The Next Step

“If all the musicians in Europe performed as you did today, there would be peace on Earth.” – Anonymous listener at NewBO’s premiere, 2/9/15

On September 2nd, my most important project to date came to fruition. As part of the Utrecht Oude Muziek Festival’s Fabulous Fringe series, NewBO (The New Baroque Orchestra) celebrated its premiere performance with a program of English music from the middle of the 18th century. As administrator and co-director of this project, a lot has rested on my shoulders over the past few months and I can’t tell you the feeling I had when we stepped onto that stage in the Hertz room at the TivoliVredenburg.

NewBO was conceived in the bar of the Hôtel des Ardennes in Echternach, Luxembourg, almost two years ago. After hours of discussion, as well as a few more weeks on tour, it was clear that a fire was lit. Following two seasons as EUBO, our desire to play together burned ever stronger. After our final tour to Malta I began preparing the materials for our Utrecht debut.

An Unfortunate Detail

On my way across the Atlantic on Wednesday I received a communication about an upcoming performance. It was a line that any bassoonist dreads, especially one who is already in transit to the performance: “Sorry for any confusion, but it’s at 392.”

There's a smell about this church

There's a smell about this church. From the South-East corner of the yard of the Abbaye de Saint-Riquier the breeze tastes sweet. The flowers which line the lawn are in full bloom yet there aren't enough of them, to my estimate, which could produce such a presence.

The Gothic abbey is encircled on three sides by a structure which struck me to be of 19th century French design. Beginning adjacent to the ornate facade, the later building surrounds the south and east sides of the abbey in a rectangular fashion. It has a simplicity to it: its long, narrow design with windowed walls are uniform, only lightly accented. The abbey's massive construction with flying buttresses, gargoyles, and other decorations make for a stark contrast.

Elements

A few weeks ago in MOMO class we had an exercise where every student had to speak for a minute or two on a given subject. Mine was 'age'. "If a conservatory were to hire a talented 21 year old in 1960, the hiring committee would, and did, see the candidate as an investment in the future of the institution. If that same candidate were to be hired today the decision would be looked upon as 'risky' and no doubt there would be a call for the committee to reexamine their options. So," I asked, "when do I lose my youth?" At that moment a discussion started. Discussions rarely happen in MOMO, but when they do there is plenty to think about.

I Challenge You to do Better, CBC Music, Please.

Post by CBC Music.

A few days ago I read a post on the CBC Music blog. The facebook post which I've embedded above advertised an interview with Yannick Nézet-Séguin on how classical music needs to change. In actuality it was a gallery with a few bullet-points. Frankly, it felt a bit cheap. The more I look at the website, the more I see CBC Music's classical section catering to a mythical online community that is content with little substance and celebrity.

Don't mess with M

If there's a term which musicians have been throwing around lately when theorizing on attracting audiences, it's "Multimedia".

"We should be using multimedia! There should be something for people to look at!" Yes, but remember that all of this adds all sorts of extra crazy. I am all for making a concert more than the norm but I am tired of hearing people throwing this word around.

If you're going to slip this neat little word into your next conversation, take a look at these few points first.

Upon reflection sur la montagne

With the celebrations of the baroque and the sun which shone brightly over it now complete, our hemisphere has now begun to darken, though only slightly, day by day.

Always a display of the highest-quality, the Festival montréal baroque is never short of energetic, fun programming ideas. Over the past two years, I have been very fortunate to have been included as part of its own ensemble, la bande Montréal baroque. My work with them has demanded much from me, yet it is the most fulfilling work I have done.

Oooh'ing and Aaah'ing over The OAE

Just one example of the many techniques to create a 'buzz' with potential audiences, The Orchestra of The Age of Enlightenment is always open to new ideas. One of the plethora of classical institutions in London, and relatively small in comparison with the modern orchestras in the city, the OAE has done much to "cut through the noise," as Communications Director William Norris puts it.

