<p>I’m curious - does anyone know if the Met Opera broadcasts at local theaters were financially/commercially successful? The timing was always terrible for me, but I thought the concept was interesting.</p>
<p>^enormously successful. They are expanding the program.</p>
<p>Trumpet-</p>
<p>Based on my experience with regional orchestras, they aren’t siphoning young audiences form the ‘majfor’ ones, it is basically the same demographic (and obviously, I can only speak locally, so YMMV).</p>
<p>Musica, I have heard the LA Phil is trying things, which is the point of this, that on the one hand orchestras moan about the graying of their audience and so forth, and yet it seems like they are doing the same thing over and over. Case in point: The NY Phil, perhaps from the time Mehta resigned, has been worried about aging audience, staleness, and so forth, but when they hired music directors, they went for the older, prestigious conductors in Kurt Masur and Lorin Maazel, both distinguished conductors to be sure, but older, very much in the mode of ‘you need a European, old school conductor’ and for that time the orchestra stagnated in many ways (not the level of the musicians, they remain to a person one of the best in the business). One of the biggest ironies is that Lorin Maazel is an erudite, charming person (go to the website for the Colbert Report),with a good sense of humor, ability to talk about music…and he for all intents and purposes left it on the stage. </p>
<p>And quite frankly, the environments of many classical venues is not what they call customer friendly. Their customer service IME (I am talking here in NYC, primarily Carnegie Hall, the Met and Avery Fisher Hall) is lousy, they remind me a lot more of the DMV in the old days then of people trying to allure customers. From what I have been told, they also are not exactly friendly to the performers, either, which leads to things like not being allowed to do encores during performances (there are all kinds of rigid work rules, that are more fitting for the 1950’s then today). More importantly, with today’s recording technology, concert halls could be offering recordings of favorite concerts, dvd’s and so forth, with what is out there today it is no longer an intensive effort to do so, yet they resist it, a lot of places recording and sound equipment is practically paleolithic, something recording engineers have confirmed. </p>
<p>It is a whole picture, and it is going to take cleverness to do so.Peter Gelb at the Met is a prime example, when he proposed the idea of HD broadcasts to theaters, people said it would never work, people wouldn’t go,it would take from the live audience…and well, it has been a success (one story; A local theater where I live in Northern NJ picked up the rights to the Met broadcasts in the middle of the season, literally they signed the contract on a weds for a sat performance.They had no advertising at all, barely had it listed on their website, and they sold out, the guy was tickled pink). MTT is experimenting with unique webcasts, using in some cases Internet II, and the YouTube Symphony, while in many ways a publicity gimmick, gave a lot of food for thought about how to promote the music and how to create unique events that might draw people from this new media age. I also think about the fact that what we call classical music has been around for 400+ years (using the Baroque as a sort of dividing line, for no reason), and survived some pretty bad musical trends and fads, so I figure it will be around in the future, too, just needs to find its “gimmick”, to quote gypsy rose lee:)</p>
<p>I think that the LA Phil is on target, because the “gimmick” factor is kept down to a minimum. They have used the venue and (excuse the LA-speak) the “vibe” to their advantage by marketing the Walt Disney Concert Hall as a pleasant, fun and happening place to be on the weekend. Cocktails and Mahler anyone? The investment has been HUGE,(Frank Gehry does not come cheap) but I see it really paying off. I have noticed MUCH younger audiences at LA Opera as well-----but then again EVERYONE seems young to me now days. SIGH…</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the other side of the coin with smaller regional orchestras is that they cannot afford to stay in business. Here in South Florida we had the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra which was a real gem that served Palm Beach, Broward, and Dade counties. Unfortunately they could not stay in business even though they did draw from a more varied crowd. Many of those musicicans have either left the area or are really scraping to get by. </p>
<p>We do have a few smaller Orchestras that have somehow managed to stay in business and a fair Pops orchestra. The Miami City Ballet has finally returned to having a live pit Orchestra after years of going with “Canned” music. Our local Opera Company has been on its last legs for years.</p>
<p>Our community relies on a special concert series sponsored by our 14 year “new” performing arts center to satisfy the interests of our population. The quality of the artists that perform vary and sometimes it is a guessing game as to what to expect from the concerts. Subscriptions are expensive and it is mostly the older generations that attend. More and more seats are vacant each year, we have been able to improve our seats in our section due to people not returning. We are among the youngest subscribers. </p>
<p>They do offer “rush” seats for students one hour prior to the shows, the performing arts HS is right next door, but not many take advantage of the opportunity. I don’t think that this is well publicized. There is also a program geared to younger school children with a few different productions a year.</p>
<p>Unfortunately the programming has not changed over the years to appeal to more varied tastes although I did notice that there will be a performance of “The Planets” accompanied by NASA photographs this season. </p>
<p>A comment on Hillary Hahn; my S and his male (and female) friends have been avid fans of this talented, young, beautiful musician for many years. We were lucky to take his entire orchestra to see her in Chicago several years ago. They talked about that concert for weeks. They are very impressed with her but I think that if she did not have the talent or the presence, they would not have the interest. We need more young musicians of her caliber to attract young classical fans. </p>
<p>Maybe the new conductor of the NY Philharmonic will help shape the future. He got a great write up in the NY Times yesterday.</p>
<p>I brought my late teen daughters to a chamber music performance this summer at a large outdoor venue where a Phish concert was being held on another part of the grounds later in the day. I was delighted that many of the ushers kept assuming that I was part of the Phish crowd…and equally delighted that a number of the Phish fans chose to spend an hour or two at the chamber performance while they were waiting for their event. </p>
