May 10, 2016

Your Network, Voice and Forum for Classical Music in the West

League of American Orchestras to Honor ACSO Executive Director with Gold Baton

ACSO executive director Kris Sinclair will be presented with the League of American Orchestras' highest honor, the Gold Baton, at the League's National Conference in Baltimore, June 10. Read the press release.

Instruments and Protected Species: Important Updates

The League of American Orchestras wishes international traveling owners of musical instruments containing animal or plant based materials to be aware of these important updates regarding port locations, ivory trade, and the CITES musical instrument passport process. Read more.

Public Policy and Please Vote

On April 20, 2016, CalNonprofits reported that AB 2855 passed out of the California Assembly Privacy Consumer Protection Committee. Find out what you can do to help stop this bill.

CalNonprofits has launched its Vote with Your Mission campaign to encourage voting in the June 7th California Presidential primary election. In order to vote you must be registered by May 23th. Read about the campaign.

Music Notes

The California Arts Council has awarded the Association of Symphony Orchestras $21,250. Read more here.

On April 26, 2016, the Los Angeles Philharmonic's virtual reality app, Orchestra VR, was honored with both the Webby and People's Voice awards for Cinematic VR at The Webby Awards, the leading international awards recognizing excellence on the Internet.

Beginning June 24, approximately 75 students from Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra will tour China. Over the course of the 10-day tour, the Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra will be perform at Beijing's National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing's Forbidden City Concert Hall and Shanghai's Oriental Arts Centre. The students will also take part in a cultural exchange with the Shanghai Nanyang Model School Orchestra.

The San Bernardino Fine Arts Commission has granted $46,000 to the San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra.

On April 23, 2016, the San Diego Symphony hosted its first ever high school band festival. Eight high school bands from the San Diego Unified School District performed onstage at the Jacobs Music Center Copley Symphony Hall.

The San Francisco Chamber Orchestra has commissioned the world premiere of Amy X Neuburg's Hunger Strike, a six-part song cycle about the California prison hunger strikes featuring Bay Area string quartet Squid Inc.

Welcome to these three new Board members at the San Luis Obispo Symphony: Pam Dassenko, Jessica Hoffman and Barbara Hunter Spencer.

Up and Down the Scale

Council-members Michael Alexander and Susan Steinhauser

have left the California Arts Council after 20 years of combined service.

Alexander, who is executive director of Grand Performances in LA, has served on the Council since 2004. Steinhauser, an attorney who serves on many public policy boards and resides in LA, was appointed to the Council in 2008.

San Diego Symphony assistant conductor Sameer Patel is one of 11 young American conductors to receive the 2016 Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award. At the San Diego Symphony, Patel is responsible for planning the music and script for the Young People's Concerts and Kinder Koncerts and conducting special performances that include donor concerts and Tastings, the annual season preview concert. Patel also assists music director Jahja Ling during rehearsals for the Symphony's Jacobs Masterworks concerts.

Elizabeth Vandervennet is one of five exemplary orchestra musicians from the United States selected by the League of American Orchestras to receive The Ford Musician Awards for Excellence in Community Service. The awards celebrate orchestra musicians and the essential work they do in their communities. The awards will be presented at the League's National Conference on June 10.

The San Diego Symphony has announced that after 13 years Robert Wilkins will step down as chief operating officer this summer. He will then assume the role of COO emeritus through January 31, 2017. Before joining the San Diego Symphony in 2003, Wilkins held management posts with the St. Louis and Milwaukee symphonies, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Grant Park Music Festival.

Finale

Ronald Ondrejka, former music director of the Santa Barbara Symphony (1967-1979), died suddenly early in the morning of April 7, 2016 at his home in Carpinteria where he lived with his wife, Elise Unruh.

Ondrejka was born into a musical family in 1932 in Manhattan. His Italian-American mother was a pianist; his Czech father was a concert violinist. After military service in Europe with the Seventh Army Symphony, he was a prize winner in the Royal Liverpool International Conducting Competition in 1961. He became assistant to Richard Lert, at the annual Association of Symphony Orchestra League conducting workshops, then to Josef Krips at the Buffalo Philharmonic and William Steinberg in Pittsburgh.

As music director of the Santa Barbara Symphony, Ondrejka taught in the Music Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His final post was as Music Director of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic (1978-1993). Under his artistic leadership the Philharmonic more than tripled its budget, increased the number of full-time core orchestra musicians and expanded its programming to include chamber music, pops and chamber orchestra series.

New Releases From Our Members

The Hutchins Consort has announced the release of

American Luthier: Carleen Hutchins - the Art and Science of the Violin.

American Luthier chronicles the life of Carleen Maley Hutchins.

Buy the book from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

ACSO Out and About

Kris Sinclair with Edwin Outwater when he recently conducted

the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera

On April 22, 2016, the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera, in collaboration with Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute, gave two live performances in which over 4000 elementary students from around the Sacramento region were given the opportunity to sing or play the recorder or violin alongside the organization's musicians and vocalists, and to learn about the structure of orchestras.