[contextly_auto_sidebar id="gFJYwh5h24sjO4iVIQjloJQ7MX4cPemC"] That — "Time to join the rest of the world" — is what I called a keynote talk I gave last week, at an arts marketing conference in Spain. And what I had in mind was radical — I think — at least to some people. Maybe not to my Spanish audience (plus some people from the UK, and from Latin America). While I spoke, a few people tweeted — and OK, I’m really tickled — that if I had a fan club, they’d join it. What I said What was my message? That art — the artistic impulse, … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="MSUNXhB7U7DH8Yr3nDGELAyL5CxYy2NJ"] Continuing, about groups that successfully attracted a new, young audience… In my first post on this, I told two success stories. About the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, in London, which rebranded itself in the style of current culture, and now reliably attracts young audiences of up to 1000 people. And about Wordless Music, in its early years in New York, which combined classical music with indie rock, or in one case with a big indie rock name, Jonny Greenwood, the … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="mlSS19YuFk3QKrfaMWrCwsg4CEXPYwEf"] This is an important Kickstarter project, which needs to be funding. Luckily, they're close to their goal. But every little bit helps! It's a British project, and I haven't looked into  whether it can accept funding in dollars, but even if not, it's something important to know about it. What is it? I'm going to give you the complete email I received from Gabriel Prokofiev, the British composer, producer of electronic dance music, and creator of both the Nonclassical record … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="ctCMXahMD8XY2682T9IuKSFZKLmSE6BP"] Continuing now with my suggestion — or is it a crusade? — that we in classical music start moving heaven and earth to find an excited, new, younger audience…to prioritize that…and to give education, outreach, and advocacy a lower priority… I suggested last week that we don't do this because it seems impossible, and because if it could be done, we'd have to dumb classical music down. Or otherwise make changes that many of us wouldn't welcome. So it's important now to say that … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="QozyjB9OFYaMj6zzdQl7aauiYUWGD8n3"] Continuing from two posts ago, when I said it was more important — by far — to develop a new, excited young audience than to focus on education and outreach… It's time now to say why I think most people in our field don't seem to think this way. First, and most simply, I think that most of us can't imagine that new young audience ever existing. In part that's because we're so used to the old audience, made up of people my age (I'm 71). And in part it's because we can plainly … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="PlXX9VygTxhlhw3bYqOMfIkv2QbL7WUpcm"] I have to thank my friend Eric Edberg for some pushback in the comme#nts. Pushback to my last post, in which I quoted Deborah Rutter — the new head of the Kennedy Center, who used to run the Chicago Symphony — about how she felt orchestras could improve their standing in their community, and objected that her suggestions really only touched on minor points. The key to classical music's future, I said, isn't outreach, education, or advocacy. Instead we need an explosive new … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="YWGHPQvIyeLEohvh1W6bXuJ2qa3AFmL1"] Here’s something I feel passionate about. When I think about the future of classical music — about how it can, should, and will be restored to the place of honor it used to have in our culture — there’s only one measure of success that, in the end, seems to matter. And that’s full houses. If big and small orchestras, opera companies of all sizes, chamber music groups, soloists, early music groups, choruses, everyone who performs classical music were overrun with people buying … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Dw2kz03C5Plz0J4UqPy9ulCq8rVbsK4W"] That's the title of the course I'm teaching at Juilliard this semester — a graduate course in how to speak and write about music. It began life years ago as a course on music criticism, but that seems to be a subject that engages students less and less. Speaking and writing about music, on the other hand — that the students think is greatly important. We had the first class in the course on Wednesday, and all but one of the students there said they were interested in the … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="2ewjJ5EZe2DHJieInCRNEHyCL0wnQMrq"] Hope you all had a restful, productive summer! I got back from vacation just over a week ago. Many trips, to see family, then a retreat for two weeks in a very remote and peaceful spot in England. A lot of traveling not just for us, but of course for Rafa, who’s about to turn three, but he’s a trooper. Pulls his little wheelie suitcase after him in airports, like a seasoned flyer. Plus, once in England, he walked three miles into town with us. And walked back. Well, got … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="3SE55aOIoN3oDysmDCeuVQDBh6jOiRne"] I first thought I'd write this post on Peter Gelb's two big failures. Or actually three: -- a prickly personality -- failure to look at things other than productions to make the Met lively -- and then, of course, the failure to make even the productions exciting Which last, as I now see it, maybe shouldn't have been a surprise, because in his previous position as head of Sony Classical, the big record label, his artistic initiatives weren't successful.  But I'll save all … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="tnz5eGrBYFXgMuBsVF7KM8c4QZcfwcPJ"] Deadline approaching, as most of us know — July 31. Armageddon day. If Peter Gelb and the unions can’t come to an agreement, Peter says he’ll lock them out. How much of next season could that kill? Since rehearsals have already started. My first thought is that they’re acting like kids at a playground. Not that they’re the only big-time players doing this in our world. Politics. Cable companies/networks. So my second thought is that Peter and the unions should just cut it … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="8eXbFCfAyvhMo76IakNCbXaPLdbhffgb"] I very much enjoyed being on the Diane Rehm show this week, with Alex Ross, Orli Shaham, and Fred Bronstein. And I'm grateful for all of you who said you'd listen, or who commented on the show on Facebook and Twitter. Certainly I understand anyone who wished the discussion had gone deeper, or that the cast of characters had been different. If I were putting my own show together about the future of classical music, I might well do it differently. And I'm sure Alex, Fred, and Orli … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="dQw6wtMfUOpoAEkFzb64xwYR5XCcOeNk"] This is happening tomorrow, Tuesday, 7/22. The Diane Rehm Show is a top NPR offering, broadcast from Washington, DC. I'll be in the studio, talking about the future of classical music with quite a distinguished group of colleagues — Alex Ross, the pianist Orli Shaham, and Fred Bronstein, who as CEO of the St. Louis Symphony helped pull the orchestra out of some difficulty, and now runs one of the leading US conservatories, the Peabody Institute in Baltimore. I think that … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="JtNvwUOYK69GvdLi2R9Ikdv7nqFKTN1T"] So much fuss about Peter Gelb, so many accusations flying! And not just from the unions he's locked in battle with. I'm late to this discussion, but what got my attention was Norman Lebrecht saying that Peter was not only wrong, but was lying — outright lying — when he says that attendance at opera performances (and at classical music events generally) is falling, both in the US and in Europe Lebrecht: This is untrue, and Peter knows it is untrue. The Lyric has just … [Read more...]