Legitimacy in art has long been debated by intellectuals as to whether or not popularity equals legitimacy. I have heard it bemoaned that there have been no Operas written in the past 40 to 50 years that have become part of the regular repertoire. I would argue that the composer Stephen Sondheim like Gershwin and Bernstein before him has broken that Musical to Opera barrier even though he says he’s not a fan of Opera! For me Sweeney Todd is an Opera and Sondheim is a master composer who should be on “the list”….
Media
Oh give me a break………
Comes today the stunning news from the L.A. Times that this generation of classical musicians actually listens to other music!!!! Even more amazing, we actually enjoy it and (shudder!!!!!) PLAY IT! I’m SHOCKED!! SHOCKED!!
YO!!…We put the ASS in clASSical!
Time for a rant! The obsession with attracting the younger audience, making music cool and hip with hip advertising, funky clothes and punky billboards is the same as trying to sell a Yugo by putting a great stereo in it. After a while they will realize what it is and buy a bicycle and an ipod because it will go faster! Worse, it might be discrimination….
Challenge = Opportunity part 3: Steeling Hearts
In my first post, Out of the Shadows, I mentioned that the musicians of the Pittsburgh Symphony out of all the major orchestras I keep track of, truly demonstrate and care about the audience connection. Here are two instances of how they turned seemingly hopeless challenges into opportunities. Plus, the first in the series of “On the Go”, what people in the business are listening to right now…..
Moving Sounds – Giving thanks to two of the great ones..
With the recent passing of Luciano Pavarotti and Marcel Marceau, much has been written about them separately, their art, their contributions to humanity and their extraordinary gifts. They were really one and the same….
Challenge = Opportunity part 2: Loading the Basses!!!
Though nothing to do with the title I am thrilled to welcome to our mad corner of the Internet Jason Heath someone who I don’t know personally but who’s other blog I knew well and enjoyed regularly, I now feel like a total “rookie” on this site! OK enough with the sport analogies, this is a real sports story. The St Louis Cardinals AA baseball team, The Springfield Cardinals moved here and into a brand new ballpark, Hammons Field three seasons ago, . They play 70 Games a year, the average attendance is 7000 a game, and they have 4000 season ticket holders “striking” (couldn’t resist) fear into the hearts of the local arts groups. Let’s play Ball!
Challenge = Opportunity part 1: No More Pulp!
This week I want to focus on the idea that challenges can become an opportunities if we don’t let ourselves be defeated. An orchestra or any arts group for that matter faces so many obstacles to becoming relevant to their community. One would think that when the local paper suddenly cuts the arts section, that it would be easy to cry “that’s it, we’re done”. Here, the paper did this recently, but instead of commiserating we are celebrating!