New Training Orchestra - With fellowship starting Fall 2015 in NYC

<p>@PiccoloMom1995‌, thank you for the Boston-insider info on Longy. Out of curiosity, was the decision to close the precollege unpopular /within/ Longy or among the wider community (or both)? And what do you think of its prospects and outlook since the Bard merger?</p>

<p>It will be interesting to see how this plays out, for example, do they have the funding already (given that this will requiire I suspect a pretty big block of funding, not just the start up costs, but also for example to pay the stipends, not to mention salaries of the conductors, coaches, etc). That I suspect with the Bard program is doable, Leon Bottstein is one heck of a fund raiser from what I know.</p>

<p>@listenmissy, the decision to close the Preparatory division was not well received in the Boston community (there were protests and petitions), since it was such an established program, especially in Suzuki training and piano. Some of Longy’s recent union organizers were also faculty in the Prep division. A colleague pointed out that Longy’s undergrad program awards a diploma (not a degree) since they do not provide the academic requirements needed to fulfill a degree program. Boston Conservatory students take academic courses within the Fenway consortium of nearby colleges, and NEC with Northeastern, for example. </p>

<p>Trying to attract students for a master’s program without any students feeding from a preparatory or undergrad degree division will be challenging. It’s unclear what Bard is getting from the partnership, since they have terrific fundraising and faculty of their own and no problems attracting talented musicians for their own conservatory. Perhaps similar to Emerson and their new LA facility, Longy’s hoping that this new orchestral program will attract and expand the options beyond their own campus.</p>

<p>I stand corrected: Longy does offer a B.M. degree in collaboration with Emerson College, but you do have to pay tuition to both institutions.</p>

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There was an article in The New Yorker recently about Bard’s president, Leon Botstein (written by a recent alum, which reinforces my idea of how excellent their writing program is). One thing the author pointed out is that Bard’s bond rating has slipped and, problematically, they have relied on a few very wealthy big-pocket donors. They have a debt nearly the size of their operating budget and an endowment a tenth of the size of Vassar, next door. I have a lot of respect for Bard and Botstein, but of course these points are worrisome. I’m curious how the relationship with Longy, which I first noticed in the news a couple years ago, will unfold. </p>

<p><a href=“Bard: Pictures from an Institution | The New Yorker”>Bard: Pictures from an Institution | The New Yorker;

<p>It was somewhat confusing to have both the NY Philharmonic and Longy/Bard orchestra announcements come out on the same day!</p>

<p>Clearly a tuition-free Master’s orchestral program with a stipend will be hard to turn down but the success of attracting the best candidates could still boil down to their primary teacher. If Longy students can study with Bard’s prestigious faculty that may be enough of a draw for prospective candidates. In Boston, NEC and BU often have exclusive arrangements with the first chair BSO members and international soloists; Longy has rarely been able to claim that privilege. </p>

<p>As for fundraising, I still think Bard may still be in a better position than Longy for financially supporting the new orchestral program. Longy has a small staff which consolidated a no. of positions the last few years and given their campus size, there isn’t much space to grow.</p>

<p>@glassharmonica‌ , I also read that NYer article with some concern. As with any institution with such a charismatic leader, one has to wonder what will happen when the leadership changes. Since Bard is on our short list, I pray for Botstein’s good health daily ;)</p>

<p>I suspect the finances of the orchestra will be separate from that of Bard college itself. One of the things Leon Bottstein is good at is raising money, with the American Symphony Orchestra he is probably a lot better at fundraising then in gaining an audience for the the orchestra at times. </p>

<p>@listenmissy, I wouldn’t worry too much about Bard, though Bottstein is the head of it, the tone is set by their oversight board or whatever they call it, and they have put a lot of effort into their conservatory to make it world class, and whether Leon stays or goes I suspect that won’t change much (though obviously, having a musicologist/musician as head of the school does make a big difference I suspect in how the music school is viewed). I don’t think it will be Bottstein gets forced out, and then suddenly the music program is relegated to the status of a second rate state school or something like that, they have invested too much money to do that and made too much of an effort to try and build the brand, so to speak, it would be pretty embarrassing after putting up a Gehry designed performing arts space to suddenly say “oops, sorry, no more music”</p>

<p>Thanks, @musicprnt‌ – good points. FWIW, Botstein is unlikely to be forced out. It’s just that he’s not young! According to the NYer article, he’s “promised to stay another 10 years…” the difficulty is that it is his charismatic self that is the fundraising powerhouse. That said, Apple hasn’t evaporated sans Jobs…</p>

I am just catching up… On the website it says,

"All musicians accepted into The Orchestra Now will receive a full-tuition scholarship along with an annual fellowship stipend of $24,000 and health benefits. "

Not bad! I hope it is successful!

It will be interesting to see what happens. Originally this was to be located in New York City, and I think it would have been wildly popular as a post-grad option. But now the performers must live within commuting distance of Bard College - and while it’s possible to commute from NYC (many do the reverse commute) it’s definitely not the same thing.

Here’s the current webpage. http://www.bard.edu/orchnow/

Not surprising they would relocate it, lot cheaper to do it at Bard, given the facilities are there, the instructors and so forth. I suspect their original plan had to be scaled down a bit, plus a 24k stipend would not go very far in NYC, unless they provided housing.