In Monday’s (4/22) Philadelphia Inquirer, Peter Dobrin writes, “It was a rare sight. Not long ago, a woman stood at the entrance to the Kimmel Center before a sold-out Philadelphia Orchestra concert, holding a sign: ‘Need one ticket.’ A few weeks earlier, a couple called the box office the day after a performance of The Rite of Spring and made a $10,000 gift. Points of contact like these represent the kind of passion the orchestra must stoke if it is to survive, yet they remain all too infrequent. More than nine months out of bankruptcy, it’s still a struggle to get past living hand-to-mouth. … The vibe in the hall is good, orchestra chairman Richard B. Worley said. Yannick Nézet-Séguin, in his first season as music director, has gotten strong reviews from critics. … Are buzz and some critical successes translating into the necessary fund-raising momentum? Not quite. ‘I’m not as uncomfortable as I was last summer, immediately out of bankruptcy, when we knew we needed a lot of money in a hurry,’ Worley said. ‘And yet I think that the task is still daunting.’ … Attendance is inching up. Paid capacity is 82 percent of Verizon Hall, and because attendance tends to improve toward the end of the season, it’s reasonable to expect the orchestra could exceed the 83 percent figure with which it ended last season.”
Posted April 23, 2013
