human resources development

July 8, 2017

41st Nordic #Orchestra Conference, Oulu, Finland

The 41st Nordic Orchestra Conference will be held in Oulu, Finland on September 20-22, 2017. All orchestra managers and other representatives of Nordic orchestras are warmly welcome to take part. We are very happy to invite you to join us in Oulu in the centenary of Finland´s independence. In the conference we will be discussing for “Best practices in community involvement”, “How to survive the inevitable change in the orchestra field”, “Opportunities and challenges in private funding” and “Challenges of digitalization”. Our key note speakers are Ragnar Lund (SWE), Hannes de Vries (NL), Søren Friis Møller (DK) and Katri Saarikivi (FIN).

Welcome to Oulu!



The conference sessions will be held at Oulu Music Centre and Oulu City Theatre. In addition to the in-depth talks, we can hear a concert by the Oulu Symphony Orchestra conducted by Johannes Gustavsson and enjoy a delightful social life with our wonderful orchestral “family”.
Welcome to the conference!

To be sure of getting a room at our conference hotel, the Radisson Blu Hotel Oulu, please send your registration before August 25th. Tel. 020 1234 730, sales.ouluradissonblu.com.
Code SINFONIA. A single room 105 €, a double room 125 €.

The fee for the full conference is 520 €. If you want to join the tour from the river delta to country side, smoke sauna and traditional Finnish dinner on Friday, you will pay additional fee
75 €. Please send your registration before August 30th.

Please pay the fee to our IBAN Account:
Suomen Sinfoniaorkesterit ry
FI83 5724 1120 0177 95
OKOYFIHH
Please mention the participant´s name.

More information:

The Association of Finnish Symphony Orchestras:
Helena Värri, Executive Director +358 50 556 9781, helena.varrisinfoniaorkesterit.fi
Elina Tuomola, Secretary +358 40 594 3079, elina.tuomolasinfoniaorkesterit.fi

Oulu Symphony Orchestra:
Leena Pälli, General Manager +358 44 703 7210, leena.palliouka.fi
Katariina Kummala, Marketing +358 44 703 7220, katariina.kummalaouka.fi
Virpi Länkelä, Sales +358 44 703 7221, virpi.lankelaouka.fi

The Association of Finnish Symphony Orchestras reserves all rights to changes in the conference programme.

YOU WILL FIND THE REGISTRATION FORM BELOW THE PROGRAMME INFORMATION.

Wednesday 20th of September
Tulindberg Hall, Oulu Music Centre, Leevi Madetojankatu 1-3, Oulu

09:30 – 10:30 Registrations in Oulu Music Centre
10:00 Bus from Radisson Blu Hotel to the Tulindberg Hall

10:30 – 10:45 Welcome, Mayor of the City of Oulu Päivi Laajala

11:00 – 11:45 Country reports / panel hosted by Gordon Alsing, (DK)
Denmark: Asbjørn Keiding
Finland: Helena Värri
Iceland: Arna Kristín Einarsdóttir
Norway: Rolf Lennart Stensø
Sweden: Mikael Brännvall

11:45 – 12:00 Coffee

12:00 – 13:00 100 years of Music in Finland
Minna Lindgren, Music Writer and Journalist

13:00 – 14:00 Lunch

14:00 – 15:00 Opportunities and challenges in private funding
Key Note Speaker Ragnar Lund, Researcher and Lecturer, KHT Royal Institute of Technology

15:00 – 16:15 Best practices in community involvement in the nordic countries
Annika Kukkonen (FIN), Uffe Savery (DK), Marco Feklistoff (SWE), Arna Kristín Einarsdóttir (IS), tba (NO)

16:30 Bus to the hotel

//

19:00 Dinner at the City Hall, Kirkkokatu 2a, Oulu

Thursday 21st of September “Times are changing.”
Tulindberg Hall, Oulu Music Centre, Leevi Madetojankatu 1-3, Oulu

9:30 Bus from the hotel to the Tulindberg Hall

10:00 – 11:00 From democratization of culture to cultural democracy. Organizational and managerial changes for symphony orchestras.
Søren Friis Møller, External lecturer, PHD, B.A, Copenhagen Business School

11:00 – 11:15 Coffee

11:15– 11:45: The renewal process of the state subsidies in Finland
Helena Mustikainen, Project Director of Sitra Fund

11:45 – 12:30 The change in the orchestra field in the Netherlands and how they survived it.
Key Note Speaker: Hannes de Vries, Co-owner at GE#sharp artists events, Member of the board of the International Artist Managers´ Association

12:30-13:30 Lunch

13:30 – 13:50 Auditions from the musician’s perspective.
Lucy Abrams, Clarinetist, Oulu Symphony Orchestra

13:50 – 14:15 Coffee

14:15 – 15:00: HR Policies on senior musicians.
Hanna Fontana, HR manager of Finnish National Opera and Ballet

15:00 – 15:15 Summary

15:30 Bus to the hotel

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18:30 Bus from the hotel to the Madetoja Hall

19:00 Oulu Symphony Orchestra concert at the Madetoja Hall

Johannes Gustavsson, conductor
Jamie Barton, mezzosoprano

Juha Pisto: Symphony no 1 (first performance)
Lili Boulanger: D’un soir triste
Gustav Mahler: Rückert Lieder

Intermission hosted by the International Artist Managers´ Association (IAMA) Chairman Aino Turtiainen-Visala, Introduction of “The Heirs of Sibelius” project by Kalevi Aho.

Bus to the hotel leaves after the concert. Dinner by your own cost.

