Philharmonic Orchestra Research Articles

Conductors of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra: A Centenary Overview

AbstractIn 2023, a major European musical ensemble, the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, celebrates its centennial. In the course of 100 years, this institution faced numerous obstacles, but thanks to the enthusiasm of great musicians, especially conductors, it has survived and laid the foundation for further musical and cultural development in Serbia. This article discusses the activity of the most important orchestral leaders (Stevan Hristić, Lovro von Matačić, Krešimir Baranović, Živojin Zdravković, Horst Förster, Vassily Sinaisky, Emil Tabakov, Uroš Lajovic, Dorian Wilson, Muhai Tang, Gabriel Feltz, Daniel Raiskin and Zubin Mehta), who have vastly contributed to or changed the course of the orchestra's development and left a big mark in its hundred-year-long history. In its centenary year, we will look back into the past, review the present, but also take a glimpse into the future the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra has already started to write for itself.

Dreaming of new musical interaction – the interactive music in the project Dream

ABSTRACT Dream was an online live performance in early 2021 and was a collaboration between several partners, among them Royal Shakespeare Company, the Philharmonia Orchestra, Marshmallow Laser Feast, Manchester International Festival and EPIC Games. The stated goal of Dream was to explore new ways of interacting with audiences while bridging the disciplines of theatre, music, video games and other forms of digital media. The musical goals were to enable a high level of musical interactivity while at the same time coupling that with the use of high-quality recorded orchestral music. This article is not a study of the Dream project as a whole, but focuses on the interactive music that was generated in realtime by the actors and powered by Reactional Music. Apart from briefly discussing the technology itself, this article will describe and analyse some of the working processes involved in composing interactive music, as well as discuss some of the future implications of the use of technology from the video game industry in new areas such as live performances and audience interaction. The aim of this is to see if it’s possible to envision what kind of new artistic output that can come from these new technological environments.

Illustrating Stravinsky: integration of new media design in live Philharmonic Orchestra performance

Today, as arts organizations, including philharmonic orchestras, look for new ways to engage their patrons and attract new audiences, the use of new media can enhance experiences at arts venues and events such as concerts, and can lead to greater appreciation of art forms that are sometimes considered outmoded and staid. This study focuses on the search for an appropriate approach, design process and implementation of new media design for symphonic orchestra performance. The case study examines the integration of new media for the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra’s live performance of The Rite of Spring, an early 20th-century avant-garde masterpiece composed by Igor Stravinsky. Motion graphics and AR technology were utilized to bring hand-drawn and painted elements inspired by the music and Russian folk art to life.

Orchestral Identities and the Formation of Musical Knowledge: A ‘Sociomaterial’ View on the Concert Programmes of the London Symphony Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

