1.   American orchestras are feeling justifiable anguish about the future, but some of them are doing intelligent soul-searching.

2.   American orchestras have been especially hard hit in the reconfiguration.

3.   American orchestras, for instance, run by the clock, with variances of a few minutes either way.

4.   American orchestras may be grappling with dwindling audiences and the indifference of the young, but opera companies are doing quite well.

5.   Americans are better prepared technically for anything than their European counterparts and, technically speaking, American orchestras are the best in the world.

6.   And some players see nothing wrong with embracing this new status as an eminently respectable second-tier American orchestra and leaving it at that.

7.   And with the kinds of difficulties American orchestras face today, Mehta may well prove the more important catch.

8.   Another precious memory is of the time Hamilton took a few lessons from the legendary Roland Hayes, the first African-American singer to appear with a major American orchestra.

9.   As the world quickly changes around it, the orchestra faces challenges that represent a cross-section of those looming at other American orchestras and opera and ballet companies.

10.   As with many American orchestras, its existence has recently been threatened by severe financial problems.