If I'd known what I was going to see, I might not have believed it. Debussy's Afternoon of a Faun, played by the Symphony Orchestra at the University of Maryland School of Music, with choreography. But not choreography for dancers. Choreography for the musicians, who danced the piece as they played it (from memory), rising from the floor, flowing across it, falling, sometimes spinning, rarely grouped by sections, moving in ways organized visually, and also musically, with movements that began with the students improvising them. If someone … [Read more...]

Classical music is changing quite a bit. And in fact I've made a list of many innovations -- some not well known at all -- for my Juilliard course on the future of classical music. But here's a thought about the changes. They happen, I've been thinking, for two reasons. The obvious reason is that classical music is in crisis, and people worry about its future. And especially about whether, in the future, there will be any audience. So changes get made, in an attempt to make classical music more accessible, more interesting to people in our … [Read more...]

From John P, in a comment he posted here: I’ve learned from a post on our “Save the Colorado Symphony Web Site” that summer concerts ARE scheduled. Why they weren’t announced, or even that the concerts would take place, weren’t announced, I don’t know. But according to a member of the orchestra, summer concerts ARE on the schedule. I think this refers to the "Save the Colorado Symphony" Facebook page, where someone from the orchestra posted a rather annoyed comment, saying that summer concerts in fact were going to be part of the … [Read more...]

First an apology. In my first recent post about the Colorado Symphony, I mangled the link to my January post on that orchestra. Which you can find here. And now a clarification, in case it's needed. I didn't slam the Colorado Symphony, in my last post, because they're high on any agenda I might have. They aren't. But if you read what I posted last January, you'll see that I was hopeful about the new direction they'd announced, both because they boldly stated what their problems were, and because they proposed some major changes. I hoped … [Read more...]

Following up on my last post, about Colorado Symphony's business plan… Yes, it's bold about the problem they're having. They're not taking in enough money. And that's because interest in classical music has fallen off, so that now the number of people who care about them is too small to give them the support they need. But now comes the part I'm surprised about. One big part of their plan to make themselves more viable is to get more connected to their community. And they want to do that by giving more diverse performances, which means … [Read more...]