The president of the distinguished New York Philharmonic, Zarin Mehta, recently announced that he will be resigning at the end of 2011-2012 season. By that time, he will have been the president for 12 years. However, the president is not the only thing that is changing about the orchestra these days.
More important than the change in the NY Philharmonic’s president, is the profound change in its philosophy. Just as every field is being forced to adjust to the “ever-changing world in which we live in” (as Paul McCartney puts it), orchestra executives are being forced to transform the industry. All the new technology brings with it many opportunities that the orchestra has already begun to exploit, as well as new challenges. For example, the Philharmonic has begun streaming live concerts on iTunes and a totally revamped website, http://nyphil.org. Despite these advances, the Philharmonic is facing a conundrum: how to engage audiences of the multi-tasking, social networking, ADD world.
Another pressing matter that the NY Philharmonic is having to address is the economic aftermath of the recession. Next September, when the Philharmonic’s contract expires, there will be chaotic contract disputes between the management of the orchestra and the musicians. The orchestra’s endowment has already dropped from $212 million to $170 million, which Mr. Mehta says is way below the necessary amount of between $250 million to $270 million. In fact, major orchestras around the country are struggling to deal with many of these same issues. The Detroit Symphony Orchestra is currently having a labor dispute, in which management is threatening to cut the salaries of musicians by one-third. As a result, the musicians are threatening to strike.
Throughout the country, orchestras are even attempting to change the definition of their musicians’ roles. Both the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic are extending the roles of their musicians into the education sector. New responsibilities that musicians are accepting include “coaching youth orchestras, visiting schools, playing chamber music concerts, [and] giving talks.”
While the roles of the American orchestral musicians are evolving, so is the atmosphere of the orchestras themselves. “Video projections have come into the concert hall, as in the Houston Symphony’s program of Holst’s “Planet,” illustrated by NASA photos. Orchestras are streaming live performances live on the internet or in movie theaters; allowing audiences to vote for encores through text messages; or establishing preconcert happy hours.” Really? Who would ever have associated symphony orchestras with videos, text-induced encores, or happy hours? And that’s not all. After 168 years of excellence at the New York Philharmonic, it is now promoting itself on Youtube with humorous videos to attract potential ticket-buyers. Furthermore, the Philharmonic’s music director, Alan Gilbert, has attempted to create a more relaxed ambiance in the concert hall by speaking to the audience at times and setting up a blog on musicalamerica.com.
Well, it finally seems that the elitist culture of the high-class world of music is finally catching up to the rest of society’s radical changes. While some may claim that all of these innovations take away from the mystique of the orchestral setting, there is really nothing they can do about it. In fact, there is nothing the orchestras themselves can do about it. They are running low on funding and viewership, and are willing to do almost anything to become more relevant to the community.
Read the New York Times article
I find this extremely heart-breaking, being that I’m a violinist and avid classical music listener. It seems that everyone in the world today is satisfied with entertainment at the click of the mouse/remote with things like iTunes, YouTube and the insane amount of channels that it’s possible to receive. But even though you could watch any performance of the NY Phil on YouTube, it is so different to actually experience the performance live. The question is how to get people to go? I think that in order to begin getting people interested in going to performances like these, it should be mandatory to take an arts class (like the Arts in NYC) in colleges around the nation.
I have to agree with Erica. The difference between being IN the hall and listening on ANY electronic medium is substantial. I also agree with her that the best way to get people excited is to get them into a concert hall a few times and let them experience the music live. Of course, the cheapest way to do this is to go to concerts at colleges. LeFrak Hall has 300 concerts a year. In my opinion, there should be a requirement for students to attend a certain number of events. They are almost all free. It just takes a little time. You can also go to web sites and find concerts at Mannes, Manhattan School of Music and Juilliard which are free. It makes for a cheap date!