Return (Again) of the Rubin Institute

The Rubin Institute for Music Criticism is back at San Francisco Conservatory, in late October.

Dates: Thursday, October 25 to Monday, October 29, 2018
Location: San Francisco Conservatory of Music

The full schedule is here.

Who:

Writers Panel 
Members of the 2018 Rubin Institute Writers Panel represent some of the most respected journalists in the music industry: Gary Giddins, author of Bing Crosby: Swinging on a Star, The War Years 1940-1946 (Brown, Little, 2018); Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle critic;Anne Midgette, The Washington Post critic and author; Tim Page, professor, former Washington Post critic, and special contributor to Past / Forward: The LA Phil at 100 (Los Angeles Philharmonic, 2018); John Rockwell, writer, critic, and former editor of The New York Times Sunday Arts & Leisure section; Alex Ross, The New Yorker magazine critic and author; Stephen Rubin, Institute benefactor and president of Henry Holt & Co.; and Heidi Waleson, The Wall Street Journal critic and author of Mad Scenes and Exit Arias: The Death of the New York City Opera and the Future of Opera in America (Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company, 2018). Members of the Writers Panel will present pre-concert lectures (tickets required) and a public panel discussion (free/no ticket required) over the course of the five-day symposium, offering the public the chance to hear firsthand from those at the forefront of music criticism.

Rubin Institute Fellows

Eighteen aspiring young writers from colleges, universities, and conservatories around the U.S. and abroad have been selected by the Writers Panel through an open application process, marking another first in the history of the Rubin Institute; previously, fellows were nominated by leadership at five partnering schools. The 2018 Rubin Institute Fellows are: Philip de Oliveira-Kent State University; Timothy Diovanni-Dublin Institute of Technology; Hannah Edgar-University of Chicago; Tamzin Elliott-University of Southern California; Peter Feher, John Masko, and Evan Pengra Sult-San Francisco Conservatory of Music; Jennifer Gersten-State University of New York at Stony Brook; Patrick Jankowski and Amanda Vosburgh-Yale University; Alice Koeninger, Rory O'Donoghue, and Parker Ramsay-Oberlin College and Conservatory; Jason McCool-Boston University; Grace Odell-University of Missouri-Kansas City; Madison Schindele-Goldsmiths, University of London; Brin Solomon-New York University; and Alexander Sutton-University of Virginia. Through the application process, these writers demonstrated an exceptional level of intellectual energy and an original approach to criticism, and, collectively, they represent an emerging vitality and renewal of spirit for the future of music journalism. 

A couple of personal notes:

• Enabling all interested participants to apply is a huge improvement over nominations from five "partner" colleges and universities.
• I'd suggest expanding that writers' panel by adding a freelancer and someone under 50, or someone on an "alternative" career path. One example: Tim Mangan, now on the staff of the Pacific Symphony. Or maybe Thomas May.
• Or even have a completely different panel each year, though I understand the advantages of consistency.
• The combo of the Rubin Institute and Getty Foundation is now funding five or so classical music critic positions at newspapers. This still isn't the solution to the problems facing the profession, though it's a partial solution for a few locations.
• The problem is still not a lack of people who can produce well-written and well-informed music criticism.
• I'm planning to attend a reasonable number of sessions this year!