Bill Kenny, Site Web Master and Consulting Editor, Retires
August 31, 2011
United Kingdom Bill Kenny Retires from Seen and Heard
For those who don’t already know, Bill Kenny, Web Master and Consulting Editor of this site, is retiring on 31 August. Others in this position might have slowed down in the last few months, but Bill has been working up till his final day, fine-tuning the site and making sure everything runs properly. Bill is to be credited with making Seen and Heard International the success it is: well-edited, visually appealing and professional by any standard. Bill’s commitment to the site was total. No short cuts or inconsistencies were allowed that would make the site look anything but top notch. Yet when it came to editorial policy he accepted opinions that he may have found untenable. He was always involved but not in a way that handcuffed the reviewers. Another music review site might state in the guidelines, ” Please try to find items in the concert/opera/ballet on which to focus and be enthusiastic… If your review is overwhelmingly negative, we will not normally publish it.” Bill would consider this balderdash.
In addition, under Bill’s leadership the site has been brought into the 21st century. He was willing to take risks and allow the site to add current elements. As an example, we have begun making connections with the main social networks and recently added audio and video capabilities to our reviews. As a result, a week or so ago Bill noticed we had had more hits in one day than we’d had in any other 24-hour period. The fact that the reviews get posted every day allows us to live up to our logo that we do “live reviews.”
I had the happy fortune to meet Bill on a trip to England last year. We were so involved in our conversations on Seen and Heard, music, computers and existential psychology that I barely made the train back to London.
Bill will be sorely missed, but he leaves a grand legacy: he has left us a site where one can always find well-written, intelligent and independent music reviews, interviews and previews about classical music from all over the world.
Stan Metzger
