In Tuesday’s (8/3) Charlotte Observer (North Carolina), Steven Brown writes about Knight Sounds, the Charlotte Symphony’s new casual concert series at the Knight Theater. “With the hourlong, moderately priced concerts, the group joins the ranks of American orchestras trying to loosen up the concertgoing experience. … After getting revved up by Latin American music Feb. 4, concertgoers can step across the street for a salsa-dancing party at the Mint Museum Uptown. … ‘You can get outside the box of the traditional concert without dumbing it down in any way whatsoever,’ the orchestra’s new music director, Christopher Warren-Green, said Monday. … Orchestras have found that some potential concertgoers can’t fit a two-hour concert starting at 8 p.m. into their family or work schedules. So groups have tinkered with both elements of that.” The article explains that the orchestra hopes to attract new audiences as it struggles with a deficit “north of $200,000” for the season ended in June, according to Executive Director Jonathan Martin. “The orchestra has to try new things,” says Martin. “Some of the stuff may not work. But if we don’t try something, we know what’s going to happen."
Posted August 4, 2010
