It occurred to me recently that in many ways that when we talk about orchestras much of what we refer to is somewhat … abstract.
Aud. Develop
ConnectiCUTS Deep and both ways! An Irreversable Immolation!
A famous incident took place in a performance of Tosca when Maria Callas drew blood from Tito Gobbi when the retractable knife didn’t cooperate (it was only a minor injury). In another performance (in the same scene) Callas getting too close to the candles set her hair on fire, only to be rescued by the Gobbi smothering the flames (she reportedly said thank you before stabbing him!). Well Connecticut Opera just stabbed their audience to death, and then burnt themselves to the ground!…..
Nothing to Hide – Going from Film to Digital in Rochester….
It’s not often you hear of someone who shoulders the blame for an organization’s deficit by claiming it’s partly their management style that caused it! It makes me wonder though, if nearly half your staff left in the last 14 months, if advertising that is a way to attract solid personnel? Also is a renovated hall the key to help people accept innovative programming?…..
Soul Food for Thought
We’re coming up on MLK Jr. day so it is time to reflect on what I’ve been doing the past couple of months.
The Middle (Golden) Age…..
Some seriously good naval gazing into the future of Classical music is going on over on Greg Sandow’s blog. Really detailed posts (there will be 5 in the series) covering a lot of ground and summarizing in his view where things appear to be headed and what to do about it. I do think though that the issue of the average age of the audience is not as alarming as it appears, and quite possibly is something to celebrate…..
More ASS in clASSical – Off their “Rockers”
The bar keeps lowering, but in this case it’s the whammy bar! It seems the lack of marketing creativity is so prevalent that it in itself is becoming creative! It’s time to be in awe of the latest believe it or not marketing connection being made between Pop and Classical, so strap on a plastic Guitar with 5 buttons to get those $70 Symphony seats sold!……..
2009 – The Year of the Audience….let’s hope!
Could this be the year with seemingly inevitable economic woes painting a bleak picture for individual, corporate and foundation support and most importantly ticket sales, that while strategizing we collectively all ask the question……well what does the audience want? It’s not so much that we need to hit the reset button, but we do need to realize that it’s the audience that has the power to unlock our growth in these times…..
Audience Connection Final – part 2
The final two dream big Arts organizations from the Audience Connection final (here is part 1). Also, as part of their final I wanted them to take a genre of music and redefine it into more clearly understood sub-genres i.e funk, techno funk. I have included clips from two that were very well thought out and presented. For the Holidays, at the end of the post I have included audio from a rehearsal of Franz Biebl’s extraordinary Ave Maria with yours truly conducting Choirs from Evangel University and the College of the Ozarks….