Posted on 12/26/2020 3:12:00 AM PST by Cronos
In the top echelons of classical music, the violinist Jennifer Koh is by any measure a star.
With a dazzling technique, she has ridden a career that any aspiring Juilliard grad would dream about — appearing with leading orchestras, recording new works, and performing on some of the world’s most prestigious stages.
Now, nine months into a contagion that has halted most public gatherings and decimated the performing arts, Ms. Koh, who watched a year’s worth of bookings evaporate, is playing music from her living room and receiving food stamps.
...During the quarter ending in September, when the overall unemployment rate averaged 8.5 percent, 52 percent of actors, 55 percent of dancers and 27 percent of musicians were out of work, according to the National Endowment for the Arts. By comparison, the jobless rate was 27 percent for waiters; 19 percent for cooks; and about 13 percent for retail salespeople over the same period.
“My fear is we’re not just losing jobs, we’re losing careers,” said Adam Krauthamer, president of Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians in New York. He said 95 percent of the local’s 7,000 members are not working on a regular basis because of the mandated shutdown. “It will create a great cultural depression,” he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I have no more concern for performing artists than for anyone else who is suffering through this miserable situation. There is no reason to give special consideration to them, especially since the definition of “performing artist” is vague.
I have no sympathy for them. They are the primary supporters of leftists.
I’d bet my entire paycheck that this woman (and for that matter 90%+ of her colleagues) voted for the exact people who have done this to her.
This is what Mencken meant when he said “good and hard”.
Retail, service industry, performing arts... all hit hard — the very visible casualties.
But like you said, no group deserves special consideration — none.
As an avocation I sing with a symphony chorus. We have not performed in more than 12 months and are not likely to perform again until the fall of next year at the earliest. These are tough times for professional musicians.
I’m thinking about a girl who was my mother’s music student in a tiny town in western NY in the ‘90s. For years she’s been a leading lady in opera, traveling the world. As the years passed, she became more and more liberal and now is extreme. Under other circumstances I might feel sorry for her if times are tight but, considering how she’s voted for years, I hope she understands that elections have consequences.
The very people they support screwed them
Making a living playing a violin has its risks.
That parallels my experience in a lot of ways and has piqued my interest in this singer. 1) My mom taught piano to a girl who became a lawyer, a state legislator, a congresswoman, a senatorial candidate, and is still an ultra-liberal congresswoman whose dad must be spinning in his grave over it.
I also went to grad school at UB as I worked on my father-in-law’s farm in western NY.
The ultimate non-essential jobs/business are now crying they aren’t getting the billions promised by Poo-losi. If you are a performing “artist” you should have planned ahead with a better day job. When the deep pockets of foundations, rich liberals ran out they got Govmnt to “Give” them other peoples money. Turn out a product people need/want, they will pay you for it. Otherwise get a better “degree”/dayjob.
Tell her get a job.
Have known quite a few performers and theater people in NYC and everyone of them had a back up gig to insure the rent was paid. What about the large majority of musicians that didn't make the cut?
Always been a career with chancy opportunities along with acting, dancing and associated crafts. The old joke, "What do you call an aspiring actress?....Waitress."
“Louis Feinberg (October 5, 1902 – January 24, 1975), known professionally as Larry Fine, was an American actor, comedian, violinist, and boxer, who is best known as a member of the comedy act the Three Stooges.”
A shame that there is nothing to laugh about anymore.
All professional every step of the way without relent from age 4. Have a good day now.
I feel for these people greatly.
I have several professional musician friends that I have engaged for my occassional live music dance. (They are leftists but keep it contained.) They seem to have continued teaching remotely but certainly have lost income.
I am involved in an entertainment where the political leanings are much more balanced.
Like any group of “professional” entertainers, we have 20 percent or fewer who were able to eak out a living and a few who could make some reasonably serious money. All of these, many friends of mine, have all lost a great majority of their income or their entire income over the last 9 months.
My own draw from these pursuits is down perhaps 75 percent, but I am not dependent on it for survival.
Will we see it come back? Maybe. But we are likely in for some permanent restructuring. A major historical inflection point like this is never without lasting damage.
On the contrary, I know many musicians and most would prefer to work and take a chance catching the virus. I know of only one musician who's fine with the whole shutdown but she won't even rehearse...she's getting replaced and her bandmates (who are generally liberals) have had it with the restrictions. Many musicians bash their respective governors - indeed, since the restrictions are not federal, most entertainers have come to see the real evil as being at the state level.
I've also seen musicians find other ways to try and keep incomes rolling, and the innovation has been very entrepreneurial. I've heard of gigs being played at shoe stores. And this hilarious woke, tone-deaf article trying to shame hip-hop artists who don't tow the virus party line shows how many in this genre are probably more in-line with Deplorablism than the stay-in-the-basement Biden mentality.
No doubt, artist are usually leftists and yes you get government you deserve. But the absence in this article of endless quotes bashing Trump suggests these people would be more at home with an open economy than continued shutdowns.
This whole lockdown and vaccination crap has to end.
We should be pushing the easy vitamin and supplement and safe, cheap early treatments and prophylactics and we’ll have it well within the parameters of a flu. In most cases for most people, that’s already all the risk it is.
But yeah, the idea of subsidizing some over others is just wrong. Unfortunately we’ve been doing it all along with government workers, supposed “small business” bailouts that are mostly just going to large corporations and their employees, etc.
But it helps with social distancing
Please don’t be so selfishly disparaging of our current state of affairs
We’re saving lives and yours does not matter.
I highly doubt that such musicians hang with working class deplorables. You know, the other ones suffering, that weren’t making much money to begin with.
I also highly doubt that many musicians vote R (like actors, school teachers, unionists and lawyers don’t).
To those that voted D — STFU! You’re getting what you asked for.
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