English Abstract: Concert programmes are at the heart of the rituals of Western classical music concerts. Providing information on musical works and more, they are invaluable objects of study for music scholars. This article investigates how ensembles engage in the production of these documents—a dimension so far neglected in much of concert programme scholarship, yet vital to understanding what these objects contain, look like, and do. In doing so, it approaches concert programmes as agents that help orchestras explore their musical and institutional identities. It compares, through a combination of archival research and interviews, two major European orchestras: the London Symphony Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. The investigation focuses on the programmes’ design and appearance, their contents and structures, and the programme notes. Drawing on the concept of ‘sociomateriality’—taking these documents’ situated and highly specific materialities into account, thus questioning their commonly assumed ephemerality—this article demonstrates how concert programmes maintain particular tokens of musical tradition and knowledge whilst renewing others. It thereby opens up discussions on the role that concert programmes play in opening up and manifesting musical knowledge resulting from processes of orchestral identity formation, and it proposes a practice-based methodology to how concert programmes may be studied. French Abstract: Les programmes de concert sont au cœur du rituel des concerts de musique classique occidentale. Fournissant des informations sur les œuvres musicales et plus encore, ils constituent des objets d’étude inestimables pour les chercheurs en musique. Cet article étudie la manière dont les ensembles instrumentaux s’engagent dans la production de ces documents –une dimension jusqu’à présent négligée dans la plupart des études sur les programmes de concert, et pourtant essentielle pour comprendre ce que ces objets contiennent, ce à quoi ils ressemblent et ce qu’ils font. Ce faisant, il aborde les programmes de concert comme des outils pour aider les orchestres à explorer leurs identités musicales et institutionnelles. Il compare deux grands orchestres européens, le London Symphony Orchestra et l’Orchestre philharmonique de Vienne, en combinant recherches archivistiques et entretiens. L’enquête se concentre donc sur la conception et l’apparence des programmes, leur contenu et leur structure, ainsi que sur les notes de programme. S’appuyant sur le concept de « socio-matérialité », qui prend en compte les matérialités situées et hautement spécifiques de ces documents, remettant ainsi en question leur caractère éphémère communément admis, cet article montre comment les programmes de concert maintiennent certains symboles de la tradition et de la connaissance musicales tout en en renouvelant d’autres. Il ouvre ainsi la discussion sur le rôle que jouent les programmes de concert dans l’ouverture et la diffusion de connaissances musicales résultant des processus de formation de l’identité orchestrale. Ce faisant, il propose une méthodologie basée sur la pratique pour étudier les programmes de concert. German Abstract: Konzertprogramme stehen im Mittelpunkt der Rituale westlicher Konzerte klassischer Musik. Sie bieten mehr als nur Informationen zu musikalischen Werken und sind somit für Musikwissenschaftler von unschätzbarem Wert. In diesem Artikel wird untersucht, wie Ensembles selbst an der Produktion dieser Dokumente beteiligt sind –ein Aspekt, der in der bisherigen Forschung zu Konzertprogrammen vernachlässigt wurde, der jedoch von entscheidender Bedeutung für das Verständnis dessen ist, was die Programme enthalten, wie sie aussehen und welche Funktion sie haben. Konzertprogramme können dabei helfen, Aspekte der musikalischen und institutionellen Identität von Orchestern zu vermitteln. Anhand einer Kombination aus Archivrecherchen und Interviews werden zwei große europäische Orchester –das London Symphony Orchestra und die Wiener Philharmoniker –miteinander verglichen. Im Mittelpunkt der Untersuchung stehen dabei Gestaltung und Erscheinungsbild der jeweiligen Programme, ihre Inhalte und Strukturen sowie die enthaltenen Erläuterungen, bzw. Werktexte. Aufbauend auf dem Konzept der „Soziomaterialität“, welches den jeweiligen Kontext und die stark spezifizierten Materialitäten dieser Dokumente berücksichtigt sowie gleichzeitig auch ihre Kurzlebigkeit hinterfragt, zeigt dieser Artikel, wie Konzertprogramme bestimmte Merkmale musikalischer Tradition und Information bewahren und andere erneuern. Dadurch eröffnet er eine Diskussion über die Rolle von Konzertprogrammen in der Produktion und Manifastierung musikalischen Wissens, welches in den Prozessen der Identitätsbildung des jeweiligen Orchesters verankert ist. Gleichzeitig wird eine praxisorientierte Methodik für die Untersuchung von Konzertprogrammen vorgeschlagen.

협력적 계획에 준거한 공공예술조직 내 단원노조 설립과 갈등 원인 연구

The aim of this study is to conduct a realistic examination of the structure and causes of conflicts among stakeholders regarding the formation of labor unions in domestic public arts organizations. In order to accomplish this objective, the study conducted a comprehensive analysis of the labor union formation process and the conflicts and reasons that arose within the organization. This analysis was carried out by reviewing a range of materials, including stakeholder interviews, meeting minutes, current issue reports, audit records, and newspaper articles related to the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, which serves as a representative domestic public arts organization. Specifically, the study explored the causes of conflict by considering the planning environment, key stakeholders, and the processes of interaction and social learning surrounding the establishment of labor unions, drawing on the “Collaborative Planning” model. The analysis revealed that the labor union's strong demands for personnel rights, aimed at addressing the issues of unstable employment and wage structures under the influence of a powerful union, had a detrimental impact on multiple stakeholders. Consequently, an opposing union was formed, and the lack of interaction and social learning within the organization deteriorated due to the absence of trust among labor, management, and government. To tackle these problems, the study proposes several recommendations. Firstly, it suggests the establishment of a formal and regular platform for interaction among stakeholders, allowing for the sharing and exchange of information through direct and indirect participation. Secondly, it advocates for a redefinition of the roles of labor, management, and government. Lastly, the study emphasizes the importance of conducting research on labor union operational methods that align with the unique characteristics of public arts organizations.

