[contextly_auto_sidebar] A wonderful kids' book -- Olivia Helps With Christmas. Featuring, of course, Olivia the Pig. Who (among much else) gets tangled in Christmas lights. When we got our own lights out, Rafa wanted to put them around him, just like Olivia. The rest was sheer happiness. Which is my holiday wish for us all. Sheer happiness for the New Year! For all of us, and for everyone. May our wish come true. … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar] In my last posts — here and here — I’ve been hitting on weaknesses in some National Symphony programs, aimed at reaching a new young audience. Enough of that. Here’s something more important, larger points about what big classical music institutions need to do, to get that audience. Strategy They need a strategy. Complete with clear goals. Too often there really isn’t any plan. Just do events. And then be happy if they attract a lot of new people. And then maybe say, “Let’s do more of this,” or “Now let’s get … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar] So the Declassified show at the National Symphony a week ago didn’t strike me as a success. Declassified, as I said in my last post, is a series that the orchestra and its parent institution, the Kennedy Center, created to reach the fabled new young audience. Younger people certainly showed up on Friday, to hear Ben Folds, who was playing a piano concerto he’s written. But as I said in my post, they weren’t a new NSO/KenCen crowd. They were Ben Folds fans, coming to see their favorite, with no reason, left to … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar] You might think — given my views on the future of classical music — that I’d welcome what I heard at the Kennedy Center Friday night, when the National Symphony played Ben Folds’ Piano Concerto, with Folds himself as soloist. Because there it was. A piano concerto by an indie rock star. The concert hall full of younger people. You might think I’d tweet my excitement about an audience much younger than usual. A simple fact But I can’t quite go there. First because -- and this is just a simple fact, not a way of … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar] "They"means conductors. "Don't do it" means that when they conduct Lulu, they don't follow the markings in Berg's score. I've posted about that, after seeing the movie-theater stream of the Met's new Lulu. But now I've gotten the Lulu full score from the Juilliard library, and looked at it while I listened to some recordings. And the problem is worse than I thought. On Facebook, I went on at some length about this, but I'll keep it simple here. In the prologue to the opera, just 4 1/2 minutes of music, … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar] I’ve seen two powerful operas in the past week — Philip Glass’s Appomattox at the Washington National Opera, and Lulu at one of the Met’s HD movie showings. Appomattox might be Philip’s masterpiece, and certainly the evenings I spent with it — I saw it twice — were some of the most intense and rewarding time I’ve ever had with classical music. I’ll write about it after Thanksgiving, but now I’ll share some thoughts about Lulu that I posted on Facebook. The new William Kentridge production (a work of art in itself) is … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar] I’m often asked to support things out in the classical music world — causes, performances, projects, groups, crowdfunding campaigns. And I almost always don’t do it, because when these requests get numerous, they could overwhelm both me and the blog. And diminish whatever force my support might have. But Groupmuse is an exception. They’ve just begun a Kickstarter campaign, and I urge to you support it. I’m going to. This is an organization I’ve underestimated. Maybe not entirely my fault, because I think they … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar] Audience engagement — it’s a weak strategy. Never mind that it can seem to work. A friend sent me notes from the National Arts Marketing Project Conference, with details of the Cleveland Public Theater, and its impressive season, full of plays on subjects that just seem to scream contemporary relevance. But still they wanted to boost attendane on slow nights. So they added some audience engagement — attrractive things, happening all around the art, in this case free beer — and ticket sales went up. Which … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar] Audience engagement. Such a buzzphrase in the arts these days. The subject of the National Arts Marketing Project Conference, held in Salt Lake City November 6th through 9th.A conference full of useful suggestions, hopeful case studies. Success stories! In which arts organizations learned to engage their audience. A week or so earlier, Matt Lehrman — a terrific “Audience and Customer Experience (ACX) expert” (as he describes himself) — and fellow ArtsJournal blogger — asked me about audience engagement. Did I have … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar] I have to admit I’m a little surprised by the comments on my last post, which was about the way we in classical music grasp for relevance by programming concerts built around things in history — Shostakovich and Stalin, for instance — that not many people care much about. And thereby showing how not relevant we are. The response surprised me. But then after more than 30 years as a professional writer I know that even smart and sympathetic readers don’t always get the full meaning of everything they read. And that, … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar] This summer came a CD release which — with all respect to the major classical music forces involved — is the kind of project I wish we wouldn’t do. This was a Deutsche Grammophon recording, Andris Nelsons conducting his Boston Symphony in two Shostakovich works, the Tenth Symphony and the Passacaglia from Lady Macbeth of Misensk, packaged unitl the title Shostakovich Under Stalin’s Shadow. And it all seems so thoughtful, so serious. And so connected to the larger world. The new recording initiative will focus … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar] Or, rather, who’s classical music’s competition? Especially when we go out in the world, who are we competing with? Which is something anyone in the field might do, whether you’re an entrepreneurial chamber ensemble, or a major opera company. You need to find a new audience. So when you look for one, who are you competing with? This is the subject of a piece I have in the new issue of Chamber Music magazine. To read it, follow the link, and go to page 66. I’m asking an important question. When we work with the … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar] And now my final post about changing the conservatory curriculum. In the post I did last, I talked about music history, or rather classical music history. And how — while we should find a way to teach the history of other musics — even when we teach classical history we leave a lot out. Namely, the real stuff of music in the past. How it lived, how it functioned, how listened, how they listened. And — very important — how musicians, including the great composers, made their living. Working for the man If I ask … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar] Now my fourth — and next to last — post on changing the conservatory curriculum. I’ve linked the others at the end. Remember that I’m offering free consulting sessions! Originally I’d thought they’d be about changing the curriculum, but in fact the gratifying response has also come from people who wanted help with other things. Especially career development. Which I’m happy to help with, just as I’m happy to talk about anything in your work that might need an outside eye, and some advice. Of course one reason I’m … [Read more...]