Classical Notes: July 3, 2006 Archive

Symphony in e(Bay): Finale and Coda

Posted at 7:06 AM on July 3, 2006 by John Birge (2 Comments)
Filed under: The blog

Last night, the bidding was up to $127,000, and the eBay auction for the Beethoven Academie Orchestra was set to end early tomorrow. But I found this morning that the auction had evidently been withdrawn by the orchestra (which started the whole thing as a very effective publicity stunt to protest funding cuts from the Flemish Ministry of Culture).

Here's the message added to the auction page: "Mensen die ons een hart onder de riem willen steken, kunnen intekenen op onze petititielijst die aan Minister Anciaux zal worden afgegeven. http://www.axci.nl/?ln=ned&id=55 Wij danken u voor uw steun "

Flemish translation, anyone? Please? Looks like they're asking would-be bidders to go to their website and sign a petition. But all of this is in Flemish, so I'll appeal for either a free translation or a suggestion for an automatic online Flemish translation site.

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Symphony in e(Bay): Final Finale

Posted at 2:50 PM on July 3, 2006 by John Birge
Filed under: The blog

Here's the latest on the eBay orchestra auction, why it was pulled, and how no little shill bidding was involved (highly illegal in the eBay community, btw). Great story, even if it's not a happy ending...