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Disclaimer: none of the ideas expressed in this blog post are supported or endorsed in any manner by any organization or person other than myself.

What separates a great orchestra from a good orchestra? 

1) Unique Character, 2) Rich History, 3) Commitment to the Community… all of which are the traits of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

1) Unique Character

The Fabulous "PHILADELPHIA SOUND"

• Japan's Kajimoto Special Report: Part-1, Part-2. Part-3

• In classical music, there are only two phrases with "Sound"… the other being the "Karajan Sound".

• Shimmering warmth, intensity, and depth of the famously lush string sound : example in this recording. 

PERFORMING VENUES

• Academy of Music (1900 - 2000), returns annually now

• Verizon Hall (inside Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts) (2001 -)

UNIQUE PROGRAMING

Each Season has a focus that is deep, serious and sincere - allowing all of us to experience history at a different level through music and humanity. Two examples:

1. Music Composed at Terezín (1994-1995 season) ex. Pavel Haas "Study for String (video, a different orchestra)" from Terezín 33k Jews died here; 88k sent to killing sites - Nazi propaganda of Jews enjoying cultural life in the camp.
   Ref: NHK『強制収容所のマエストロたち』

2. WomenNOW (2019-2020 season) puts female artists center stage: ex. Florence Price, reviving a largely forgotten Black woman composer. BTW, In 1930, harpist Edna Phillips became the first woman to be hired by a major American orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra. Not all orchestras were this fast. The Vienna Philharmonic first accepted women in 1997.

MUSIC DIRECTORS & ARTISTIC LEADERSHIP

1912 Leopold Stokowski (video) (UK): A relentless innovator
- Free Bowing
- Left-Right violins (1st-Left / 2nd-Right)
- Vibrato on Brass Instruments
- Orchestration (recording) & Freedom of Tempo (recording)
1936 Eugene Ormandy (video) (Hungary) - moderate, patient, painstaking, a consummate craftsman; 44 years - unprecedented.
1980 Riccardo Muti (video) (Italy) - charismatic, brilliant, dramatic.
1993 Wolfgang Sawallisch (video) (Germany) - musicians' musician, orchestra members unanimously voted, invited him on the third try.
- Japan tour (1993)
- New generation (regarding him the most loved and admired director)
2003 Christopher Eschenbach (video) (Poland) - champion of young artists (most famous protégés are the soprano Renée Fleming and the pianist Lang Lang.
    … 2008 interim chief conductor Charles Dutoit (video) (Switzerland) - orchestral colour and lyricism, especially French & Russian. Saratoga SPAC w/ the orchestra.
2012-present Yannick Nézet-Séguin (video) (Canada) - a great choir conductor too, was a student of Joseph Flummerfelt. programming orchestral-choir masterpieces in the city. 
- 2016: designed the same role at the MET (video), announced in Tokyo.

AWARD-NOMINATED DOCUMENTARY FILM

"Music from the Inside Out (video)" (2004)

INNOVATION LEADER… FIRST ORCHESTRA TO:

• Make electrical recordings (in 1925)

• Perform its own commercially sponsored radio broadcast (in 1929, on NBC)

• Perform on the soundtrack of a feature film (Paramount’s The Big Broadcast of 1937)

• Appear on a national television broadcast (in 1948, on CBS)

• Give a live cybercast of a concert on the Internet (in 1997)

2) RICH HISTORY

Further the place of the arts in an open and democratic society.

Founded in 1900… now 121-year old. Before 1900, an amature then after 1900 from a local to a world-class orchestra. How did this happen?

Carnegie Hall Connection: Archive director Gino Francesconi revealing the long history and close association the orchestra has with the Carnegie Hall in this video.

Rachmaninov and the Philaphian Orchestra: A Music Love Affair that Goes Back in Time (1920s and 1930s) 
- "The finest orchestra I have ever heard at any time or any place in my whole life." - Rachmaninov
- Recorded his piano concertos with the orchestra (as the pianist).
- Recorded his third symphony, tone poem "Isle of but superficial Dead", and "Vocalise" (as the conductor).
- Dedicated his last tone poem "Symphonic Dances (video)" to the orchestra.

