The reality versus the fantasy of a professional orchestral career. Daniel Meyers was playing with top orchestras, but found the experience deeply unsatisfying in the attitude of players towards their work and their audience. Music had been about sharing and community, but the further along he advanced, the less it became about that.
Daniel Meyers is a bass player, music administrator, and professional fundraiser who currently manages donor relations and annual giving at the Epilepsy Foundation of Minnesota. Before moving into fundraising, Daniel performed regularly as a substitute with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and he was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.
QUOTES
“I was playing with orchestras that were “the end goal” if you’re searching for a career as an orchestral musician, but I wasn’t finding the connection and focus on the audience and that focus on the audience. That’s what I care about.”
“I never heard or rarely heard musicians talk about the experience of the audience. And I felt like the people I was playing with didn’t care that much.”
“I don’t think you can expect something that someone does full time, that it can't be a job just some of the time.”
“You have this great opportunity and people are congratulating you, your peers are congratulating because you’ve achieved their dream. You feel like you should be on top of the world and you’re not. This is what I was hoping for and it’s really not all that”
"It was just a job for a lot of them."
LINKS
PODCAST TEAM
Production Support from Molly Jenkins
Audio Engineering from Frazer Ruddick
Theme Music Composed by Danna Yun
Theme Music Performed by Jasper Ly
RECORDED
Recorded on 08 October 2021