Orchestras and new music

The following comes from somebody in the business who wants

to be anonymous. It was sent as a comment on my book, but it’s

worthwhile putting it out for everyone to see:

Permit me to offer a real-world

perspective re your comment that "orchestras should try to find people who

really like the modernist works."

That’s very true, but the cold, hard fact is that, at the present time,

it’s a small audience.

The research I’ve seen says

somewhere between 5 – 10% of the current orchestra audience likes modern or

contemporary. And the other 90%+ are

becoming increasingly reluctant to buy an expensive ticket for a concert where half

the program is music they dislike.

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There’s a fundamental law of

consumer behavior at work here — people don’t spend time or money on something

they don’t want. This fundamental

reality applies to consumer behavior across the board, including

orchestras.

I’ve also seen analyses of ticket

sales that shows there is a strong, statistically valid inverse relationship

between the word ‘premiere’ in a program – world, national or local — and

ticket sales. In other words, say

“premiere” in a classical context and you can count on lower attendance.

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These are just the realities of the

orchestra business today. And here’s one

more cold, hard reality: if new music sold more

tickets, you can bet your bass clef orchestras would be doing a lot more of

it.

I confess the data I see makes me

class=SpellE>kinda skeptical that the answer lies in whether or not we

play new music, in and of itself. I

sense that the answer is to connect.

class=GramE>And to deploy all the elements of the experience — the music, how

it’s performed, how it’s presented, etc. etc. — towards that purpose.

I think what you’re REALLY arguing,

Greg, is that we need to change the paradigm, challenge the assumption that

today’s audience is tomorrow’s audience, that today’s concerts are tomorrow’s

concerts, that today’s organizations are tomorrow’s organizations.

style='mso-spacerun:yes'> The tricky part is getting from today to

tomorrow; I can’t wait to see what you come up with.