Knight to Night Rebuttal

I disagree with a statement that my friend and colleague
Andrea DiGregorio made in her post entitled “Knight to
Night”:

“I think, perhaps, that this [bringing in the Knights
orchestra] has to do with a desire to experiment and find a
new and innovative method for musical growth.”

Hogwash!

It all has to do with David Graham doing anything and
everything he can for Henry Fogel. David Graham doesn’t give
a rat’s ass about the music making at the festival. He knows
little about classical music and does not have a
sophisticated appreciation of it in the least. He has rarely
attended the chamber music concerts that the festival
performs and they are arguably some of the best programs
that we have to offer. All he really cares about is getting
people into the seats and keeping them contributing, and
allo the evidence points to the fact that he has done a poor
job of that. He obviously views Henry Fogel as some sort of
cash cow. He wanted him on the team in New Hampshire so bad,
he agreed to do anything Henry wanted. “Henry is big league
stuff, if Henry wants the Knights, we have to find a way to
get rid of the orchestra to have them. up here!” Get Henry
on board and you have all his connections. That has to add
up to $$$. And maybe it will.

Fogel never heard us play and more importantly never heard
OF us. We don’t have a big league reputation so we are not
on his radar. It has nothing to do with US or how we
perform. It’s all about what he wants, and that’s not us,
its the Knights. I am sure they are very good, but are they
going to work for $400 a week?

This has nothing to do with a “new artistic vision” or an
“innovative method for musical growth” that’s all an excuse,
a smokescreen to bring in Fogel’s new musicians. It’s a
simply a matter of a changing of the guard and we got
screwed. I wish the Knights luck, but I guarantee they wont
stay content long if they are working for the sub-standard
wages that we all got.

Jay Lichtmann
NHMF trumpeter since 1983