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The 3/19/2009 edition of the Columbus Dispatch, reports that piano soloist Emmanuel Ax is waiving his fee for this weekend’s performances with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra (CSO). Regular readers (and everyone else in the business not living under a rock for the past season) know all about the CSO’s troubles so Ax’s generosity, which was reportedly his offer, demonstrates the right attitude at the right time. I wish the same were true of all soloists across the board…
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Emmanuel Ax, good guy.
I know of a few instances this season where soloists have cancelled scheduled appearances at orchestras that have had trouble making payments to all personnel (perhaps they needed retention bonuses for keeping the date) so Ax’s gesture in support of the ensemble’s artistic accomplishment is a welcome pinpoint of illumination in an otherwise dim heaven of selflessness. As it turns out, Ax recently started a blog and I hope he’ll take some time to post on his time in Columbus.
Postscript: a note to the PR folks working with soloists; please spend a few bucks and buy a domain name and a paid wordpress theme. An artist of Ax’s caliber deserves something better than a free wordpress account. Also, please change the default “Just another WordPress.com weblog” blog description. If it’s his official blog, don’t make him look like an amateur. In fact, in recognition for his generosity I’ll be happy to set Emmanuel up with a proper blog for no charge. Just send me a note and we’ll make it happen.