Live Music in the Time of Corona: On the Resilience and Impact of a Philharmonic Orchestra on the Urban Economy

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many governments enforced epidemic policies of social distancing, restrictions of professional practice, and the prohibition of cultural live performances. Because such policies dried up important sources of income in the cultural and tourism industries, this paper examines how cultural institutions coped with this crisis. Drawing on the case of the Mannheim Philharmonic Orchestra in Germany, we collected original data and employed a regional economic impact analysis to determine both the financial resilience of the Orchestra and its impact on the urban economy. Because the Orchestra could not reduce costs during the COVID-19 pandemic, public subsidies were crucial to fill the income gap of missed live concerts. In turn, the regional impact analysis suggests that the Orchestra maintained its positive effect on the economic demand for goods and services in the urban economy. When balancing the city’s subsidies with the rental (city concert halls) and tax incomes generated by the Orchestra’s local impact, the Orchestra managed to induce surplus revenue for the city’s treasury.

The Web 2.0 social media as a space for the creation of classical music experiences in the time of the pandemic: The case of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra

This paper shows how classical music left its canon-guaranteed spaces of the concert hall and stepped toward a broader community of audience using the virtual sphere of Web 2.0 social media tools, on the example of the work of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra. We analyze how this orchestra uses social media to present and promote its repertoire and work during the period of pandemic measures and restrictions. The analysis indicates that in all its social media activities the orchestra was guided by the preservation of an autonomous aesthetic quality of classical music, as its value must remain present in whatever tools and formats an art institution presents itself. Various tactics of using social media tools were the opportunity to position classical music from the art of performance into a system of mediated and information-distributed culture along with the development of participatory turn as a wider audience engagement in classical music through producing social media user-generated content. The orchestra's use of social media during the time of the pandemic reflects several ways of changing classical music practice: connecting to new audiences in new ways, moving out of the concert hall, redefining the community relevance of a classical music institution, and initiating paths for collaboration between performers and the audiences.

JESSELTON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA (JPO) IN THE NEW NORMAL

The ongoing global Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) struck Malaysia in early March 2020 leading the government to introduce regulations on social distancing and gatherings. This has led to restrictions on all forms of music and arts-related events across the nation including workshops, concerts, and festivals. This paper examines how the Jesselton Philharmonic Orchestra of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah has restructured their musical activity in response to pandemic-related regulations through use of online platforms to keep the community and activities ‘alive’. In doing so, we hope to provide a model by which other music and arts organizations may overcome barriers and continue to reach out to their respective communities.

Martha Sharp Joukowsky, 1936–2022

Martha Sharp Joukowsky, 1936–2022

Evaluation of a rehearsal/recording room project for symphonic orchestra based on ISO23591

The School of Music of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte is one of the fewer Federal Institutions in Brazil that is equipped with a recording studio attending a technical course in recording production. In 2021, the School of Music started a plan for its expansion with the project of a 7-storey building that will house a recording studio connected with several rehearsal rooms. One of the rooms was specifically planned to hold rehearsals and recordings of the UFRN Philharmonic Orchestra and the Big Band Jerimum Jazz. The objective of this research is to show the procedures used to evaluate, during the planning processes, the acoustics of the Philharmonic’s rehearsal room using as reference the new standard ISO 23591. Results showed that it was possible to identify initial acoustical problems and indicate solutions for the best modification of the space, even in the initial stages of the project. The room, with approximately 235 m2 and 6 m in height, was readjusted to a height of 9 m so that the space could comply with the recommendations of the standard. Next challenge will be to properly plan its isolation, since the new school library is above this room.

Orkestra sebagai Peristiwa Mediasi: Jakarta City Philharmonic, Tubuh dan Materialitas

The Covid-19 virus has infiltrated the recesses of human life around the world. The phenomenon that arises from restrictions on movement in offline spaces is the massive effort by humans to adapt to online media. We can see many artists and musicians performing through various digital platforms, including the Jakarta City Philharmonic (JCP) orchestra. This article will describe the changing process of orchestral space-time in online media which has eliminated bodily interactions as an essential element in musical performances. Through contemporary anthropology, we argue that technology allows orchestras to exist as mediating events through their role as mediators; which reassembles the connections and negotiations between the body and the materiality of the orchestra. The virtual ethnographic method was used through online observations and in-depth interviews with artistic directors, assistant musicians, and orchestra musicians. The results showed that the JCP orchestra experienced an embodied experience arising from technological disassembly and reassembly as a connecting tissue. It can be seen from the relation between actants, and their implications for evaluating artistic values and performativity of orchestral performances.

