In Sunday’s (8/7) Los Angeles Times, Kevin Berger writes, “To many, digital media is the sound of salvation for classical music. To others, it’s another power chord crushing the soul of the art form itself. Take the ‘tweet-cert’ held by the Pacific Symphony last month…. Determined to draw [younger] people into classical music … the Orange County orchestra encouraged audience members to please turn on their smart phones and tweet or text during the outdoor concert.… It seems astounding that in 1966 the median age of the classical music audience was 38 … Today at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, for instance, the average concertgoer is in her or his ‘high 50s,’ said Shana Mathur, the orchestra’s VP of marketing and communications. … So it’s no wonder the Pacific Symphony, L.A. Phil and orchestras around the world are now passionately pursuing audiences where they live: Facebook and Twitter.… Carl St.Clair, 59, the gracious music director of the Pacific Symphony, said that of course he was sympathetic to musicians and audience members who love classical music as a respite in a noisy world. But he was heartened by the tweet-cert…. There was no turning back, St.Clair said. Classical music had to keep stride with today’s plugged-in audiences.”
Posted August 8, 2011
