IP: Sydney Symphony

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The course, IP: Sydney Symphony, is an core IP in Term 2 (April, 2005) of the full-time MBA at the AGSM.

The Australian Graduate School of Management has a special relationship with the Sydney Symphony, and after Easter will offer an elective 4-day intensive course to our full-time MBA students, in which they will have the opportunity to consider the management of the SSO from the various perspectives of their MBA study so far: economics, marketing, accounting, organisational behaviour, and data analysis, assisted by the staff and musicians of the SSO, who will brief the students here at the Australian Graduate School of Management and who will host a visit by the students to a rehearsal of the orchestra, at which the students will also be able to talk to the musicians. Working in groups, the students will choose a topic about the orchestra's management on which to write a report. The best reports will be amalgamated and a presentation made to the SSO's management committee by students. This year is the second time we have done this.

2005 Course Outline and Assessment (PDF)

To the restricted pages and the 2004 lectures. (Password protected.)

Lectures:

Industry Analysis
Bob Marks' lecture. OHs || Printable
The Strong Report (from www.dcita.gov.au/arts/councils/orchestras_review_2005/orchestras_review_2005_toc)
Blame Beethoven by Robert Marks.
The New Yorker on Baumol's cost disease.

Relevant Links:

• The Sydney Symphony:
  • The Chief Conductor -- click here.
  • The General Manager -- click here.
  • The Soloist -- click here.
  • The Player -- click here.
  • Paying for playing? A tongue-in-cheek scheme? -- click here.
  • The Annual Report 2003 -- click here.
  • The Annual Report 2002 -- click here.
  • The Annual Report 2001 -- click here.
• The Strong Report on Australia's Symphony Orchestras:
  • The Strong Orchestras Review 2005.
  • Editorial: The Australian 14 March 2005.
  • Editorial: The Sydney Morning Herald 16 March 2005.
• Recipe for a Concert, by the Boston Symphony Orchestra -- click here.
• Listen to This, by Alex Ross, A classical kid learns to love pop -- and wonders why he has to make a choice. A fascinating essay by the music critic of The New Yorker on the future of orchestral music, both supply and demand -- click here.
• A debate in The Guardian on "classical" music in 2005:
  • Classical music could even become the new rock'n'roll, by Martin Kettle. After decades of modernist tyranny, composers want to be popular again -- click here.
  • The Guardian's readers' responses -- click here.
  • A daunting, teeming diversity, by John Woolrich. Categories of music - popular, traditional, modernist, experimental - have broken down. There's no need to fear the unknown. -- click here.
  • The single tradition exploded, by Nicholas Kenyon. A century of recording and broadcasting has expanded our taste and brought a vast new richness to classical music -- click here.
• Adaptistration: Drew McManus on the evolution of orchestra management, a web log. -- click here.
  • What goes into orchestral management? Essentials of Orchestral Management was a ten-day course held earlier this year -- click here.
  • "Symphony Orchestra Economics: The Fundamental Challenge". by William J. Baumol -- click here.
  • The Wolf Report and Baumol's Curse: The Economic Health of American Symphony Orchestras ... -- click here.
  • "Raising the Demand Curve for Symphony Orchestras" by Joseph Robinson -- click here.
  • "A New Direction: Transforming Relations within the San Francisco Symphony" by Robert Mnookin, with Gary Friedman and Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld -- click here.
  • "The Leadership Complexity of Symphony Orchestra Organizations" by Paul R. Judy -- click here.
  • "Why They're Not Smiling: Stress and Discontent in the Orchestra Workplace", by Seymour and Robert Levine, -- click here.
  • The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra's Strategic Plan -- click here.
• The San Francisco Symphone Orchestra's website -- click here.
  • San Francisco Symphony: Innovation Despite the Odds -- click here. (From Knowledge@Wharton)
• The Royal Scottish National Orchestra's website. -- click here.
• The Economist reviews a recent history of the London Symphony Orchestra -- click here.
  The London Symphony Orchestra's website -- click here.
• Microsoft suggests how the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's accounting could be improved -- click here.
• The Berlin Philharmoniker's web site (auf Deutsch) -- click here.
  The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra's web site (in English) -- click here.
  Google's English translation of the BPhO's website -- click here.
• The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra's website -- click here.
• The Toronto Symphony Orchestra's website -- click here.
• Click through to the music links of Southwest Strings of symphony orchestras.
• "Orchestrating the Executive Team" with Benjamin Zander, -- click here.
  "Striking A Key" with Ben Zander, -- click here.

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Last Updated 21 February, 2005

Robert Marks, bobm@agsm.edu.au