ORPHEUS by Jon Katzenbach

“Orpheus is missing a central feature of virtually all other orchestras: a conductor. . . .

Orpheus succeeds without the most central element of the formal organization: the CEO. Orpheus was founded in 1972 and, from its beginning, the idea was that there would be no conductor. This unusual configuration came about. . . as a statement of faith in the talent and commitment of its musicians.

In a traditional orchestra, the conductor acts as a formal leader. . . Musicians can often feel relegated to the role of cogs in a machine—expected to follow orders without the responsibility of determining how the music should be

interpreted.

In Orpheus, every musician feels accountable for the decisions of the entire orchestra. The musicians rely on personal intuition, networks, individual commitment, and energy to stay together and listen for, or feel, group choices in musical interpretation.

Ronnie Bauch, a violinist [said] ‘without a conductor, the musicians have to listen very intensely to one another. That means a much more active, far less passive, performance technique that creates a different, richer sound. The audience can really hear it.’

The sole formal element of the original Orpheus was a concertmaster, who acted as a temporary artistic director at each performance and who would mediate if there were disputes about interpretation or repertoire. Although this overwhelmingly informal atmosphere produced great music, the musicians found that it was emotionally and physically draining, as well as very time—consuming for everyone involved. There was attrition of some of the talent.

As Orpheus began to achieve more and more critical success and gain international attention, it became clear that the orchestra’s often haphazard informal organization could no longer support the growing demand for its music and that it would face further attrition.

The musicians did not, however, wish to bring in a conductor. So to maintain a sense of shared leadership while increasing efficiency and improving decision making, they created a new process they called the ‘core system.’ A small group of elected leaders (the core) would be chosen when they

began rehearsals for a new piece. Initially, the core would work through the piece—without the rest of the orchestra—to make decisions about how the piece should be played and to minimize the time required for full orchestra rehearsals. When the entire orchestra did meet, the core would lead the piece, although every musician was still able and expected to comment and ask questions. Since the core would change for each piece of music, and in each concert leadership responsibilities would rotate among numerous members of the orchestra, a spider web of informal networks between performers was created.

The core system allowed Orpheus to retain shared leadership and still institute a formal structure to improve productivity and efficiency. Maintaining critical elements of the informal organization enables its people to do what seems highly counter-intuitive, if not impossible—play beautiful music without a conductor. They have been able to sustain their unique approach while preserving their informal roots.”