even Exchange Dance Company and Lawrence J. Wheeler, of the NC Museum of Art.
 
Arts Access, Inc., is among the recipients of this year’s Indie Awards. Readers of CVNC‘s theatre section, “Robert’s Reviews,” are doubtless aware of the important work done by this outstanding service organization, whose audio description services are coordinated by our own Elizabeth Kahn. For details, see The Independent Weekly ‘s article at http://indyweek.com/durham/2003-06-25/cover2.html [inactive 4/04] .
 
Pianist Victoria Fisher, of Elon University, will receive the Southeast Region Artist Award from Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society on August 8, in Charleston, SC. Reviews of several of her recitals and of her recording of music by Bartók have appeared in CVNC .
 
Raleigh pianist Vivian Cheng, whose recent performance on Ruggero Piano’s Fourth Friday Mix was reviewed in these pages, has been accepted in the preparatory divisions of both Juilliard and the Manhattan School of Music and, after some consideration, has decided to pursue her studies with Arkady Aronov at Manhattan. She has heretofore worked with Raleigh piano teacher John Ruggero. Her work has been covered by CVNC since she was 11.
 
The NC Symphony has announced the engagement of three new musicians, effective this fall. The new recruits and their assignments are:
* Jacqueline Saed, Assistant Principal Second Violin – formerly with the Charleston (SC) Symphony;
* Oskar Ozolinch, Second Violin – currently on the faculty of the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro; &
* Christopher Caudill, Horn – a regular “extra” player with the NCS last season who hails from the Virginia Beach area.
In addition, the NCS formally announced the appointment of Kenneth Raskin as Assistant Conductor, confirming a news report published earlier by CVNC . He has served as Principal Conductor of the San Francisco Bay Area Concerto Orchestra since 1995.
 
While on the subject of NCS players, Principal Cellist Bonnie Thron and clarinetist Fred Jacobowitz, an occasional NCS extra, are performing this summer with the Apple Hill Chamber Players at the Apple Hill Summer Festival, based in New Hampshire. We share this news in the event any readers of CVNC may be planning trips to cooler climes before the season cranks up here. (For more information, see http://applehill.org/festival/index.php.)
 
The start of the season has traditionally been marked by the NC Symphony’s annual Pops in the Park concert, a Labor Day weekend fixture at Meredith College since its second year. Readers may wish to know that the event will shift this year to Cary’s Regency Park. Details, expected soon, will be posted in our calendar.
 
Philanthropy Journal announced last week the departure of Thomas H. McGuire, long-time Executive Director of the A.J. Fletcher Foundation, effective at the end of the year. Few philanthropies have done more for the arts in NC than Fletcher, under McGuire’s leadership; among other things, CVNC ‘s first grant came from A.J. Fletcher. We and many other beneficiaries of McGuire’s work wish him Godspeed in his new endeavors. The article is available online at http://www.philanthropyjournal.org/more.asp?ID=2868 [inactive 10/05].
 
WCPE is seeking volunteers to help with all manner of projects as the station continues celebrating its 25th anniversary. For more information, contact Dave Sackett by clicking on the “volunteer” link at http://www.theclassicalstation.org/ . While on the subject, CVNC congratulates and salutes WCPE for 25 years of service to music. The station has come a long, long way from its humble, low-power beginnings in a ramshackle house on Wake Forest Road. All best!
 
And finally, a few budget notes.

*The state budget, recently adopted, proved less of a blow to arts organizations that was for a time feared. On July 1, Arts NC (http://www.artsnc.org/) reported that “the North Carolina Arts Council’s basic grants and grassroots funding line items [were] restored with the exception of $16,490 for fiscal year 2003-2004,” noting however that “In the second year of the budget, the North Carolina Arts Council’s basic grants program is scheduled for a $276,296 reduction.” The report continues, “The North Carolina Symphony is slated for an additional $520,000 beyond its base amount in [a] non-recurring allocation for 2003-2004.” But the rejoicing is not universal – the message also includes this note: “The North Carolina Museum of Art is being cut by $79,824 in 03-04 and $107,327 in 04-05.” Arts NC advocated level funding for the NCS and NCMA while allowing for percentage reductions in other programs. As it happened, the cuts within the Department of Cultural Resources and the NC Arts Council are reasonably consistent with those ordered elsewhere in state government. All things considered, then, members of the state’s arts community have, as Arts NC suggested, some cause for celebration this go-’round.

*Wake County adopted a budget, too; it carries a small tax increase in lieu of heavy cuts to programs, including the arts. The passage of this budget gave United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County (and its funded members) a reprieve, for which many seem to be grateful.

*The City of Raleigh likewise adopted a budget, carrying increases in “fees” but no tax hikes. With the passage of the City’s budget, the City Council also approved the recommendations of the City of Raleigh Arts Commission (CORAC) for funding for various arts organizations (including CVNC ) and also provided additional funds for several arts groups, outside CORAC’s grants program – including partial bail-outs for the NC Symphony and Carolina Ballet.
 

Given the plight of arts groups elsewhere in this country, it is a pleasure to report that North Carolina remains, more or less, “The State of the Arts.”

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Music Criticism in Crisis – Report from the 2003 Conference (posted 7/2/03)
 
by Roy C. Dicks
 
The Music Critics Association of North America held its annual conference this year in San Francisco June 18-21. Forty-six members (out of a total membership of about 150) met to assess what’s happening to the profession.
 
Attendees acknowledged that music critics are facing shrinking page space and fewer print sources with music critics on staff. Most newspapers now have only freelancers, some having been demoted from staff positions.
 
A panel of West Coast critics had typical tales of retrenchment. The Los Angeles Times has gone from six writers covering the music scene in 1999 to four in 2003. The San Francisco Chronicle has only one writer covering all classical events.
 
Amid that gloom was the affirming story of San Francisco Classical Voice (http://www.sfcv.org), the online review source in existence since September 1998 and the inspiration for our own CVNC. Michelle Dulak, one of the editors at SFCV, detailed the site’s organization, which currently has a stable of about 70 writers, 20 of whom are regulars. The site covers a wide range of concerts and musical groups, having posted about 1500 reviews since it started. As a non-profit organization, it receives tax-deductible donations and grants. The other print-based panelists acknowledged the value of SFCV as a welcome complement to their limited coverage.
 
A panel of West Coast composers and performers were united in identifying the single biggest problem in maintaining audiences and support for classical concerts – lack of music education in the schools. There are whole generations who have had no real exposure to classical music.

Composer Jake Heggie (who wrote the well-received opera Dead Man Walking) stated that what is needed are mentors who can personally lead the uninitiated by the hand through what often seems intimidating and strange territory, just as his teachers did for him.
 

The music critic can be that essential person for adult readers but with space and sources disappearing at an alarming rate, this option will soon be a luxury. Amid news of orchestras shutting down, opera companies cutting back on seasons and arts budgets being slashed everywhere, the music critic is more necessary than ever to direct audiences to exciting performances and to encourage attendance at unusual fare.
 
Where audiences will find such guidance is the on-going dilemma. Although online sites such as CVNC have helped increase the availability and amount of criticism, the assumption by print sources that their audiences don’t want or need classical music criticism simply becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
 
The conference did not come up with any answers for the problem. In fact, many members seemed to be in denial, clinging to the “good old days” as if they still existed. The critics themselves must help create new outlets and sustain the interest the service they provide. Meanwhile parents must work to keep music education in the schools and musical organizations must lobby their local papers and magazines for continued coverage of what they offer.