| Re: Modern Music
I obviously can't answer for Ed, but I can say that both the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony are programming new music on a regular basis. Perhaps Manny can chime in on this a little more but I'm told that the Minnesota Orchestra also programs a fair amount of new music; particularly that of Kalevi Aho.
As far as the marketing of new music goes, like any marketing, you have to know your audience. Most of the young audiences for new art music I know are the same people I see at the coffee shops and at the contemporary arts center. People are interested in seeing new and different programming, all you really have to do is deliver on it. The new music scene in New York is huge! Much of the advertisement for it is done on the internet through their websites, mailing lists, and even myspace.com. I originally despised the idea of myspace but am now on because I get almost daily bulletins about what my favorite new music ensembles and young composers are up to. It's a great way to keep up with what's going on. I know that Mark Gould is on there, as well as Alarm Will Sound, the Kronos Quartet, the Meridian Arts Ensemble, Brian McWhorter, Nico Muhly, Bang on a Can...the list goes on and on. New music has an audience, it's just not the white-haired crowd in Avery Fischer Hall.
In a lot of ways I feel like orchestras have brought their problems on themselves. Not to be mean as much of it is indeed out of their control, but people just aren't interested in another performance of the Tchaikovsky violin concerto. It's a great piece, but people are tired of it and have been since probably the 1980's. Audiences want something different from a performance and the orchestras haven't adapted as much as they could have. I'm not saying they should completely abandon the classics but incorporating some new and creative programming can do nothing but enhance the experience for most people; then maybe give them another Beethoven 5 after the intermission if you must. |