A vital resource for musicians, conductors, arts managers, and researchers in organizational studies, this book offers critical insights for modernizing orchestral governance. It is particularly useful for those leading or forming orchestras, as well as academics studying participatory management, labor relations, or the arts sector. Readers will find practical strategies for sustaining democracy in traditionally hierarchical institutions.
Brian Long is a lecturer in arts and cultural management at the University of Melbourne (Australia). After early work as a freelance orchestral musician and conductor, he began a research and lecturing career in 2008. The move led to research in political science, orchestra management, and the creative industries.
During a ten-year stint working in Vienna, Brian first encountered the player-governed orchestra model in the Vienna Philharmonic and was intrigued by the mix of benefits and challenges it created. This interest grew into a multi-year research project across Germany and London where he interviewed orchestral musicians and managers at the forefront of workplace democracy in professional orchestras.
He has previously written on the political contexts of postwar German film and cultural diplomacy and contributed to the Directory of World Cinema Germany.