"We're one of many orchestras who live in the center of London," says William, "and we've had to be innovative in order to attract as much attention as the others with a large budget. We've always been a little bit rebellious in our strategies." The OAE's emphasis in their media strategy has always been on the orchestra members, as they have no principal conductor.

Encompassing the largest staff for a period orchestra in the country, the organization is never short of new initiatives and projects. In January, a video was put out asking people who don't look like the average classical music concert-goer to enter to become a poster-boy (or girl) for the upcoming season. Next Friday, we'll see the results of that contest. A unique approach which has generated quite a bit of buzz, the campaign displays the importance the orchestra puts on developing new audiences. Take a look at the teaser video:



Their website, also a unique design, puts its blog, vigorously updated, with material on a vast array of subjects, front and center. From composer biographies, tour updates, to videos such as the ones above, there is more material there than most in-house orchestra blogs put together. "We're in the process of updating our blogging system," says William, "right now it's a little complicated for orchestra members to blog. They write it, then send it to a staff member who then puts it up." An interesting concern for the communications office, I wonder if giving performers easy access to blogging software is on the top of other orchestras' to-do lists?

Apart from its regular concert series, the orchestra runs three others: The Night Shift, The Works, and OAE TOTS (for toddlers). Focusing on younger audiences (17 to mid 30s), The Night Shift has been very successful, both filling their concerts and receiving a lot of media attention. This past January, The Night Shift took a pub-tour which saw great success. Interestingly, in a post explaining that the pub-tour was in development, the author openly asked for suggestions. That's the first time I've ever seen that in an official communication from an orchestra.

The Works, OAE's most recent series, is targeted towards adults new to, or skeptical of, classical music. An excellent explanation can be found on the initial blog post about the series:

The concept is not rocket science. The heart of it is a concert at 8pm that lasts around 80 minutes, with no interval. In the first part of the concert the presenter and conductor or soloist will give the audience a ‘guided tour’ of the featured piece of music, movement by movement. Then there’s time for a Q+A and then a full performance of it. Drinks will be allowed in and we hope some of the informal atmosphere of the Night Shift will ensue. Before the concert, from 7pm we have some jazz in the bar as a way to start people’s evening off and then after the concert our Education Director, Cherry, will lead a ‘speed-date-the-OAE’ session, which is basically a flash way of enabling the audience to meet the Orchestra (all will be explained on the night)! 

Into its 26th year, the orchestra seems to be putting more emphasis on projects related to audience development than on its regular performances. Their consistent use of high-quality video and photography also compliment their blog-heavy website design.

Take a look at their website, then take a look at the website of your local orchestra. Are there many similarities?

The Tempest in a Teapot Turns 10

Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Philadelphia, second largest city on the eastern sea board and home to a busy music scene.

Though most of the attention has recently been drawn towards the Philadelphia Orchestra, the local baroque orchestra has some news of its own.  Celebrating its tenth birthday this season, Tempesta di Mare will be offering four concerts over two weekends in March as part of its "opus 10" celebrations. The concerts will feature works which have been catalogued by the number 10, such as Vivaldi's op. 10, Bach's BWV 1010, Leclair's op. 10, and so on.

One of the youngest period orchestras in North America today, the little tempest in a tea pot has developed a strong following in the city, seeing a budget increase of 1000% since its conception. The two directors, flutist Gwyn Robinson and Lutenist Richard Stone, have worked hard to see their project successful. "For a number of years," says Gwyn, "Robert and I volunteered our time to get all of the work done behind the scenes." Today, the orchestra has a full-time staff member and four other part-timers (of which two are the directors) who do all of the administrative work. "It's nice to have people we can trust [with this work]!" notes Gwyn. It must also be nice being paid for it, too.

Change is Natural

Happy New Year from theheckeler.ca! 