<p>I can’t say that everyone in the audience was equally delighted with the casually dressed, younger members of the audience, who by the way, were polite and obviously well informed concertgoers. And that’s a shame.</p>
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<p>I agree fully with the above. My son is a member of a brass quintet (you can send me a PM for the name if you’re interested). They play a variety of music from classical to contemporary to jazz to pop. One of the main missions is to make this music approachable for all audiences. They do a LOT of work with school groups from elementary school through college in addition to their concert performing schedule. </p>
<p>I think this sort of thing is terrific in that it is a forum for younger folks to actually appreciate and enjoy a wide variety of musical genres.</p>
<p>So, here’s what breaks my heart. Apparently, our school district has decided that eliminate class trips that could be perceived as “entertainment”. The Shakespeare teacher cannot take the kids to a local college festival because plays are for “entertainment”. Last year, the advanced French kids went to the Met to see a dress rehearsal of Thais, because of the language. My daughter still lists it as one of the most amazing experiences of her life. But now…you guessed it. Those trips will no longer be allowed. How do we fight the trend of teaching to be solely about facts and figures?</p>
<p>How very short-sighted, BeezMom. I encourage you to write a letter to your school board, and perhaps even a letter to your local paper. Personal experience stories by current and former students mean a lot. If you could get your daughter to write a letter, that would be very meaningful.</p>
<p>I do think that some field trips border stretch the issue, but not those you listed.</p>
<p>Beezmom-
That is a large part of the problem, schools today are being more and more viewed as training grounds for the new economy, as in effect education factories, and with all the emphasis on standardized testing, on getting into the right college to get a good job (presumably in business), the arts, with tight budgets, are considered frills, extras, that ‘don’t further the product’ (ironically, some of the very people who have helped create this environment IMO, the big management consulting companies, huge global corporations, whose stake in education is creating good product for their grist mill, are also responsible for pretty heavy funding for orchestras and such…in a sense, they are helping directly or indirectly to kill audiences for the very groups they help support). </p>
<p>There is another thing that saddens me, and it is reflected in the politics and culture that is raging out there, that somehow things like music, art, plays, etcetera is ‘elitist’, is ‘for the elites’, and is otherwise therefore a frill for the well off, something not needed, or worse, even to be sneered about (don’t believe it applies to music? catch some political blog sites, making fun of President Obamas attempts at boosting cultural events at the white house, or even having Yo Yo Ma et al playing at the inauguration, claiming it was typical of an elitist president, representing limousine liberals, etc)…and even among many who should know better, you get attitudes about art as being superfluous (and before someone accuses me of anti conservative bias, I am not; people like William F Buckley, Harold Bloom and others of that particular school of politics commented on the vary same thing (i.e this idea of arts as ‘elite’), and we also have from the more liberal side of things people who sneer at arts education as being teaching dead white men’s music, art and plays and so forth, just as ideologically blind as their compatriots across the spectrum). </p>
<p>In many school districts, it seems like the only music that is ‘needed’ is having a marching band at the high school football games, that the rest of it is ‘extras’ or ‘a luxury’ (one school district near me trashed their arts programs down to basically nothing, while voting to spend 200k rebuilding the school athletic fields; interesting, because sports is even more elitist then music in that a relatively small percentage of the student population plays high school sports, so spending on those programs benefits a relative few as well, but that isn’t elitist I guess:(. </p>
<p>The only way that is going to be reversed is if people speak up for the arts, and arts education, and that trips to a music program or a play or a museum is as much a part of learning as calc or AP Bio. And to a certain extent, I blame colleges for this.When you apply to college, they require that you have coursework in certain areas, in English, Math, science and so forth, but there is zero requirement for any kind of arts or humanities exposure (okay, other then maybe literature, as part of English). By doing so, I think they are sending the message people already assume, that arts don’t matter (interesting that many schools require at least some arts or humanity courses as part of their core curricula). I think unless people know it is valued, that schools are going to cut it, along with ‘other frill items’. </p>
<p>There are schools districts in this country that value these things, that have tried to keep them in the schools, but it has been an uphill fight. In some districts, the schools fight for the programs, and end up getting them cut because some local politico makes a stink about ‘wasted money’ in the school budget, and the budget gets voted down, and voila, end of the program…</p>
<p>We are fortunate that the budget to replace the arts magnet school in my area was in place before the economic mess. My D graduated from the school that has a national reputation in the arts, but combines it with tough academics. The facility was in really bad shape though. Imagine that the only school in the county without a theater was an arts magnet. Staging for drama and theater was always incredibly imaginative though since there were also carpentry and stage managements primes at the school. The ground breaking for the new school was this week and it should be spectacular. The school also offers magnet programs in technology, culinary and literary arts so its graduates are found at from Yale to Julliard to top culinary institutes. I don’t have another coming along to take advantage of it, but I have friends who are very grateful for it.</p>
<p>Edited to add that this came about in large part because of a very dedicated group of parents who did lots of fund raising to augment the school budget. A foundation was set up years ago that has worked non stop to see this happen - we thought at one point that it would never happen, but never gave up.</p>