Another attempt to pit Orchestras against each other in an unofficial “Olympics” at Carnegie is a real head scratcher. What is the prize, who actually cares and what is the point? Thankfully Alex Ross provides some sanity but what is interesting is how Orchestras making the Carnegie pilgrimage seem to think it is a magic bullet to spur ticket sales back at home……
I’ll never forget the Orchestra that told me that their primary goal was artistic quality, right after exclaiming that they sell every seat yet couldn’t make ends meet! That orchestra folded a couple of years back, so how’s that quality working out for you?
I find it troubling that there is such an obsession with who the “best” is as if there is only one category that defines it. Alex Ross in this article goes into detail about the parade of orchestras over a month that appeared at Carnegie Hall in what was unofficially titled “The Orchestral Olympics”. It is a very balanced piece, this quote struck me:
The impulse to pit one orchestra against another is as regrettable as it is irresistible. In 1928, Wilhelm Furtwängler, the most relentlessly deep-thinking of conductors, bemoaned what he considered the American habit of “seeing things from the point of view of sport,” but even by then the “Who’s on top?” tendency had become universal.
His favorite concert it seemed was by Minnesota and he pointed out that:
Carnegie was barely three-quarters full—perhaps because “Kullervo” is little known, perhaps because New Yorkers were orchestra’d out.
Now not that being the best is about being the most popular, but it reminded me of another orchestra that raised the big bucks to go to Carnegie and armed with a big crowd and a great review, the thought was that this would spur ticket sales back at home. There may have been a mild bump but the decline quickly resumed and in a subsequent focus group the number one reason that people stayed away was……Parking issues! When are we going to face the fact that we are in a service industry, and that no matter how great we are artistically, the smallest thing can keep someone from attending.
We so often focus on artistic excellence as the primary goal, yet that is only one component. It is organizational excellence that needs to be the focus, every aspect is important, because we are not in competitive industry at least not with each other! We are competing for relevance in our community, not against another orchestra in another community. For example: Dallas and Fort Worth are only 35 miles apart but they don’t share many if any subscribers. So who is the best at customer relations, accessibility, interaction, efficiency, community partnerships, economic development, cost ratios? etc… it seems those are all secondary to artistic excellence instead of being equal, and a big reason even great orchestras will get into trouble is because the prevailing attitude still seems to be if they just come once they will be hooked forever because we are so good and music is so great!
The mistake we make is that we assume that people are comparing us to other orchestras. They aren’t! The majority of the people in my audience haven’t even heard another orchestra live. They are comparing us to the other things to do in town on a Saturday night! We need to prove the relevance of orchestras not their superiority!
