Re: [ARSCLIST] Making a dying genre relevant

[Robert Hodge <rjhodge@xxxxxxx>]

A  more true statement has never been spoken (Typed ?)  !

The last time I attended ( or planned to as the case may be ) with a
friend,  a Sunday matinee performance of a G&S opera.

The only seats available were in the logue or balcony and  were $37.00
each.
 I must ask who sets the prices for these performances ?
 We saw H. M.S Pinafore in the same venue at the same hour for around $
20.00 each a year ago.  Same cast, same orchestra, same seats, same
house.  
We reluctantly passed and went to lunch instead as neither of us could
afford it. We haven't been back since.
I shudder to think what an evening perfomance would have cost.

The opera performances are never recorded or broadcast.

 But giving credit where credit is due, the Syracuse Symphony
performances are recorded and broadcast twice weekly on WCNY FM .You'd
think it would be a natural for there to be broadcasts of the opera as
well, at least locally, as WCNY plays opera and vocal music  almost all
day Saturdays. Members of the SSO provide the orchestra for the opera
performances.
Those doors on the  "hallowed halls " need to come down before  they
become hollowed halls.  

HUZZAH ! 

Bob Hodge    

>>> tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 10/9/2006 6:57 AM >>>
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/09/arts/music/09cheap.html?th&emc=th 

I think this is a real master stroke by the Met. And kudos to the rich
patrons who underwrote this. 
Here is one (a lone voice in the woods right now, but perhaps other
orchestras and opera companies 
will see the light) group that has come to realize basic economics and
demographics. To wit - if you 
price yourself out of the market of all but the very old and the very
rich, your genre will die and 
there will be zero jobs for your union musicians and zero 6-figure
paydays for your superstars.

This goes in line with what I've said about orchestras needing to make
their concert broadcasts 
available online for time-shifted listening, and in good enough quality
so that a person exploring 
the genre or the orchestra can get a feel of how it is to be there.
Perhaps if a person listens to a 
concert stream, after the stream is finished, a window should open with
a discounted ticket 
offering.

Bottom line is this. In NY, if one wants to take his wife to the
symphony, even using the lowest 
subscription prices for decent seats, it's a $100+ night when you count
transportation and/or 
parking. It's easily twice that if you throw in a good dinner. Who can
afford that? Not that rock 
concerts are much cheaper these days. Live music has priced itself out
of most people's reach and, 
for many people, if they are going to pay these ridicubux, they are
much more likely to be attracted 
to the grand spectacle of a Madonna concert than a stodgy night at
Avery Fisher Hall. Opera 
definitely has the grand spectacle thing going for it, so offering an
affordable way to learn about 
it is brilliant.

One man's opinions ...

-- Tom Fine