oboeinsight

Read here, in the New York Times:

ASCAP, the performing rights organization that collects royalties for nearly half a million composers, songwriters and publishers, will present its annual Adventurous Programming awards to 18 American orchestras and one new-music festival on Tuesday. The prizes, which ASCAP (the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) established in 1947, are meant to encourage the programming of contemporary works. They will be awarded during the League of American Orchestras 68th National Conference, in St. Louis.

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The awards range from $400 to $3,000, depending on the orchestra’s budget and size, and whether it placed first, second or third in its category. The winners include the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, the Nashville Symphony, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Santa Rosa Symphony, the Berkeley Symphony, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the San José Chamber Orchestra, the Lexington Symphony, the Michigan Philharmonic and the New England Philharmonic. Two student orchestras – the Ithaca College Symphony Orchestra and the Youth Orchestras of San Antonio – also won prizes, as did the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music.

I’ve been slow to post this: this news came out a few days ago.

When the Greek government last week closed the country’s public broadcasting network, ERT, and laid off all of its nearly 2,700 employees, among the casualties was the Greek National Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.

The closure was part of the cost-cutting measures demanded by Greek’s international creditors. Along with the 75-year-old radio orchestra, the national contemporary music ensemble, founded in 1954, was also shuttered. On Friday, the orchestra released a video of what is said to be the group’s final performance. Shot in a sweltering rehearsal room (the air conditioning had been turned off), it shows musicians, some teary-eyed, playing Elgar’s stirring “Nimrod” from the Enigma Variations.