January 1st, 2012. In my mind, the first day of the transition which faces the classical music industry. Over the past few seasons, we have seen a slew of north american orchestras apply for chapter 7 bankruptcy (Syracuse, Honolulu, New Mexico) as well as chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization (Philadelphia, Louisville), and, more recently, onlookers as well as active participants in the industry have spent their time asking the question, is there a crisis in classical music? 

A must-read! Please read Paul Judy's blog post

Through Tony Woodcock's blog you can find Paul Judy's blog post about the next-generation musical arts organizations. Please read this as it is gold.

Last week's uproar over the LPO on twitter

Early last week I was gazing at my twitter account when I stumbled across a tweet mentioning an uproar between the public and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The tweet linked back to the LPO's Facebook page (which I can't seem to find at the moment). Through social media, another continent could follow along to these events as they were happening. Not only that, but the opposition to the board's decision spread from orchestra subscribers and patrons to a completely untapped audience. Boy is the digital world both a blessing and a curse.

I had quite a detailed post for you this week on the subject, but I think it's best that I just give you a few links to start you off with and let you discover this for yourself. 

1. The letter that started it all

2. The Guardian

3. BBC article

Debate Disturbed by Union President

Last week I watched a debate hosted by WQXR in New York about the future of orchestral musicians and orchestras in America, which you can find here. I found it through the blog of the Savvy Musician, which is an excellent. Although I only got about three quarters in when my connection died, I learned quite a lot from the debate.
I thought the debate was very good, however, there was one portion which I found somewhat disturbing: Mr. Hair's talking points, or rather lack thereof. I'm very displeased with the idea that the president of the largest musicians' union in North America arriving to a debate about the future of the industry completely unprepared to take part in real discussion.

TBSI and Festival Montreal Baroque, part 2

Playing with Bande Montreal Baroque was an incredible experience for me. My first rehearsal was the pinch I needed to wake me from the dream-like daze I was in. Everyone around me in Susie's living room has been featured on at least one CD in my library - and I don't have a large collection - and were all ready to take on the new Brandenburgs. Although I had some time to look at the music while in Toronto, I was certainly not ready to pick up on the time-bending and extraordinary articulations so commonly found in the music of Susie and Eric, our director for the Brandenburgs. To everyone else these, what seemed to me, outlandish ideas were expected.

TBSI and Festival Montreal Baroque, part 1

Hello all,

Sorry to be gone for so long but I've been incredibly busy!

I've recently completed my third TBSI and am just finishing up two weeks at the Festival Montreal Baroque playing with la Bande Montreal Baroque before heading back to Ottawa in time for my birthday. It's been a very intense month musically and I'm very grateful for all of the lessons I've learned.

How often do guest artists visit schools in your city?

For the past week, I’ve been reading The Music Teaching Artist’s Bible by Eric Booth. It`s a great book, although somewhat dense at the beginning, and I recommend every musician to take a look at it. I had to order it through Carleton`s interlibrary loan system (known as Racer) which, I might add, is a real tool.
While reading Mr. Booth’s book, I’ve been reflecting on the amount of arts learning in my elementary school curriculum. At my elementary school (Manor Park Public School, Ottawa), in the ‘90s, we would have a touring troupe or musical group perform about once a year and there was never any lead-up to the performance. What I mean to say is that before the assembly, the teachers wouldn’t tell us what we were about to see, as if it were as surprise to everyone. These performances seemed to be treated as if they were entertainment, not an opportunity for learning.

The Symphony, a Ritual?

It bothers me when I attend a symphony concert. So many people come out to see the NACOrchestra play Mozart, the Boston Pops, or whatever’s on that week. NACO seems to get a large crowd for their 2000-or-so seat hall and on a bad day they might still get about a thousand in there. The program booklet has a full page of corporate donors written in small print (although the donations are made to the Arts Centre itself and not to the orchestra), and people see it as a ‘valid’ or ‘proper’ thing to be doing if your were to go out one evening.