Let’s change the way we program concerts

By David Amos

SAN DIEGO—One of the big challenges in the artistic administration of an orchestra, opera company, or chamber music series is making the right choices of what music to present. Many factors come into play. With less classical music education in our schools and less exposure at home, we have the obvious recipe of shrinking and graying audiences for the present and future. Just look around you!

The paying public will attend concerts for two basic reasons: If it likes the music being played, or if there is a superstar performer in the roster. The great, legendary impresario Sol Hurok used to say, “If the people do not want to go to a concert, there is nothing that you can do to stop them!”

So, how do you reach a sensible balance between creating new audiences, keeping the serious listeners you already have, and at the same time not compromise tradition, artistic values, beauty, and the commitment to the continuation of the art form? Not an easy task, but there are some points to keep in mind.

Do you stubbornly program traditional music only, present it the old fashioned way, and expect to keep the orchestral concert and chamber recital alive? Or, do you cater totally to the popular tastes to attract the marginal concertgoer by scheduling a heavy dose of the 1912 Overture, Bolero, and other easy to hear, but overdone classics? The less playful is our choice of music, the more it is labeled heavy or dull; adventurous programming runs the danger of being called superficial, esoteric, and even silly.

Where is the balance?

Most young people are well informed of pop music and culture, but have never been exposed (let’s say “correctly exposed”) to our beloved classical music. Many have never been to a concert, and are uncomfortable with the traditional attire and concert etiquette. This, sadly, also applies to most of the adult population, more and more every year.

My wife and I are trying to do our part, and I humbly invite you to do something similar: In 2008, we took our seven year old grandson to a concert of the Seattle Symphony, at Benaroya Hall, conducted by Gerard Schwarz. The music way by no means lightweight: Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, “Symphony of A Thousand”. His first live orchestral experience was a symphony orchestra, chorus, children’s chorus, expanded brass section, and soloists, all in a package of 80 uninterrupted minutes, together with 2400 other adults. He survived it just fine, enjoyed the concert, and a year and a half later, we fondly still talk about it with him. We have subsequently taken him to other similar concerts.

This may be an exception, but how can we provide the younger generations a favorable introduction and exposure, and not scare them away with what they would, not surprisingly, regard as a stiff, dull, somber, and expensive exercise? The music itself is not attraction enough when so many other elements of the traditional concert experience are so foreign. We also have to cope with the vast competition from other forms of entertainment, sports, active and passive, the wonderful outdoors, and other activities.

To my opinion, we have to make the concert experience more accessible and attractive, not by pandering to popularity and selling out what in snooty circles is called “bad taste”, but by being more flexible and pliant in the concert procedure and choice of music. Keep in mind that our society rewards and even demands mediocrity. Serious art simply does not sell well, and we have to solve our puzzle within these limitations.

At the same time, we can not ignore that musical organizations have a budget, heavy expenses, and to survive, can not consistently lose money. No rational manager or board would allow the financial demise of its organization, considering all the options available. Add to this the world’s present financial crunch, where all arts organizations have been severely affected.

What to do?

Mix it up. Program serious music in the same evening with tasteful, but lighter fare. Look at the old programs from the beginning of the Twentieth Century when there was a nice blend of tradition, beauty, fun, newness, and excitement. (It is not good programming to have two Bruckner symphonies in the same evening!).

Promote the organization in non-traditional venues. If you wish to attract new subscribers, do not preach to the choir, look outside the usual forms of publicity. Others are doing it, and succeeding in reaching a wider audience of potential concertgoers. Creative thinking is not forbidden.

Relax the traditional concert attire requirements. It is already happening. Also, musicians on stage do not have to be in tails and long gowns all the time, looking like something out of a museum. Brahms sounds just as well if played in blue jeans, although I am not exactly suggesting this. People in the audience can dress tastefully, but not ostentatiously. Avoid the unnecessary fashion show to impress others. What matters in the music, the experience of the moment. Do you wear a coat and tie to listen to a piano concerto in your stereo at home? I don’t think so.

Verbal explanations from the stage before the music is played, either by the conductor or a more eloquent someone else, is not insulting anyone’s intelligence. It is not hokey and improper. We, the more enlightened ones have to be more flexible and understanding if the art form is to be rescued. Besides, you will never know when you learn something new. In general, it helps many people appreciate and enjoy the music, and encourages them to come back. It also relaxes the stuffiness of the air, which many of us don’t even notice. Regular concertgoers are so used to the ritual, that they are not aware how intimidating all of this can be to the uninitiated.

Choose exciting, vibrant music. Bring it to life through well prepared performances. Avoid the stale, academic detached presentations that do nothing to promote our cause.  The conductor and musicians have to be aware more than ever that they are communicating something special to the audience in the hall. When energy flows both ways, (and this happens some of the time), it is a wonderful memory for everyone involved.

Arnold Schoenberg said, “Play the classics as if they are new music, and play new music as if they are already classics”.

Pablo Casals said that we, the musicians have to “make divine things human, and human things divine”.

If more of these ideas are practiced, the word will get around.

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Amos is the conductor of the Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra and has been a guest conductor with orchestras around the world.