Orchestra 2.0 Part 1

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This is the first of what could be a multi-part series. Rather than being structured, I’d like to keep this in a as-stuff-comes-to-my-mind format

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As touched on in my previous post, a good proportion of my professional attention is at the moment focused on steering the Northern Rivers Symphony Orchestra through an important period of analysis and re-invention. Established in 1993, NRSO has gone on to become (arguably) one of Australia’s leading community orchestras, with a regular size of about 70 players presenting 3-5 concerts per year as well as a smaller chamber group (the Camerata) doing a similar number of concerts. The popularity of the orchestra has allowed, for a number of years now, the engagement of professional players which, in turn, has increased the standard of the orchestra. But the downside of course is that the financial bottom line has also lifted and, therefore, the ticket price. This is starting to impact on audience turnout.

That, and several other factors, begs the question: where does NRSO go from here? Dial things back and return to the comfortable “community” ranks or push forward and become a full professional orchestra? The former will solve the immediate problem, but end an era. The latter will bring long term benefits to the region, but is fraught with danger if not thought through with long-term survival in mind.

For nearly ten years now, since I first read the writings of Norman Lebrecht on the current and future states of classical music, I have been agonising on where orchestras will be in 10 years, let alone 20 or 30, in Australia. The reports and studies released in that time, most notably the James Strong report in 2005 pretty much all agree on one thing: the present-day orchestra as we know it is unsustainable. If it were not for government funding, every single professional orchestra in the country would be gone. It is only a matter of time before governments will think to themselves: why are we pumping millions of dollars into something that very few (if any) people want to go to?

Whilst the problems are apparent to all, there is very little agreement on how to fix it. Perhaps this is due to the various stakeholders being entrenched in their positions and unwilling to budge. You have the managers and accountants pulling the funds, you have the artistic directors and conductors drawing the line in the sand on what is acceptable, you have the musicians themselves fearful of their livelihood. Each of these views are totally valid: yes, like any business an orchestra should be able to care for itself financially, yes the orchestra is the guardian of a valued artistic tradition that mustn’t go extinct and, yes it is the security of employment that allows the musicians to reach the standards that make the orchestra perhaps the greatest artistic organism ever developed.

Orchestras have tried salary cuts, firing players, bringing rock stars into the concert hall, ramped up the sponsorship and fundraising drives. Some, like Deep Blue (formed by staff at QUT when I was there as a student) have tried to redefine the orchestra as a whole and done the Bond thing writ large – playing rocked up Mahler and Bach, granted with considerable input from contemporary composers. That said, the jury is out in my mind as to whether Deep Blue can really be classified as an orchestra, but that’s a whole other discussion. My feelings on Deep Blue aside, I will grant them that they are perhaps one of the few groups to look at what so many other orchestras seem to be ignoring: the product that orchestras offer.

Another question that I have been considering is this: does dwindling audience support for orchestras mean, by default, a dwindling support for orchestral music? I’m going to put my hat in the ring and answer this with a resounding NO. Otherwise, blockbuster films wold not have orchestral soundtracks, DJs would not be remixing classical pieces, and so forth.

I believe the problems facing orchestras today is not so much about changes in consumer tastes as it is about changes in the manner in which those tastes are satisfied.

That’s about all the time I have at the moment, more to come.

-Adam