New Overtures at the Symphony
Daniel J. Wakin of The New York Times contributes yet another article about ways orchestras are trying to awaken Sleeping Beauty (aka the potential audience) in New Overtures at the Symphony, August 21, 2005 (requires registration). Here are some excerpts from his observations:
"...As audiences seem to grow older and the public turns its attention away from concertgoing, orchestras around the country are adopting a wide array of methods, from the trivial to the thoughtful, to bring more people into the concert hall. They are hunting for the neophytes, the dabblers and mainly the ungray.
"...At the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra's 'Classical Connections' series for the under-40 set, you can speed date, take salsa lessons or exchange résumés before the performance, a shortened concert with onstage commentary and occasional video.
"For six Friday nights, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra will play a traditional program for the first half of the evening, but then provide the choice of chamber music or jazz in the lobby for the second half.
"The New World Symphony, a high-level training orchestra in Miami Beach led by Michael Tilson Thomas, will play four 20-minute concerts in one evening, each on the hour, from 7 to 10.
"...Trying nonmusical methods to lure concertgoers is not new. For at least a decade, orchestras - particularly smaller ones - have introduced shorter and earlier concerts, onstage commentary and film-score programs to broaden their appeal. More recent innovations include video screens in the concert hall, hand-held electronic devices to provide running commentary and musical programs built around pop culture themes.
"But a recent surge in experimentation tempts one to wonder if orchestra executives and their increasingly influential marketing departments might be panicking. In any case, the ferment of ideas just may change the symphony concert experience.
"...Crucially, subscriptions - a critical part of orchestra finances - are declining. And every subscription not renewed is yet one more batch of tickets that must be sold just to stay even. Single-ticket sales usually do not make up the difference....
"Why are audiences shrinking? It's the great debate in the classical-music world, as pervasive a topic as race in South Africa or real estate in New York: Is the business of classical music as we know it dying?
"Pessimists say it is at least on the decline, and blame a lack of music education, shorter attention spans, an image-obsessed culture and a vast new world of entertainment options. Another point of view says classical music is alive and well, with more listening than ever occurring at home or in the car. Maybe, this line of thought goes, the problem is not demand but supply: too many orchestras are playing too many concerts.
" 'It used to be orchestras had very small staffs and gave many fewer concerts,' said Joseph Horowitz, the author of the recent book Classical Music in America: A History of Its Rise and Fall. 'This is the nub of the issue. It's a surfeit of product that's causing many of the dysfunctions.' That, he says, and the lack of charismatic music directors, amid an overabundance of marketing directors. (Most orchestras did not even have marketing departments until the 1970's. Today, a staff of a dozen is typical.) And there are always practical considerations like concertgoers in suburbs spreading ever farther from downtown concert halls, difficult parking and expensive tickets....
"Researchers divided that quadrant into categories like active and casual audiences; 'sophisticated low-frequency alums,' many of whom would attend if invited; dabblers; and 'uninitiated prospects.' They spoke of orchestras as 'delivery systems' for 'product,' providing an 'entertainment experience.' Focus on what the audience wants, the study said. Loosen the definition of classical music. Pay more attention to social functions. And offer lots of visual stimulation.
" 'It's been one-size-fits-all for a long time,' said Alan S. Brown, a consultant and the project director of the Knight audience study. 'Today's cultural consumers are demanding more intense experiences.'
"And orchestras are cooking them up and dishing them out. The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, a leader in what might be called the fun-factor area, has a Thursday night series that provides free dinners. The doors to Music Hall open at 6:15, and concertgoers hit the buffet line, taking an entree and salad and sitting at tables in the hall's 20,000-square-foot ballroom. 'College Nite' concerts feature post-performance parties twice a year, in which students nibble appetizers and listen to a local band (not the symphonic kind).
"Paavo Jarvi, the music director, and orchestra musicians make appearances. The orchestra's CSO Encore! group, for young professionals, is sponsoring a 'Dressed to the Nines' party at the hall for opening night, when a Beethoven symphony - no need to say which - is on the program. At the beginning of last season, the symphony even sold Paavo's Baack T-shirts, a surprising accessory to Mr. Jarvi's intelligent music-making and serious demeanor.
" 'We're just trying to snap it up a bit,' said the orchestra's spokeswoman, Carrie Krysanick....
"The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is shaking things up too - shaking, but not stirring - with Symphony With a Twist, a series of four concerts preceded by martini bars and jazz in the lobby. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's version is called Bravo.
"In Houston the focus is less on the party in the lobby than the visuals on the stage. The Houston Symphony projects images of the musicians, arms sawing and fingers flying, and the conductor, baton a-waving, on large screens in the hall. (The Omaha Symphony, the San Diego Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra have all tried similar experiments, as did the New York Philharmonic.) 'We have to recognize that this is a visual generation,' Evans Mirageas, an orchestra marketing consultant [Sandye's note: and new Artistic Director of the Cincinnati Opera], said. 'They are used to seeing things more than they are used to hearing things.'...
"The critical question is whether the new tricks actually work. And so far, the evidence is mixed. Cincinnati's free meals brought higher attendance. ('If you feed them, they will 'said Ms. Krysanick, the orchestra's spokeswoman.)...
"'We live or die on the repertoire, from Bach through John Adams and Steve Reich and so on,' said Peter Pastreich, an orchestra administrator for 40 years who retired as executive director of the San Francisco Symphony in 1999. 'That's what makes the difference.'
