Re: Are orchestras dying?


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Posted by Chuck on October 24, 2000 at 12:01:11:

In Reply to: Are orchestras dying? posted by Scott Roeder on October 24, 2000 at 07:15:43:

Absolutely. Symphony concerts here are dominated by the white-headed and the local "one hundred". Even though symphony tickets are offered at a steep discount to the university students, very few are to been seen. The local chamber music series is in even worse shape.

Yet, when the orchestra put on a "tango night", it packed the house So maybe there is hope if the symphony can stop being a museum for music. Goodness knows that opera companies have discovered this.

Perhaps the problem goes even deeper; our schools have largely neglected serious music instruction. Band (often the only musical instruction given in high school) students are woefully uninformed on the topic of orchestral music. It would make an interesting survey to see what proportion of band students have attended a symphony concert in the last year.

When I was in college, I played hooky to attend CSO matinee concerts (cheap tickets for good seats). This was when Solti had just come to Chicago and was exposing us to Mahler. I failed a couple of courses as a result, but I can't remember you what they were or who taught them. I DO remember the CSO performance of the "Resurrection" to this day.

Ars longa, vita brevis.



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