Orkestra sebagai Peristiwa Mediasi: Jakarta City Philharmonic, Tubuh dan Materialitas

The Covid-19 virus has infiltrated the recesses of human life around the world. The phenomenon that arises from restrictions on movement in offline spaces is the massive effort by humans to adapt to online media. We can see many artists and musicians performing through various digital platforms, including the Jakarta City Philharmonic (JCP) orchestra. This article will describe the changing process of orchestral space-time in online media which has eliminated bodily interactions as an essential element in musical performances. Through contemporary anthropology, we argue that technology allows orchestras to exist as mediating events through their role as mediators; which reassembles the connections and negotiations between the body and the materiality of the orchestra. The virtual ethnographic method was used through online observations and in-depth interviews with artistic directors, assistant musicians, and orchestra musicians. The results showed that the JCP orchestra experienced an embodied experience arising from technological disassembly and reassembly as a connecting tissue. It can be seen from the relation between actants, and their implications for evaluating artistic values and performativity of orchestral performances.

Digitalna prezentacija Beogradske filharmonije u periodu obustave koncertnih aktivnosti

The paper focuses on the COVID-19 pandemic impact on performing arts, notably the emergence of new presentation forms devised while concert activities were suspended, referring to the example of philharmonic orchestras. Owing to totalizing digitalization, which has shifted the entire production and reception of the performing and listening experience to the online sphere, the role of the audience also undergoes a shift from a collective to a virtual entity. The text, firstly, maps the emerging practices and explores their impact on changing the very sensory perception of new media content consumed in virtual reality. The focus of the paper is on redefinition of the PR department from communications towards the roll of the curator of the online presentations and the digital content and overall activities of the orchestra. The case study examines the example of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra by analysing its digital presentation and communication strategy between March and June 2020. The goal is to identify the contributions of new practices, whose combination with the traditional ones could result in long-term audience and public relations development and enhancement of musical performance presentation. By continuously producing new contents for different target groups, without a single concert held in this period, the Philharmonic successfully attracted new audience and turned a crisis into an opportunity for interaction with new users, thus generating growth on all platforms. The conclusion provides a predictive analysis of return to normality, after the digital transgression experiences. It is recognized that music institutions will strategically develop their digital concert halls as new entrepreneurial models. As competition in this sphere brings PR departments to the fore owing to the need to work with complex algorithms, the digital ethical dilemma will intensify as a burning issue in the context of demographic data collection.

КУЛЬТУРНІ СТЕРЕОТИПИ В ПОЛЬСЬКИХ АНЕКДОТАХ

The article presents results of textological research based on Polish humor. The jokes feature music-related topics (approx. 400 jokes were analyzed). The general peculiarity of such jokes is richness of hyperbole that is used to display characteristics of musicians and the instruments they play. Constant attention to these characteristics creates some certain cultural stereotypes that are transmitted through short funny texts that are easy to remember and pass on in the society. For instance, viola players are rather popular characters of Polish jokes. However, they are usually presented as individuals whose performance cannot be referred to as professional: they play out of tune, if they play in an orchestra, they lag behind the rhythm, they can not tune their instrument properly and what they play is not music, but some noise. There are jokes that depict characteristics of specific groups of musicians as narrow-minded and not well-educated people (for instance, village musicians who usually play at wedding parties, think they could play in a philharmonic orchestra). However, not all the jokes include negative stereotypes: some characters evoke sympathy and even admiration: one of the jokes portrays a jazz musician who does not earn money by performing; on the contrary, they invest in music. Such a musician is devoted to their art and is ready to make financial sacrifice to promote their music. Our analysis has proved that Polish music jokes are based on rich musical background and require readers/listeners to have considerable amount of such knowledge. Moreover, in the process of understanding and interpretation of these texts a recipient has to undergo series of cognitive procedures (to understand the desirable implication, to quickly single out the characteristic feature of an object that usually takes marginal position in a concept structure, etc.).

