So you’re in a fine restaurant, order a dish, eat a little and decide not to finish or to send it back. Maybe you didn’t like it and wished you had asked more about it before ordering, maybe it was under cooked, or that you liked it but you were full. Question, if you were the chef would you march out to the table to make the customer eat it? Well that’s what Itzhak Perlman did recently in a recital after performing a Messiaen piece. Just like in a restaurant though, he could have instead offered the equivalent of a description of the dish or even better, a take out box…….
Programming
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…..
The People Business….
I am embroiled in rehearsals for Mahler 5 and was not going to write till later in the week, but something jumped out at me over on Greg Sandow’s blog that I could not let pass by. The talk of free concerts for the community have been the subject of his last two post,s and most of the comments coming back to him make me think that people still believe we are in the music business. We are not, we are in the people business!….
Audience Poll – Gorilla Style!
My Audience Connection class attended the Springfield Symphony concert on Oct 18, a Big Band themed Pops concert. They were not there to review the concert, but to review the audience! The audience response was tremendous, as was the review in the paper. The students however did an internal eavesdrop poll with interesting results. Our discussion is in three parts below as well as some audio from the concert. I highly recommend every performing arts group do this kind of review!: (podcast 15 and 16 will be up Monday)
Frankenstein is Dancing……..
It has been an exciting month in my life, which is why this is the first post in a very long time. Gala concert with Renée Fleming, opening concerts, guest conducting, etc. But last week the folks in Edmonton were treated to a Hallowe’en preview. Yes, Frankenstein was dancing.
First request – keep them coming!…
David Preiser wrote this comment on my post Response to Bill – part 2:
In the interests of bringing new audiences to the concert hall, what other types of music might entice them outside of Classical works played in films? Original film music is one obvious answer, but how many orchestras try film scores from the more modern, non-James Horner/John Williams world? The same goes for music from video games (not cutesy Nintendo fluff, but more like Halo or Metal Gear Solid, or similar genres). That music often shares more in common (in terms of instrumental sounds and musical language) with contemporary Classical music, and not even with works by those considered to be the “important” composers of our era.
We broadened it out a little, the 2 clips in response are below….
What I’ve not missed out on: part 2…and a tribute
Having written in June about my love of conducting Ballet and with my recently announced appointment as Principal Pops Conductor with the Fort Worth Symphony one might think I’m trying to banish myself to the equivalent of Conducting purgatory. I beg to differ!……..
There’s a hole in my bucket….
It’s been a whirlwind trip to London and we packed a lot in. On the second day I met up with an old friend and colleague that thanks to this blog I was able to reconnect with. He asked me a question that put into sharp focus that there might be an end game to think about when it comes to a career, and that is:
What is my repertoire “bucket list”?…..