Cleveland Orchestra Receives $20,000,000 Gift

The Maltz family has gifted $20,000,000 to the Cleveland Orchestra to be used to increase audience access to the orchestra. Click on the link to read the press release from the orchestra.

http://www.clevelandorchestra.com/news-and-media/news-releases/2010/Oct-26-Center-for-Future-Audiences.aspx

BACK FROM EUROPE! CONCERTS & REAL ESTATE!

Well, after returning from Europe a week and a half ago I finally had the chance to catch up on my sleep, pay the bills, and visit with my daughter who was home on break from college. We returned a week ago Wednesday but only had two days off before a rehearsal on Saturday for a program of music by John Williams (Star Wars, E.T., 1941, etc.). Of course the house was packed and the audience loved it. Sunday I taught all day at Oberlin and last Tuesday rehearsals started for this past weekend of concerts, which included Brahms' Tragic Overture, John Adams "Dr. Atomic" Symphony, and the Brahms' 2nd piano concerto. Nice concert!



REAL ESTATE: Had a low-ball offer on one of my listings and negotiations are at that eerily quiet stage (are we losing momentum?) Have a look: http://2505meadowbrookblvd.howardhanna.com/



Another agent threatened to make an offer.. Where is it?? Two other agents showed it this weekend, so maybe we'll get a sale.. Another listing that hasn't gone into the MLS yet should go on this week.



TAX CREDIT- The extension and expansion of the tax credit for home buyers until next spring is a welcome development that hopefully will help get the real estate market back on its feet. Please note: THE TAX CREDIT HAS BEEN EXPANDED TO SECOND-TIME BUYERS AND THE INCOME CAP HAS BEEN RAISED. CALL ME IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS!!



Have a great week and please visit my sites at http://www.scotthaigh.com/ and http://www.scotthaigh.howardhanna.com/

Wiener Schnitzel and Sachertorte

Greetings from Vienna! In one week the orchestra has visited Toronto, Paris, Luxembourg, and now we are in the beautiful city of Vienna. Last night we performed the first of three concerts here in the famous Musikvereinsaal, the home of the Vienna Philharmonic. With it's gold leaf on the statues lining the hall and it's fabulous acoustics, the orchestra sounded beautiful and the audience loved it. We must have had about 6 curtain calls and we played an encore- the overture to the 3rd act of Wagner's "Lohengrin". This morning I visited the Leopold Museum and saw a very interest exhibit of Edvard Munch (famous for "The Scream") paintings as well as paintings by Viennese secessionists such at Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, etc. We were lucky to have excellent weather in Paris and I had the opportunity to take a boat ride along the Seine River, taking in all the important sites, the Louvre Museum, Notre Dame cathedral, the Eiffel Tower, etc. Don't miss visiting this gorgeous city!

Luxembourg, though quieter, is also a beautiful city with a lot of wealth. (It's a banking center) It has beautiful shops and pedestrian malls and I toured the walls that once protected this city a thousand years ago. There is a an excellent new concert hall there and I heard rumors that we will be returning on a regular basis. We have two more concerts in Vienna to play and then one in Linz, and then home.. I will update this blog in a few days..

Off to Europe!!

In a few days I will leave real estate behind for a few weeks as I travel to Europe with the Cleveland Orchestra. We start in Toronto and then go on to Paris, Luxembourg, Amsterdam, Linz, and Vienna. I am looking forward to the trip and I rest easy knowing my listings are covered by one of my fellow agents. Last week one of short sale listings transferred, so that was another sale under my belt. I will blog more from Europe. Happy Halloween!

Cleveland a smash at the Salzburg Festival!

The past 17 days here have been really special! Not only is this a beautiful city surrounding by picturesque mountains, the Cleveland Orchestra's performance here have been truly great. The critics have been united in their highest praise for the orchestra and it's Music Director, Franz-Welser Most. Simply put, we are the "hit" of the festival. The opera, Dvorak's "Rusalka", was exquisite with unbelievable singing. Last night a post-concert dinner reception was held in St. Peter's Keller, which is a restaurant founded in the 800's. It was quite lavish and the food delicious. You can imagine the sense of history here since Mozart and Herbert von Karajan were born here and you can tour their childhood homes. Johann Doppler of the famous Doppler Effect was also born here.

A few days ago I went on a very physical 5-hour hike on top of Untersberg Mountain, outside of town here. The next day my legs were SO SORE, but it was worth the views from 6000 feet up! Tomorrow we move on to Linz for a few days and then on to Lucerne. Make a special effort to visit Salzburg-- it's a really neat place.

More later....

