We are about 10 days out from a Boise Philharmonic family concert, one that the orchestra has donated its time to perform. It's being advertised via social media that we've donated our time, so that the revenue from this concert can go towards stabilizing our Family Concert series. Mostly I think this is a good thing, but I must admit being somewhat annoyed at the fact that four years ago I fought long and hard for change, and now that change is actually occurring, I am likely to be left out of playing any of the new and additional services. For example, many of the new fun things the orchestra does are for chamber orchestra. The problem comes when it's time to hire violas. The front stand are both contracted players, and are obligated to play everything. Then, our third chair violist is a 'named chair', which I'm guessing means she gets first crack at extra services. Generally, there's not more than 3 or 4 violas hired for something qualifying as chamber music. So, where does that leave me, a random section player? Out in the cold!
If nothing else, this solidifies my position that in order to have a career as a musician nowadays, you have to create your own performing opportunities. This is why I'm starting up a new chamber music series, with our first concerts being this Spring, followed with a little summer festival, and a full blown series next year. It will be a pain to manage the whole thing, but I think it will be worth it, musically speaking, in the long run.
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