This is bassist Mike Nigrin's site, and I've been a member of the bass section of YOUR Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra now for 30 years, lol. It always struck me as funny when they refer to the orchestra as YOUR BPO. It's really OUR BPO, everyone included. In all seriousness, it's a real privilege to perform with the orchestra as it's never sounded better. For what it’s worth, it sounded good 30 years ago, but it's even better now. COVID was especially hard on our industry, with the graduating students in music schools bearing an overwhelming burden because of it. That's perhaps why the level of talent we are getting at the national auditions is so high, simply because there are several years of bottlenecked talent competing for these scarce jobs.
It's a tough industry, no doubt, and I've experienced the good, the bad and the ugly. I've stared down the abyss of orchestra bankruptcies early on in my career and saw what it took to self-manage an orchestra from scratch. I also worked under a non-union contract abroad in Sao Paulo, Brazil and I can say it wasn't pretty. Don't get me wrong, the Orquestra Symphonica Do Estado de Sao Paulo, (OSESP) was a fantastic orchestra with great players, but I also witnessed a harpist once getting terminated by the conductor, on-the-spot, in front of the entire orchestra. Ok, perhaps the standard was not up to par, however, it was shocking to me that this person's dignity was denied like that. My heart was racing during the entire episode, not a good feeling.
I've always had a soft spot for the underdog. Maybe that's why I live in Buffalo. :-) When I was under a lockout situation with the New Orleans Symphony, I got a call to write the music for a political documentary pointing out the differences in sentencing applied based on race entitled 'Double Justice, Race and Capital Punishment' which was presented before members of Congress. It was on-topic of 'justice and equity' before that was even on any agenda, way back in 1990.
I don't usually go with the trends but rather follow my own heart. You may have seen me in the news lately as the spokesperson/organizer of the 'Stop The Metro' campaign. Our petition is currently at over 2,000 signatures since May and still growing. No, we don't want to actually stop the metro rail, but rather the extension proposal into Amherst. Again, I feel for the community and the destruction that it would bring to home and businesses along the route of the proposed rail. I see the lack or ridership that currently exists and also recognize that big influences are pushing for those short-term federal dollars, and the little folks (area family-owned businesses) would get crushed and county residents levied with more transit taxes long-term, even though there isn't a demonstrable need for rail and expanded bus services would serve the community just as well if not better. I've gotten emails threatening physical violence and have been called derogatory names publicly, all on account of this. CRAZY!
I'm also on my HOA board of 82 units. I always 'listen' to our community members and give them the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise, and understand the importance of coming to consensus and being amenable all through the process, but also not shy to call someone or something out.
I have three advanced education degrees, two in music performance, and one in computer engineering and run my own data mining business on top of performing with the Buffalo Philharmonic as well as the Sarasota Orchestra (part time).
If there's any issues that concern you about OUR Local, or have questions, or just want to chat, please feel free to send an email using the contact info down below my signature.
Thanks for reading, and all the best!
Regards, Michael Nigrin
mnigrin@michaelnigrin.info
