Portland Center Stage at the Armory Coriolanus Portland Oregon

SoundsTruck NW nominated for SXSW Innovation Award; Kalmar sues Cleveland Institute of Music

The mobile venue is a South By Southwest finalist; the former Oregon Symphony conductor's CIM saga continues.

February 1, 2024

James Bash

Music, News

*Kenari Quartet (L to R: Kyle Baldwin,Gabriel Pique, Corey Dundee, Bob Eason) in the SoundsTruck NW mobile venue for CMNW 2023. Photo by Shawnte Sims.*

SoundsTruck NW is a finalist for SXSW Innovation Award

South by Southwest (SXSW) has selected SoundsTruck NW as one of the finalists for its Innovation Award in the Urban Design category. That’s right! SoundsTruck NW, the unique mobile concert stage, designed and honchoed by Jonathan and Yoko Greeney as a great way to bring music to the people, is in the running for an award from the prestigious SXSW Music Festival, which takes place in Austin, Texas. (OAW introduced readers to SoundsTruck NW here.)

The SXSW awards attract applicants from around the world. All of the contestants in the Urban Design category are aimed atenvironmental sustainability, but SoundsTruck NW is the only one that’s music-focused and solar-powered. Rim-shot and fingers crossed!

Kalmar strikes back – sues CIM

Carlos Kalmar, the Orchestra Studies Director and Principal Conductor at the Cleveland Institute of Music, has sued the conservatory regarding his leave of absence because of a Title IX investigation that was allegedly mishandled. Kalmar was cleared of accusations in August, but after students refused to play for him the event led to his leave of absence. According to this report in Van magazine, Kalmar and his wife Raffaela have sued CIM for between $5 million and $260 million in damages. Kalmar, the former Music Director of the Oregon Symphony, is still the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Grant Park Festival Orchestra.

*Oregon Symphony conductor Carlos Kalmar. Photo: Joe Cantrell.*

James Bash

James Bash enjoys writing for The Oregonian, The Columbian, Classical Voice North America, Opera, and many other publications. He has also written articles for the Oregon Arts Commission and the Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd edition. He received a fellowship to the 2008 NEA Journalism Institute for Classical Music and Opera, and is a member of the Music Critics Association of North America.

bob priest says:

February 2, 2024 at 8:03 pm

Does $260,000,000 really represent the outer limits of a sought settlement by Carlos’ fool’s gold-plated suits for real? If so, well, thanx for the full-on, knee-slapping guffaw!