Back in Salzburg with the Cleveland Orchestra for a Real Estate Time-Out

I am back in Salzburg with the Cleveland Orchestra for two weeks, then a week at the Lucerne Festival, and then concerts in Turin and Milan, Italy. It's great to be back in this beautiful city of music and today we had a six-hour rehearsal on Dvorak's opera "Rusalka". The singers are are world-class and acoustics of the renovated and redesigned Mozart Haus are fabulous. This is normally the summer home of the Vienna Philharmonic and rumor has it that they (or at least their fans) ARE NOT happy that we have such a long stay here, but I suppose the controversy about it will generate publicity, which is ALWAYS a good thing. It's been a long time since we played in Salzburg and this residency is A BIG DEAL for the Cleveland Orchestra. Of course this is good for the Cleveland real estate community because it proves what a good quality of life can be had in our area.
Although I have email over here, my real estate activities are mostly on hold for three and a half weeks, but a fellow agent is covering for me. These next few weeks are likely to be very slow anyway. It gives me a good chance to recharge my real estate "batteries"!
While on tour I've been reading the many responses to an AR blog about the value of broker's opens. It was good to read so many opinions and I've learned a lot. More opinions from the Cleveland area would be appreciated. I think they are great to get to know the inventory, but I'm not sure about the value to sellers, other than making them feel good. (They would feel REALLY good if I sold their homes for them!)
More posts from Europe to come......
Scott Haigh, Realty One, Shaker Office

Teaming up with business partner

As the weather has improved and the real estate market has begun to inch forward things have gotten pretty interesting for me in the last month. The most important thing is that I teamed up with fellow agent Tom Gron to handle listings together. It will be interesting to see how our strengths and weaknesses complement each other. It's sure nice having two people working on projects instead of one and it seems there is a synergy there. We wrote two new listings in the last few weeks so things are picking up. I had the chance to write "on the spot" offers on two bank-owned properties and that was a learning experience! Actually in retrospect they seem fairly easy since they are "as is" and there are almost no contingencies.

Things with the Cleveland Orchestra are still quite busy as we wind down the season with a performance of Dvorak's opera "Rusalka". We're taking it to the Salzburg Festival in August for 10 days, then on to the Lucerne Festival for a few days and then on to Milan and Turin. I look forward to this long tour but I don't look forward to being away from my family for so long.

My teaching at Oberlin College is done for the year so I'm finally getting a chance to unwind and get caught up on things.

Today is barbecue day and honor our soldiers and vets day. I hope you have a good holiday!

Check our sites: http://www.tomgron.com/ http://www.scotthaigh.com/ www.realtyone.com/scott.haigh
www.realtyone.com/tom.gron

Greetings from Miami

Well I'm back in Miami with the Cleveland Orchestra for a one week concert tour and it's very nice to get out of Cleveland's weather for a few days! I'm happy to say that one of my listings went under contract just before coming down here and I just put a beautifully staged University Heights home on the market a week before leaving, so things are slowly improving. I even managed to get my taxes done before the tour!

We're playing this week with Costa Rican conductor Giancarlo Guerrero, who is a very affable and happy person so it's a pleasure to make music with him. He substituted for Lorin Maazel last year, conducting Maazel's Ring Without Words (an arrangement of Wagner's greatest hits from the Ring operas) and did a fine job. For this tour we are offering Fandangos, by Puerto Rican composer Roberto Sierra (which audiences are loving), the Tchaikovsky violin concerto with Midori as soloist, and Moussourgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.
We started the tour in St. Petersburg (Florida, not Russia!!) and the rest of the concerts are in Miami at the new Knight concert hall. On Saturday the orchestra will have a joint rehearsal with members of the New World Symphony on Strauss' Ein Heldenleben. The New World Symphony is a professional training orchestra that is top-notch, so the rehearsal should be good and that means I have to practice my part or the students may give me a hard time! It should be a lot of fun. Before coming home this weekend we will make a stop in Columbus, Georgia where we will perform in the River Center for the Performing Arts.

I'm planning to see some properties in South Beach later today, so I'll keep you posted on what I find out. I hope the weather has improved in Cleveland and I promise to file an end-of-tour report.

Cleveland Orchestra in Vienna

Last night we performed our first concert in the famous Musikvereinsaal, the home of the Vienna Philharmonic and the site of the famous New Year's Day concert with Walter Cronkite. With it's beautiful decorations, history, and fantastic acoustics, it's always a treat for musicians to play there. Last night's program was Mozart Symphony #28, Debussy's "Iberia", and Beethoven's 7th Seventh symphony. We had curtain after curtain call and the normally reserved Viennese audience was very extroverted! Tonight is Ligeti's "Lontano" ( a very beautiful modern work) and the Bruckner Ninth Symphony. Since both our conductor and Bruckner are Austrian, the Viennese audience should love it. Tonight's concert is also being taped and will be made into a commercial DVD.

