Holly Mulcahy has a wonderful article up at The Partial Observer about the rash of program/artist substitutions prompted by the funding crisis at US orchestras. Here at the Oregon Symphony, there haven’t been any mid-course corrections, as such, but guest artists have had their contracts renegotiated at lower rates, and some pieces were not programmed in the first place as they require the hiring of too many extra musicians, which drastically increases the price tag. You’ll note that we end this season with Mahler’s First Symphony, and might have wondered why we haven’t done Nos. 3 or 6 or 2 in quite some time – it basically comes down to money. Hence Holly’s article title: Sorry, We’re Fresh Out of Mahler.