Friday 22nd of September
Oulu City Theatre, Vinttikamari, Kaarlenväylä 2, Oulu

9:00 – 10:00: Music as a gateway to empathy in the digital realm
Key Note Speaker Katri Saarikivi, Cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Helsinki

10:00 – 10:45 Can orchestra field benefit from the game industry and vice versa?
Tony Manninen, CEO of Ludocraft, designing games and play

10:45 – 11:00 Coffee

11:00 – 12:00: The future leadership in the orchestra field
Vesa Puhakka, Professor of Management at the University of Oulu´s Business School.

12:00 – 13:00 Lunch

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14:00 Gathering at the hotel

14:15 Oulu Tour from the river delta to country side.
Additional fee 75 €. Please wear sporty casual, waterproof, windproof, everything proof. Bring your swim suit. Towels provided by the host.

Experience:
– M/S Angelina river boat – smoke sauna – traditional Finnish dinner

22:30 – Bus back to the city

YOU WILL FIND THE REGISTRATION FORM HERE:

Signup form

July 2, 2017

Safety tips for professional #musicians to survive in an #orchestra

An orchestra is a very special workplace: “A colleague is a musician who plays the same instrument, but not as well as you do”. If you work together with some 80, 90 or 100 highly talented idividuals but have to become an artistic unit on stage whilst performing a peace of music, it is very important to understand your own role and behaviour as well as those of the colleagues. “Who has got colleagues in an orchestra doesn’t need any other enemies”, another musicians joke (?) says.

For example: the Montreal Symphony Orchestra

String players from Kentucky (US) have tried to write down 39 rules and safety tips for professional musicians how to behave/survive in an orchestra. Most of them are simply true and extremly helpful. Find more about here: http://www.violinexcerpts.com/38-orchestra-dos-and-donts/

At least, it’s a question of self-conception, professionalism and corporate behaviour and spirit to work together in an orchestra.

 

May 10, 2017

4th International Orchestra Conference in Montreal is on the way

From May 11 to 14 the international orchestra community is gathering in Montreal. 300 delegates from more than 40 countries will discuss cutting edge topics of the industry.

International Orchestra Conference

Created in 2008 by FIM (International Federation of Musicians), the International Orchestra Conference takes place every three years. The previous editions took place in Berlin (2008), Amsterdam (2011) and Oslo (2014). The aim of this dedicated conference is to give symphony orchestra or opera musicians down to the smallest ensemble orchestras the opportunity to share their experiences, concerns and initiatives on issues such as improving working conditions, consolidating employment, risk prevention where health and safety are concerned, developing audiences or public or private financial perpetuation.

A place of exchange for musicians and managers

Since its first edition in 2008, the International Orchestra Conference has invited administrators to take part in panels alongside musicians’ representatives. This open approach enables us to address issues of common interest together, without excluding controversy.

Financing methods, the impact of digital on the way orchestras operate and their relationship with the public, taking risks into account where occupational health is concerned, the involvement of musicians in elaborating artistic projects – these are but a few examples of the numerous issues which musicians and managers address. We need to take up issues and submit them for debate.

Orchestras: an essential cultural mission

In February 2014, musicians’ representatives meeting at the 3rd International Orchestra Conference stated: “Support for symphony and opera music, which are a precious and fragile part of our cultural heritage, is a prime responsibility of national, regional and local governments“. In what has become known as the Oslo Call, they also called on political decision makers “to honour this responsibility, by providing orchestras with the means that are necessary to pursue their missions and thus contribute to, and enhance artistic, social and economic life“.

This public service mission for orchestras reaffirmed here fulfils our societies’ need for culture, providing them with both artistic excellence and social bonding.

Find programme here.

January 6, 2017

Wallace Foundation offers #arts #management tools for free

The US based Wallace Foundation offers several arts management tools, which give access to a series of studies describing strategies of arts organizations that sought to build their audiences.

wallace_foundation

 

Find more information in the Knowledge Center. This is really useful stuff.

 

May 5, 2016

@ClassicalNEXT is ready to start May, 25

Classical:NEXT is a professional forum for classical and art music, the next edition of which will take place in Rotterdam from 25 – 28 May 2016.

Classical:NEXT

Classical:NEXT

It is planned as an annual event that aims to unite the international art music community. The event’s structure consists of three sections – Showcase, Conference and Expo: Showcases will present artists and productions in a series of short concerts or video screenings. The event is on its way to become one of the most exciting international platforms and marketplaces for the future of  classical music.

Conferences will offer presentations, seminars, thinktanks, mentoring, matchmaking and other formats. The Expo is an exhibition place for companies and institutions and offers a meeting point for hundreds of delegates. Classical:NEXT is initiated by CLASS and produced by WOMEX.

Find more information here!

December 16, 2014

The European Orchestra Laboratory (EO-LAB)

It is the strong belief of 3 European symphony orchestras, that the societal relevance and the contribution to quality of life of (symphonic) classical music can be brought back and enlarged by (re)involvement and (re)engagement of lost and new audiences. To reach this goal, rethinking and redesigning (part of) an orchestra’s activities is needed. In order to do so, 3 European orchestras will cooperate in a ‘European Orchestra Laboratory’.

New EU Orchestra Project

New EU Orchestra Project

Within a two year period 2014-2016, each orchestra will create experimental events to attract specified non-traditional audiences by a specific approach. Knowledge, experiences and results will be shared and exchanged. In this way, the EO-Lab significantly accelerates the learning and innovative capacity of each participating orchestra and the European symphonic sector as a whole. Partners in the EO-LAB are: The Netherlands Symphony Orchestra (based in Enschede), Odense Symfoniorkester and Tonkünstler Orchester Niederösterreich. Associate partner: BBC Philharmonic. This project is supported by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.
More info: info@hetsymfonieorkest.nl (website under construction).