Balancing Act

Balancing Act

Juliette Barber explores Zürich’s iconic

Tonhalle, discovering the pair behind

its iconic resident orchestra and their

plans to maintain its relevance

29 Internationalartsmanager.com

Overlooking Lake Zürich, the Tonhalle Zürich exudes

the city’s rich musical traditon. Flooded with light and

embellished with intricate gold decoraton, the infuence of

Brahms is palpable, yet its vibrancy is atributable to Zürich’s

powerhouse pair: Paavo Järvi and Ilona Schmiel

As Music Director, Järvi presides over the Tonhalle-

Orchester Zürich, as its 11th Chief Conductor and the

visionary behind its ambitous programming. Alongside him,

sits the orchestra’s dynamic Artstc Director, Schmiel, a

central fgure in its recent evoluton. Having just had their

contracts extended untl 2029, the two are excited to realise

the orchestra’s enormous potental yet faced with shifing

audience preferences and an ambitous mut-year Mahler

project, they understand that adaptaton is the route to

survival in this uncertain climate.

Atractng and retaining an audience is an objectve that

consumes the minds of leaders across the performing

arts sector, keen to ensure loyal listeners return each

season, yet inspired by the potental of new audiences

and fresh perspectves. In 2017, circumstance forced the

Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich to tackle this queston head on,

temporarily removed from the familiarity of its home, the

Tonhalle Zürich.

In its place, the orchestra decamped to Tonhalle Maag,

an industrial-style lof building, a far cry from the “beige

paint” and wartme relics that characterised Tonhalle Zürich,

pre-renovaton. With this new space came an opportunity to

atract a more modern, youthful audience, encouraged by the

venue’s informality and opportunity to gather at the bar for

insightul post-concert conversatons. However, this period

also saw the loss of some of the orchestra’s original audience,

unable, or unwilling, to adapt to the temporary change in the

orchestra’s surroundings.

However, afer four years of painstaking renovatons,

the Tonhalle Zürich re-opened its doors, revealing an “old

world opulence” and architectural ornamentaton, “almost

as if you were seeing it through the eyes of Brahms”. With

the orchestra’s return to its former home, the old guard

returned yet Järvi worried that the new audience it had

gained would fail to identfy with the grandeur of the space

and its traditonal connotatons. In some ways, his fears were

realised, notng an “aversion” from younger guests, struck by

the dichotomy of the two spaces. However, the orchestra’s

leadership team is not in the habit of rejectng a challenge

and used this opportunity to explore the impact of locatons

and aesthetcs, launching numerous initatves to enhance the

accessibility of its concert experience.

One event that always atracts a younger crowd is the

popular tonhalleLATE, an evening that combines classical

music and club sounds. With a 10pm start, the frst hour of

the evening is a traditonal concert that transforms into a

“huge party” into the early hours. Despite its DJ and fusion

sounds, the event can also atract a more refned audience,

with longstanding patrons keen to catch the frst hour, if

escaping to the bar afer the frst half. The amalgamaton of

the traditonal and the innovatve appears to have been a

success for the Tonhalle Zürich, though Järvi is keen to stress

that “early exposure [to classical music] in schools and, more

importantly, homes” is essental.

Schmiel has also been a central fgure in the orchestra’s

metamorphosis, accompanying it on its journey from the

Tonhalle Zürich to Tonhalle Maag and back again. As a result,

she has a unique perspectve on the concert experience,

repeatedly questoning the audience’s intenton upon

entering the orchestra’s space.

In a world addicted to immediate gratfcaton and

overwhelming sensory experiences, Schmiel is convinced that

the orchestra’s role is to give its audience tme, a “wonderful

surrounding” and “experience with yourself”.

Whilst this intenton may be tmeless, Schmiel is alert

to the shifing preferences and market dynamics facing

concert halls today. Afer the pandemic, audiences act with

a new spontaneity, which can be stressful to navigate as a

commercial enterprise. Schmiel shared that three days before

a concert she can ofen be faced with 300 unsold tckets,

but efectve social media campaigns can result in a sold-out

hall come concert night, “it’s very hard to foresee and predict

this part”.

However, high quality programming and symphonic greats,

such as the Bruckner Cycle, ofer some guarantee of tcket

sales and Järvi is keen to build on this success. Ever ambitous

in his vision for the orchestra, Järvi has decided to turn his

atenton to Mahler, launching the Mahler Cycle in February

2024, a project that will extend untl 2029.

Alongside this, the 2023-2024 season will also welcome

Bryce Dessner as its Creatve Chair, building on his

experience as the guitarist of indie rock band, The Natonal.

Tonhalle Zürich

Ilona Schmiel © Gaëtan Bally

30 Internationalartsmanager.com

His orchestral work, Mari, will be conducted by Järvi this

December and later in the season Dessner will take to the

stage for his audio-visual project Electric Fields (featuring

David Chalmin, the Labèque sisters and singer

Barbara Hannigan).

Beyond its natonal pursuits, the orchestra also tours

extensively, and when I visited it had just completed a

successful tour across Europe, including a “Sold Out”

Proms in London. As with any touring organisaton, the

queston of sustainability weighs on Schmiel, who feels the

“model of the future” is to “try not to hop from one city to

the next”. The orchestra has already embarked on certain

changes to reduce its carbon footprint, including travelling

by train between concerts. However, Järvi is keen to stress

that climate change is not a problem that can be solved by

individual orchestras alone and highlights touring’s wider

value and ability to spread “love, peace, joy and culture” to

audiences around the world.

Whilst positve cultural value does not negate touring’s

adverse climate impacts, Jarvi’s comments present a new

way to look at the queston of sustainability. He is passionate

about preserving the art of touring and is keen to counter the

industry’s presiding wisdom.

Leaving the Tonhalle Zürich, I am struck by the venue’s

transformaton and the orchestra’s ability to embrace the

changing landscape it inhabits. This is a refecton of Jarvi’s

leadership, able to pivot from classical to contemporary

and traditonal to visionary. Amongst the saturated

European classical music scene, it is these dichotomies that

mark out the orchestra as Zürich’s “litle hidden gem”, a

characterisaton that Järvi remains commited to despite its

world-renowned status.

Discover more about the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich in this

online exhibiton by Google Arts & Culture: artsandculture.

google.com/partner/tonhalle-zuerich

Since 2022, Paavo Järvi has been conductng a Bruckner

cycle with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, its recording of

Symphony No. 7 winning the Diapason d’Or in April this

year. Their recording of Symphony No. 8 was released at the

opening of this season and Symphony No. 9 was recorded

this September to be released for the 2023-24 season

opening.

Tonhalle Zürich