Local and Industry News

Boca Raton residents Timolin and Casey Cole, daughters of Nat King Cole, have launched the nonprofit Nat King Cole Generation Hope to promote music in the schools.

The foundation helps to replace instruments and provide music instruction in the tri-county area schools.

Theater attendance on Broadway is down over nine percent as compared to last year. Part of the decline is attributed to a record number of limited run shows that closed at the beginning of the summer. Due to increased ticket prices, revenue for the period was only down just under three percent as compared to last year.

The Dr. P. Phillips Orlando Performing Arts Center is scheduled to open in late 2013--without its concert hall. Due to the economy, the center will now be built in stages, with the 2,800-seat Broadway-style theater and the smaller hall to be built first. The 1,700-seat hall for symphony, opera, and ballet will be built later as funding permits.

Recording

The music industry wants Apple and Amazon to pay for online features. Features the industry and performing rights organizations seek compensation for include 30-second samples of tracks, use of music in TV show video downloads, and streaming of radio.

Symphony

The Charlotte Symphony has received two $1 million donations. The donations from Hugh and Jane McColl and the C.D. Spangler Foundation put the orchestra over the halfway point in their 5-year $5.6 million bridge funding campaign.

The New York Philharmonic has received $10 million from Henry R. Kravis to endow a new composer-in-residence position, to be held initially by Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg. The gift will also fund a biannual $250,000 new music prize.

The Sarasota Orchestra has announced cuts to its $7 million annual budget. The Sarasota Music Festival will be eliminated, artistic director Leif Bjaland will take a 10 percent pay cut, staff will take 2.5 percent to 10 percent pay cuts on top of last season's pay freeze, and musicians are being asked for an 8 percent cut of their $30,000 salary, as well as elimination of their pension benefits. Musicians are also being asked for elimination of guarantees for their part-time musicians and elimination of their grievance committee.

The Orlando Philharmonic has ended the season with a balanced $3.1 million budget. Both the music director and the executive director took pay cuts this past season, and changes in programming and rehearsal schedules resulted in pay cuts of about $3,000 per musician.

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