Women in a Men’s Collective in the 1970s and 1980s

For many years, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra was an exclusively male organization despite the increasing number of women in Czechoslovakia joining the workforce. This paper, which is based on oral history interviews with members of the orchestra, the paper will attempt to identify the reasons why almost no women were employed there during the period of Czechoslovak Socialism and under what kind of conditions the only two female members worked. Through interpretation and depth analysis of the oral history interview with one of the two female musicians employed by the Philharmonic before 1989, the paper will primarily map the issue of how women reconciled work and family life, which was considered one of the main obstacles for female musicians, while also taking into consideration the Philharmonic’s prestige and its frequent tours abroad. The acquired experience of a female musician is interpreted within the context of male narratives and is embedded in the study’s theoretical framework. This framework is defined by the available research on women’s emancipation and transformations of the gender order of the Czechoslovak socialist society, as well as research comparing the career patterns of musicians (both female and male) and the inclusion of women in the world’s leading symphony orchestras.

Next Stop, Ruzyně International Airport: The Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and its Tours Abroad in the 1970s and 1980s

The article focuses on the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra's tours abroad in the 1970s and 1980s and analyses them as an example of the interconnection between transport and political history. The study contributes to the issue of the state's and Communist party's ideological and cultural interests to send cultural “ambassadors” abroad (such people served as representatives of the socialist system in the world). The article reflects the issue not only from the regime's perspective; the author also focuses on the main aspects of the journeys perceived from the point of view of the individual travellers (modes of transport, tour experiences or purchase of goods abroad). The text relies mainly on oral history interviews with musicians and a wide range of archival sources.

Review: Finding History Where You Least Expect It: Site-Based Strategies for Teaching About the Past, edited by Jill M. Gladwell and Kathryn H. Leacock

Review: <i>Finding History Where You Least Expect It: Site-Based Strategies for Teaching About the Past</i>, edited by Jill M. Gladwell and Kathryn H. Leacock

Flourishing Through Music Creation: A Qualitative Investigation of the Lullaby Project Among Refugee and Incarcerated Communities.

The Lullaby Project is an innovative model developed to support vulnerable groups through community-based music creation. It pairs expectant and new mothers with professional musicians, to create a lullaby for their children. This paper presents an investigation of the project’s pilot implementation in the United Kingdom, bringing together musicians from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, refugee mothers and inmate fathers from a central London prison. The research aimed to understand how the Lullaby Project was experienced, focusing on the potential areas of perceived change linked with the concept of mental health as flourishing. Participants (N=12) took part in semi-structured interviews and kept daily notes to aid recollection of the sessions in the interviews. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was adopted as the research approach. Participants considered the project to carry significance for them in three key areas: (1) wellbeing, through a strong sense of accomplishment, meaning and connectedness, and the experience of positive emotions; (2) proactivity, promoting initiative, both musical and relational; and (3) reflectiveness, stimulating perspective-taking and positive coping mechanisms. The Lullaby Project offers an effective model towards promotion of flourishing among vulnerable groups, and the results make a strong case for its implementation.

A Space for Making: Collaborative composition as social participation

Music composition is traditionally regarded as an act of individual creation and expression, but can be approached, through the aid of digital platforms, as an activity that encourages learning through social participation. This article describes the development of a tablet-based app, Paynter, intended as a digital graphic interface for group collaborative composition and its experimental use in a primary school in Salford, UK, alongside musicians from the BBC Philharmonic orchestra. The app created a framework for a negotiated language of symbols used by two groups of students at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 to tell stories through sound and music. Its functionality enabled compositional thinking to emerge collectively from groups with relatively little exposure to the idea of composing and little knowledge of traditional notational or digital sequencing technologies. The research is grounded in a theoretical context of constructivist approaches to education.

Dream

When the Covid-19 pandemic closed London, England's theaters, digital studio Marshmallow Laser Feast (MLF) was already working on Dream, a mixed-reality live performance intended to bring together live and online audiences. Co-developed with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Manchester International Festival, and the Philharmonia Orchestra, Dream's focus on the integration of live performance and immersive technologies has taken on a new significance since the closure of so many performance venues around the world. It was funded by the UK government's Audience of the Future program. Rather than re-create A Midsummer's Night Dream, the team mined the original text for any mention of plants, flowers, trees, or creatures. These references were then used to create a lush, immersive forest world within Epic's Unreal game engine. As with many of MLF's other works, this play revalues the natural world by revealing unseen and unknown presences in the forest to (human) audiences.