At a meeting this weekend involving orchestras, talk turned at one point to the possibility that at least some orchestras might disappear. The board chair of one major orchestra had said, “If we don’t put more butts in seats, we’re going to have a difficult time surviving as we’re presently organized.” (Exact quote.)
There was also talk about what kind of concerts orchestras present, and what kind of audience they can reach. Some people said that programming couldn’t be like art films; it had to be more popular than that. So at one point, I found myself saying, “If we really do go down the drain, it’s sad that we won’t do it playing the musical equivalent of Almodovar. We’ll be playing Brahms for the nine thousandth time.”
But then I pondered the analogy. If the artistic side of the equation has a film equivalent, so should the popular side. What would that be? It wouldn’t be Hollywood; whatever a safe concert of standard classics might be, it’s not Titanic or Troy.
And then it hit me. Classical concerts — classy, in their way, but safe, familiar, and comforting — are like 1940s movies. Orchestras and opera companies (and chamber music groups) are like theaters that show Casablanca, over and over and over again, with a little Almodovar thrown in. Or, maybe more precisely, and at the biggest orchestras, a little Bergman, since new music programming (to the extent that it circles around dissonant music) often seems mired in the past in its own way.
And if Casablanca won’t attract an audience…