Baltimore Symphony

How does the saying go? "I have to laugh, lest I cry." Every week I receive an e-zine (electronic magazine) from an organization called Musical America. They are best known for publishing a book that contains every orchestra, soloist, agent, etc. in the music world. Anyway, their e-zine contains abbreviated news stories. Here is today's story. It comes from www.musicalamerica.com:

Baltimore Slashes Ticket Prices, Welcomes Marin Alsop
BALTIMORE -- With $25 seats and programs by contemporary composers, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra hopes to do away with two common complaints about classical music -- cost and old-fashioned music.
The subscription rate for the upcoming season amounts to $25 per seat per concert, representing a 40 percent reduction. The new plan coincides with Marin Alsop’s first season as music director. "The whole organization is energized," says players’ committee head Jane Marvine. "It's all fabulous. This is so much about what Marin is giving, not getting."

Now, I think it's great that Baltimore is able to cut their ticket prices. Of course, the first thing I noticed was the assertion that their subscription ticket price "amounts to $25 per seat per concert." The Bowling Green Chamber Orchestra's most expensive subscription seat amounts to $20 per seat per concert. What a value! (If their seats used to be 40% more, no wonder they have had difficulty filling them.) Anyway, what made me laugh was the statement that the BSO hopes to do away with "old-fashioned music" by replacing it with music of contemporary composers.

As a conductor, the one thing I can honestly say I have never heard from audience members is that I need to play more new music. In fact, my experience has been that audiences want to hear "old-fashioned" music. Many of you have heard me rant on this topic before. I believe audiences want to hear what they know--not something new.

One of the successes of the Bowling Green Chamber Orchestra has been its programming. We combine classical and popular music on the same program. All of the music, regardless of genre, is tied together via a common theme. For example, in January we took a musical trip around the world with Gershwin's An American in Paris and music from Broadway, among others. The point is, we mostly play what people already know. There is a reason that people like Beethoven's 5th symphony, or a song by George and Ira Gershwin: they have withstood the test of time.

The BGCO's approach is what caused best-selling author Seth Godin to write about us in his latest book, Small is the New Big. Godin says that the BGCO understands worldview. He points out that a very small percentage of the public love traditional, classical music. Godin says that the BGCO is successful because it puts on a "show that people want to experience." Pg. 14 (Godin, Seth. Small is the New Big. New York, NY: The Penguin Group 2006).

I wonder what Seth would say about an orchestra that thinks the answer to declining attendance lies with new music? Does the Baltimore Symphony really think that the public wants to hear music from a living composer rather than Tchaikovsky? Don't get me wrong. I like new music. Our own composer in residence, Dr. Charles W. Smith, has written many fine compositions for my orchestra. What I'm saying is, I don't think audiences want to hear new music to the exclusion of the oldies.

What do you think?