WNYC Soundcheck

SMACKDOWN: CONCERT SIMULCASTS August 24, 2010 – WNYC’s Soundcheck with John Schaefer. As opera houses and orchestras simulcast their performances into movie theatres across the country, critics charge that it’s turning classical music into a cheap reality show. Fans say it’s as addictive as popcorn. It’s our Soundcheck Smackdown debate.

Tim Page, professor of music and journalism at the University of Southern California and former Pulitzer Prize-winning music critic at the Washington Post and Drew McManus, an orchestra consultant who writes the blog Adaptistration, debate whether these screenings are a way to make opera accessible to more people…or just cheap seats.

WNYC Soundcheck

DISCUSSING THE STATE OF THE ORCHESTRA FINANCES January 15, 2009 – WNYC’s Soundcheck with John Schaefer. The global financial crisis is beginning to take its toll on the music sector, from the orchestra field, which has seen similar belt-tightening, right down to individual musicians, who are taking up second jobs. We speak with Drew McManus, orchestra consultant and blogger at Adaptistration, and Los Angeles Times contributor Blair Tindall, author of “Mozart in the Jungle.”

WNYC Soundcheck

NEW JERSEY SYMPHONY TO SELL OFF PRIZED INSTRUMENTS March 12th, 2007 – WNYC’s Soundcheck with John Schaefer. Drew McManus, orchestra consultant and blogger at Artsjournal.com looks at why the New Jersey Symphony is selling its 30 “Golden Age” string instruments.

WNYC Soundcheck

NO MUSIC LEFT BEHIND November 30th, 2006 – WNYC’s Soundcheck with John Schaefer. Juilliard and Carnegie Hall have launched a new project designed to send musicians into New York’s public schools. Orchestra consultant and blogger Drew McManus and Dr. Thomas Wolf, author of the Magic Of Music final report from the Knight Foundation, offer their views.

WNYC Soundcheck

NO MUSIC LEFT BEHIND November 30th, 2006 – WNYC’s Soundcheck with John Schaefer

Juilliard and Carnegie Hall have launched a new project designed to send musicians into New York’s public schools. Orchestra consultant and blogger Drew McManus and Dr. Thomas Wolf, author of the Magic Of Music final report from the Knight Foundation, offer their views.

WNYC Soundcheck

TO APPLAUD OR NOT TO APPLAUD? December 9th, 2005 – WNYC’s Soundcheck with John Schaefer. Arts bloggers Drew McManus and Doug Ramsey discuss the conventions of applauding in classical music and jazz.

WNYC Soundcheck

Marin Alsop goes to Baltimore
The board of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra voted last week to appoint American conductor Marin Alsop to its top artistic post. The decision comes in spite of opposition from the orchestra’s musicians. We get the scoop from Drew McManus, a Baltimore-based author of Adaptistration a blog about arts administration on Artsjournal.com.

WNYC Soundcheck

May is “Take a Friend to Orchestra Month,” a new initiative started by Drew McManus, author of the blog “Adaptistration” at Artsjournal.com, in order to bring newcomers to the concert hall. In the spirit of the month, Drew has taken host John Schaefer’s brother Jerry to a concert by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Jerry has previously never been to an orchestral concert, busy as he is running a lumber yard in Queens.

WNYC SoundCheck

THE MUSICAL STEROID? October, 26th, 2004 – WNYC’s Soundcheck with John Schaefer. The arguments against performance enhancing drugs in athletics are pretty clear-cut: they’re illegal, unsafe and unethical. But how about classical music? As it happens, the use of an anxiety-reducing drug called Inderal is helping an increasing number of musicians endure stressful auditions and solo performances. The drug is legal, non-habit-forming, and has no serious side effects, and yet, many musicians argue that using it amounts to cheating. We examine the issue today with musician, arts consultant and blogger Drew McManus, and we also take your calls.