1973: First western orchestra to visit People Republic of China
- Ormandy ("Fate Symphony") vs. Madame Mao ("Pastoral Symphony")
- Madame Mao, in charge of cultural activities in China, after the orchestra had arrived in China, "Change the program. There is no such thing as fate. I don't like it. I like the Pastoral better." 
- Ormandy, "I don't like that symphony. I hate that symphony. I won't play it. have the scores for the Sixth."
- Enter a talented young American diplomat, Nicholas Platt start making things up. "Maestro, the current regime in China came to power through a peasant revolution. And the Pastoral is all about peasantry. A big storm comes up in the fourth movement. They think that's the revolution! And then there's a very peaceful, triumphant, quiet ending, which they regard as the triumph of the Communist party." 
- Ormandy: "Well, when in Rome, we'll do as the Romans wish. But you have to get me the scores by tomorrow."
- With almost no rehearsal and no score, the players struggled to follow the handwritten scores, which had notes in German. The bowing marks for violin were different from what they were accustomed to, but the musicians knew the piece so well, they simply made mental corrections as they went along.
～　”Crisis averted.”　～
Want to know the reason Madame Mao wanted the Pastoral?0
She watched and loved Disney's "Fantasia" (played by the Philadelphia Orchestra)
And there was a fate after all. Tan Dun said he decided to be a composer after hearing that performance on radio when he was in middle-school.

3) Commitment to the Community

Who are your patrons? 
- Key difference between a typical European orchestra and an American orchestra
- Comment from maestro Sawallisch
Continues to discover new and inventive ways to nurture its relationship with loyal patrons.

Board Directors, Salary, and all these Community Services
- Board Director - I get to vote too?
- In effect, citizens indirectly decide the salaries. Why?
- Community Service: no pay? Pride and Obligation - a part of the salary.

Our City, Your Orchestra (so many locations!)
- Oct 16, 1999: the incident with Ivo Pogorelich … then what I witnessed afterward.
- 1994… now known as the "Legendary Winter-Storm concert"
- Two of my favorite locations to showcase inclusive spirits:
a) U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services : Taiwanese (viola), Chinese (violin), Japanese-American (cello) orchestra members
The Cavatina by Antonín Dvořák (video)… the violinist arranged and transposed the viola part.
b) Taller Puertorriqueño (The Cultural Heart of Latino Philadelphia)：South-America born Japanese American (Bassoon), Mexican (Clarinet), Mexican (French Horn), American (Flute & Piccolo), American (Percussion) orchestra members.
All-Spanish-language program (video): Márquez was arranged by the bassoonist.

Educational initiatives
- Sound All Around: postcard of Mt. Fuji to during a tour in Japan
- Philadelphia Youth Orchestra (PYO) (1939 - present)
-- The Philadelphia Orchestra players mentoring PYO's high school students.
-- Example of a concert in this video (West Side Story orchestral version).
-- Side-by-Side tradition: each student sharing a stand with the Philadelphia Orchestra player, but the relation goes further… 
- Example of close relationship: Ein Heldenleben (A Hero's Life) violin solo in this video. The student was trained by the legendary Norman Carol (video) who let the student borrow his scores with notes of bowing. "Violin is a bow, not string, instrument!"
- Magnificent Seven who were accepted to the National Youth Orchestra of the USA (NYO-USA) … among 100 high school students, seven are selected from the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra.
- NYO-USA performance starts at Carnegie Hall in this video then continue its world tour.

Innovative Donation Programs
- Player's chair (click the Bassoon player link above)
- Rock solid and enthusiastic grassroots supporting organizations (video), such as the Volunteer Committees (with 6 districts chapters).
- Matching gifts, Gifts of stocks, etc.
- Touring with the orchestra around the world. Everyone is an ambassador, at home and abroad (Ref: 1958's European tour map)
- Tour in Japan, and guests at the US Embassy in Toranomon (photo).

Friendly Services
- Free ticket change
- Program Notes : historic, music, literature, art events.
-- Premiered performance in Philadelphia, recent performance, recording
-- Personal relationship between the composer and the city of Philadelphia
- Community Ticket

Above heritages had enabled the orchestra and the city to come out together from darkest days starting from 2008 (Lehman Brothers economic crisis) until 2011

• 2011: Bankruptcy reorganization for 18 months, to get ready for Yannick (2012)

• Board members voting: emotional but has proven to be the right decision

• Never stopped playing concerts even during the most difficult time coming out from the bankruptcy.

• 2011 season opening at UPenn's Irvine Auditorium.

• Result: Financially stronger than ever after the reboot.