ArtsJournal has another wonderful conversation running with its short-term weblog featuring violinist Midori. The artist is exchanging ideas and insights with ArtsJournal editor Doug McLennan as she tours Asia.
Her entry today explores some of her frustration and disbelief with the boundaries built between professional classical artists and their audiences. Says she:
One of the (many) issues we face in the classical music business is that of the created distance between performers and audiences. Many of us feel that this is unnecessary and is distancing potential music lovers. While others feel the need for that distance believing that the arts (and music) deserve respect and should prevent themselves from becoming ”ordinary” and therefore ”mundane.” I do agree that there are ways of respecting tradition and supporting the preservation of ”high art forms,” but I do not think that this means music should not be popular.
Midori is on a mission to dissolve these boundaries. And her personal notes from so far away are already doing the job.
Jeffrey Biegel says
In 1988, the great Lucille Ball sat in her living room and asked me if I ever spoke to my audience–I had shared that I did when it was appropriate–she thought it was a natural thing to do to get closer to your audience. So I did this much more after we met, and she was indeed correct.