Today I rested but tomorrow we have most of the day off so I hope to going hiking in the Vienna woods. Vienna is an incredibly beautiful city with a rich history, great museum, fantastic shopping, and great food. I highly recommend it! I hope you have a nice week! NOW GO SELL HOUSES!!!!

Cleveland Orchestra- Luxembourg & Cologne

We just finished 1 concert in Luxembourg and 2 in Cologne. Luxembourg is a very nice banking city which obviously has lots of wealth. There are large pedestrian malls with beautiful shops. On our free day some of us rented cars to get out of the city and visit some castles. We enjoyed the rebuilt castle at Vianden and the partially-rebuilt castle in La Brouchette. I would highly recommend visiting both if you are in the area. The concert hall in Luxembourg, which we opened two years ago, has excellent acoustics but is a little boomy because of the extremely high ceiling. Nevertheless, the hall has lots of wood in it and has the classic "shoebox" shape, which is so important for a good concert hall. The concerts in Cologne were extremely well received, although the hall is not that great. It's a little dry-sounding and you really have to work to get a great sound. Last night the local presenter treated us to dinner at a restaurant specializing in German cuisine, and it was tasty! The beer was flowing quite freely during dinner and everyone had a great time.

Tonight's performance of the Mahler 2nd symphony was the best so far and the audience loved it...MANY curtain calls and lots of ovations. They seem to like us here so I know we'll be back in 2 years. Tomorrow we fly to Friedrichshafen for a concert at 3pm and them on to Vienna, which is the holy grail for symphony musicians. I write again from there. Have a great weekend!

Visit my sites: www.realtyone.com/scott.haigh http://www.scotthaigh.com/

Cleveland Orchestra on tour part 2

We’ve been on tour for 9 days and everyone is beginning to get into the rhythm of touring. The tour started out in Washington D.C. with a concert at the Kennedy Center and the program was Mozart Symphony #28, John Adams A Guide to Strange Places, and Tchaikovsky’s 6th Symphony (the “Pathetique). Despite the mediocre acoustics the audience seemed to enjoy it very much. Next was New York City, with 3 concerts at Carnegie Hall. I usually enjoy running around the city to see museums, etc. but I was hit with a nasty cold that kept me confined to the hotel napping while I didn’t have a rehearsal or concert. I even had to cancel a visit to see my family north of the city because of those little germs. The highlight of the New York concerts was the Mahler Symphony #2 (the “Resurrection Symphony), which never fails to elicit standing ovations. The guest chorus, The Westminster Symphonic Choir, was excellent but I’m sure Cleveland Orchestra Chorus members were NOT pleased to not be singing with us in Carnegie Hall. After New York we jumped over the puddle to Birmingham, England. Birmingham has an excellent hall built in 1990. The local orchestra achieved fame under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle, who spent many years there and is now the music director of the Berlin Philharmonic. We did the Mahler again with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Chorus, which was also excellent. Birmingham is a big city with lots of night life next to our hotel (READ PUBS WITH LOTS OF ENEBRIATED YOUNG PEOPE WATCHING THE WORLD RUGBY FINALS, WHICH ENGLAND LOST!!) Cardiff, Wales was next, on last Monday. The famous city castle was right in front of the hotel and there’s a neat pedestrian mall near the hotel. It’s a neat city and well worth the visit. I had dinner there with a bass-playing friend who used to play in the Hong Kong Philharmonic. She’s married to a free-lance trombonist who works in London and they’re expecting their 2nd child. That brings us to Brussels, Belgium, where we played at the Palais des Beaux-Arts last night. The house was packed and we rocked it on Beethoven 7th symphony. Brussels is a beautiful city but we were there such a short time I decided to skip the sight-seeing and rest up before the concert. Pacing is very important on tour, especially as you get older! Some of the younger folks in the orchestra went out partying after the concert last night and got in at 5am. Needless to say they are sleeping on this morning’s bus ride to Luxembourg, and trying to get rid of headaches!
Have a profitable day and I’ll report more in a few days.

Best, Scott Haigh

www.realtyone.com/scott.haigh www.scotthaigh.com

Turning over listings for music!

So next week I'm leaving to go on a concert tour with the Cleveland Orchestra, with whom I've played since 1978. I'll be gone for 3 weeks and although I'll have my laptop with me and therefore email, I won't have international cell phone service so I feel like I'll be really out of touch. Why am telling you this? Only this week did the seller of my first listing decide that maybe painting and new carpet is what's needed to sell the house. (It's been on the market since March and the home is tired and needs work) So....I'm going crazy trying to get that arranged before I leave and preparing all my files to turn over to another agent before I leave. Sound familiar? Any sympathy would help but I'm sure I won't get it! In case you are interested in following the Cleveland Orchestra European Tour online, click on www.clevelandorchestra.com, or go my website, www.realtyone.com/scott.haigh
I hope things go well for you this week...