In today’s (8/5) New York Times, Chloe Veltman writes about the proliferation of classical-music performances beyond the concert hall. “The exponential growth of Classical Revolution”—a chamber-music collective based in the San Francisco Bay area—“and other chamber music entities … point to a broader trend in classical music … of making it more approachable. Even orchestras are adopting Classical Revolution-style tactics. The San Francisco Symphony’s ‘Davies After Hours’ program features orchestral musicians playing edgy repertory in the second-tier lobby at Davies Symphony Hall, transforming it into a nightclub-like setting…. The Napa Valley Symphony is collaborating with Classical Revolution to produce events in schools and wine bars. The Cleveland Orchestra’s chamber concerts at a bar called the Happy Dog inspired two busloads of bar patrons to attend a concert at the orchestra’s home, Severance Hall, last season. … Despite the surge of classical music performances in alternative spaces, there will always be a place for the traditional concert hall experience. … ‘Certainly you can’t do a major symphonic work in a small coffee house, and a string quartet would be lost in a large armory,’ said Jesse Rosen, the president and chief executive of the League of American Orchestras. ‘Where the concert hall experience has an edge is that it gives complete focus and concentration to the music.’ ”
Posted August 5, 2011