"As for cocktails and canapés? Can they determine the future of classical music? 'We are in a lot of trouble,' he said, 'if that's true.' "
"...As audiences seem to grow older and the public turns its attention away from concertgoing, orchestras around the country are adopting a wide array of methods, from the trivial to the thoughtful, to bring more people into the concert hall. They are hunting for the neophytes, the dabblers and mainly the ungray.
"...At the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra's 'Classical Connections' series for the under-40 set, you can speed date, take salsa lessons or exchange résumés before the performance, a shortened concert with onstage commentary and occasional video.
"For six Friday nights, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra will play a traditional program for the first half of the evening, but then provide the choice of chamber music or jazz in the lobby for the second half.
"The New World Symphony, a high-level training orchestra in Miami Beach led by Michael Tilson Thomas, will play four 20-minute concerts in one evening, each on the hour, from 7 to 10.
"...Trying nonmusical methods to lure concertgoers is not new. For at least a decade, orchestras - particularly smaller ones - have introduced shorter and earlier concerts, onstage commentary and film-score programs to broaden their appeal. More recent innovations include video screens in the concert hall, hand-held electronic devices to provide running commentary and musical programs built around pop culture themes.
"But a recent surge in experimentation tempts one to wonder if orchestra executives and their increasingly influential marketing departments might be panicking. In any case, the ferment of ideas just may change the symphony concert experience.
"...Crucially, subscriptions - a critical part of orchestra finances - are declining. And every subscription not renewed is yet one more batch of tickets that must be sold just to stay even. Single-ticket sales usually do not make up the difference....
"Why are audiences shrinking? It's the great debate in the classical-music world, as pervasive a topic as race in South Africa or real estate in New York: Is the business of classical music as we know it dying?
"Pessimists say it is at least on the decline, and blame a lack of music education, shorter attention spans, an image-obsessed culture and a vast new world of entertainment options. Another point of view says classical music is alive and well, with more listening than ever occurring at home or in the car. Maybe, this line of thought goes, the problem is not demand but supply: too many orchestras are playing too many concerts.
" 'It used to be orchestras had very small staffs and gave many fewer concerts,' said Joseph Horowitz, the author of the recent book Classical Music in America: A History of Its Rise and Fall. 'This is the nub of the issue. It's a surfeit of product that's causing many of the dysfunctions.' That, he says, and the lack of charismatic music directors, amid an overabundance of marketing directors. (Most orchestras did not even have marketing departments until the 1970's. Today, a staff of a dozen is typical.) And there are always practical considerations like concertgoers in suburbs spreading ever farther from downtown concert halls, difficult parking and expensive tickets....
"Researchers divided that quadrant into categories like active and casual audiences; 'sophisticated low-frequency alums,' many of whom would attend if invited; dabblers; and 'uninitiated prospects.' They spoke of orchestras as 'delivery systems' for 'product,' providing an 'entertainment experience.' Focus on what the audience wants, the study said. Loosen the definition of classical music. Pay more attention to social functions. And offer lots of visual stimulation.
" 'It's been one-size-fits-all for a long time,' said Alan S. Brown, a consultant and the project director of the Knight audience study. 'Today's cultural consumers are demanding more intense experiences.'
"And orchestras are cooking them up and dishing them out. The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, a leader in what might be called the fun-factor area, has a Thursday night series that provides free dinners. The doors to Music Hall open at 6:15, and concertgoers hit the buffet line, taking an entree and salad and sitting at tables in the hall's 20,000-square-foot ballroom. 'College Nite' concerts feature post-performance parties twice a year, in which students nibble appetizers and listen to a local band (not the symphonic kind).
"Paavo Jarvi, the music director, and orchestra musicians make appearances. The orchestra's CSO Encore! group, for young professionals, is sponsoring a 'Dressed to the Nines' party at the hall for opening night, when a Beethoven symphony - no need to say which - is on the program. At the beginning of last season, the symphony even sold Paavo's Baack T-shirts, a surprising accessory to Mr. Jarvi's intelligent music-making and serious demeanor.
" 'We're just trying to snap it up a bit,' said the orchestra's spokeswoman, Carrie Krysanick....
"The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is shaking things up too - shaking, but not stirring - with Symphony With a Twist, a series of four concerts preceded by martini bars and jazz in the lobby. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's version is called Bravo.
"In Houston the focus is less on the party in the lobby than the visuals on the stage. The Houston Symphony projects images of the musicians, arms sawing and fingers flying, and the conductor, baton a-waving, on large screens in the hall. (The Omaha Symphony, the San Diego Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra have all tried similar experiments, as did the New York Philharmonic.) 'We have to recognize that this is a visual generation,' Evans Mirageas, an orchestra marketing consultant [Sandye's note: and new Artistic Director of the Cincinnati Opera], said. 'They are used to seeing things more than they are used to hearing things.'...
"The critical question is whether the new tricks actually work. And so far, the evidence is mixed. Cincinnati's free meals brought higher attendance. ('If you feed them, they will 'said Ms. Krysanick, the orchestra's spokeswoman.)...
"'We live or die on the repertoire, from Bach through John Adams and Steve Reich and so on,' said Peter Pastreich, an orchestra administrator for 40 years who retired as executive director of the San Francisco Symphony in 1999. 'That's what makes the difference.'
"As for cocktails and canapés? Can they determine the future of classical music? 'We are in a lot of trouble,' he said, 'if that's true.' "
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