Attempts at Getting a Younger Audience

By -

Classical music organizations have tried a lot of way to get younger people into their performances, but the Utica Symphony is attempting something that doesn't seem to make much sense. On April 11th, they will "Come Together" with a Jeans n' Classics at the Stanley Center for the Arts in Utica NY to play the music of The Beatles in celebration of the orchestra’s 75th anniversary.

“Everybody loves The Beatles,” Ensign said. “It will be interesting to see the diversity of the audience.” Ensign said the orchestra expects the turnout to be double or triple its usual crowd.

Hmmmm - Get a younger audience by playing the Beatles. I'm fourty-six and I'm young to really remember the Beatles. Yes, I know lots of people younger than me who enjoys the Beatles music, but none of them are people I consider "younger", all of them ranging from thirty and older.

Having said that, yes, the Beatles do have an appeal. The film "Beyond the Universe" is an interesting film using the Beatles music somewhat like "Mamma Mia!" uses the music of ABBA. The people who loved the film, love Beatles music (and perhaps visa versa), but "Beyond the Universe" was hardly the success of "Mamma Mia!" Numerous instore music companies provide "easy listening" music which often features Beatles music, but that hardly bodes well for creating a "young" audience.

Maybe what this orchestra is trying to do is "youngER" audience, with people less than in their sixties. OK, that said, perhaps they will get more people into their 75th Anniversary concert. I hope so. I just rather think they aren't necessarily going to get the audience of an age they expect.

Now, if they were to perform a collection songs by of U2, Coldplay or even the Rolling Stones (who are older but still going). Lee Johnson has written a Grateful Dead Symphony, but again they tend to appeal to the older "young" crowd. There is Madonna, Sting and Michael Jackson who are more familiar to the youth of today than the Beatles. I think it's a great idea - it just wasn't really thought through if what the Utica Symphony wants in a young audience.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Role of Music in Opera

By -
There are numerous books on the topic, and every composer, librettist, director, singer and audience member has their opinion as to what role the music should play in an opera. In a play without music, the words ought to support the meaning behind a character's actions. However, in the case of action movies, often times the action is what tells the story and there aren't words, just images to forward the plot. We might hear music to accompany action, build tension, but the action tells the story. Musicals tend to speak until the emotion of the moment just "has" to break out in song - unless it's something like "Mama Mia" where the dialog is the rails we travel on between songs; the songs themselves, written before the concept of the musical, are the focus of the production, while the story is secondary. Operas are a different beast. The music provides emotion to the words spoken, but it also plays the role of ambience when there is only action. In &quo
Read more

Episode 210b: Joyeuse le départ

By -
Image
Podcast:  Play in new window  |  Download Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts  |  Android  |  Google Play  |  Stitcher  |  TuneIn  |  RSS Provost Cunningham has Transmigrated, but to where! What is Dr Sage going to do with his body? And how can she bring home her friends, Abigail and Erasmus, without also bring home Cunningham? What are they going to say when they find the “skeleton” she’s hiding in her closet? Cast: Eddie Louise Clark  as Dr Sage Chip Clark  as Professor Savant Justin Bremer  as the Narrator Emily Riley Piatt  as Abigail Entwhistle, Calypso & Dean Stewart Written by  Eddie Louise Theme music by  Unwoman Sound Design by  Chip Michael
Read more

The Art of String Quartets by Brian Ferneyhough

By -
Image
When an artist sets paint to canvas, there are brush strokes used for different effects. Sometimes those strokes are subtle, imperceptible; they produce works of art like the Mona Lisa . Other times the very obvious nature of the stroke is the art, as in works by Van Gogh. With some composers of music, the notes on the page are their craft. How those notes translate into an aural experience is what defines some composers as great artists. Brian Ferneyhough has a masterful command of the techniques of putting notes on the page. These techniques are sometimes so subtle, even though written in black and white, they escape detection. Some of what he attempts with his music is just that, to escape detection, to bury the framework, diverting the ear away from the structure, so only the music is heard . The subtlety is so fine it is almost imperceptible. Even though he studied at several institutions, he is considered self-taught, studying scores from Boule
Read more