musicians

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

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May 13, 2017

@AirCanada receives #FIMAirlineOfChoice Award – Press Release

On 11 May 2017, the International Federation of Musicians (FIM), which represents professional musicians and their trade unions in more than 60 countries, awarded the newly created FIM Airline of Choice award to Air Canada. The ceremony took place during the opening evening of the 4th FIM International Orchestra Conference hosted by the Quebec Musicians Guild (local 406 of the AFM).

FIM President John Smith, Senior Vice Presdient Air Canada Craig Landry, FIM Vice-President Deborah Cheyne

FIM and its member unions have been campaigning for several years with the aim of improving airlines’ policies so that musicians traveling with their instrument are treated fairly and are fully informed about regulations governing the transportation of musical instruments. The international jury set-up by FIM established that the Canadian company was clearly ahead of its competitors in this respect.

According to Benoît Machuel, FIM General Secretary, “Air Canada goes clearly beyond the requirements of the FAA regulation in the US – which today is the benchmark – by offering a 50% discount on a second seat for an instrument when necessary, as well as giving priority boarding to musicians and their instruments. Air Canada’s policy towards musicians is in our view exemplary.”

The FIM President, John Smith, declared: “It is satisfying to see that the air transport sector is gradually adapting itself to musicians’ needs. Unfortunately, too many companies still have unthought out policies that are often applied in an erratic and unpredictable manner. This is incompatible with a profession that, by its very nature, involves frequent travelling.”

“The Canadian Federation of Musicians has been working with our airlines for some time”, said AFM Vice President from Canada Alan Willaert. ‘We are very pleased that Air Canada listened, and have taken steps to greatly enhance the travel experience for musicians and their very valuable tools of trade.”

“For over 35 years Air Canada has been a long-time supporter of orchestral music in Canada. As official airline of eight major symphony orchestras in Canada from coast to coast, we have proudly flown them and their talented musicians around the world from China to Europe and the U.S. on many tours and to world famous concert halls including Carnegie Hall,” said Craig Landry, Senior Vice President, Revenue Optimization at Air Canada. “Our dedication to orchestras and music extends much further than being Official airline of these outstanding organizations. In 2015 we implemented industry leading enhancements designed to support the specific needs of all musicians travelling with carry-on instruments, including pre-boarding benefits and a generous discount when purchasing an additional seat for their instrument.”

The FIM Airline of Choice award 2017 was received on behalf of Air Canada by Senior Vice President Mr Craig Landry, in the presence of 200 international FIM delegates.

Information

Benoît Machuel, FIM General Secretary

Mobile: +33 660 625 494

office@fim-musicians.org

https://www.fim-musicians.org/

 

October 11, 2015

Help sacked MPO players to fight their case at court!

A Malaysian court has tweaked the law to deny basic rights to seven foreign players who were summarily dismissed by the Malaysian Philharmonic, as reported earlier. The orchestra remains under an international musicians boycott.

This appeal comes from one of the disenfranchised seven. Please support this appeal if you can and forward this message.

“I am one of the seven musicians fired three years ago by the Malaysian Philharmonic. After an interminably long wait, the judge has finally delivered her verdict: despite our many years of dedicated work with the orchestra, including long service bonuses and contractual retirement clauses, and despite our unblemished employment records, we were all in fact fixed-term, temporary employees, and had no right to expect continued employment. She decided that the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra had every right to terminate our employment at the end of our current contracts, without giving any notice or reason.

From all the legal advice we have since received, and the case readings we have done, this decision goes completely against the Malaysian Industrial Relations Act, and against just about every precedent that has been set by previous cases. If allowed to stand unchallenged, it will affect every current and future employee of the Malaysian Philharmonic, and seems to give Malaysian employers the right to terminate any employee at will as long as they have implied their “intention” to use a fixed-term contract. Up until this case, under Malaysian law, the burden of proof was always on the employer to establish that the recourse to the fixed-term engagement of the workers was genuinely related to their establishment or undertaking. That appears to be the case no longer.

We believe that an injustice has been done, and are determined to exhaust all of our options to make it right. The legal fees involved are substantial, however, and all of us have had our future earning potential severely affected by our dismissals. To that end, we have established a fundraising campaign to help our supporters contribute, and would like to invite your readers to participate.

Donations can be made anonymously, and we pledge to be completely transparent with the use of those funds, and with our progress. Everything we receive will go to our legal fund, and at the end of the case, if we win a monetary award, we will either return your donation to you in full (if you wish), or make a lump sum donation of the full amount collected to a worthy youth orchestra.”

To support, please visit: www.gofundme.com/MPO7LegalFund

August 28, 2013

How ‘off’ is time off? Musicians creativity beyond the collective

The daily routine of an orchestra musician tends to be both crammed and regimented – yet even so, many are still preoccupied with music after work. You may ask whether this fascination is purely enthusiasm, or whether it reflects a creative deficit in the workaday experience – a deficit that many musicians try to balance by doing ‘their own thing’ during their time off.

Off time engagement: orchestra musician conducts brass band

Off time engagement: orchestra musician conducts brass band

Such activities can be directly music-related, e.g. playing in a chamber orchestra. But the links may also be more lateral, as other examples illustrate, such as music education and outreach, or even political activities to combat cuts to cultural budgets. Sometimes these extra efforts are appreciated by colleagues, sometimes they are regarded more as a private diversion. Professional input is also crucial for many amateur ensembles (of which there are thousands in many countries). Whether a school orchestra or a small local symphonic ensemble it is rarely the remuneration (if any) that motivates professional musicians, but the pleasure of making music, motivating others and doing something beyond the confines of a professional orchestra. Music education and outreach are perhaps among the most important ‘off time’ engagements that musicians can take on.

Of course there are political and civil aspects of ‘off time’ musical engagement: this can take many forms – from promoting a particular instrument (as done by the Confédération Internationale des Accordionists, which organized a 24-hour internet broadcast of accordion pieces) to fundraising for charitable causes to political protest.

What is the main task for the orchestra management in this context? How is it possible to create an atmosphere in which musicians can develop their artistic skills for themselves as well as for the whole orchestra organization? Peaceful cooperation and communication between management and musicians creates an atmoshpere of understanding and trust. This is the most healthy environment for future success. The orchestra should support musicians off time activities, because they will benefit the organization, too.

February 25, 2010

Orchestra management is a great issue!

Dear colleagues worldwide: We all love to work in the orchestra field. It’s a thrilling expierience to sit in the concert hall or an opera house, to hear an orchestra, ensemble and soloists performing great materpieces of music under the baton of a congenius maestro. And it’s a great feeling too, when you hear the applauding and cheering audience. When you know that the musicians and the management have done a good job.
But doing a good job means to run your business on a highly developed professional level. And there are so many issues and challenges we face worldwide. The most important are 1. developing our audiences, 2. showing people that we are relevant to them and their lifes and 3. balancing our budgets.
Let’s share expieriences,views and challenges on these and other interesting issues!