“Last month, Memphis Symphony Orchestra officials revealed that a depleted endowment plus declining revenues have created a financial sinkhole that threatens the 62-year-old orchestra’s existence,” writes John Beifuss in Monday’s (3/3) Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee). “As the symphony launched a call for donations, Mayor A C Wharton … said, ‘The city ‘would not be Memphis’ without the symphony…. Meanwhile, the crisis created an opportunity for other arts organizations to reassess their missions…. ‘The dilemma is more people than ever are enjoying classical music, but technological innovation is causing a sea change in the way they enjoy the music,’ says MSO president and CEO Roland Valliere.… ‘The critical question is how do we at the Memphis Symphony adapt?’ Many local arts groups have responded … [by] making their ‘product’ more relevant and accessible…. Every fall Opera Memphis hosts ‘30 Days of Opera,’ a series of free ‘pop-up’ opera events in which singers perform all over the city…. The Memphis Symphony Orchestra, meanwhile, has offered its ‘Opus One’ concerts, which pair classical musicians with such performers as Al Kapone and Harlan T. Bobo in such nontraditional venues as the Hi-Tone Cafe and New Daisy on Beale.”
Posted March 10, 2014
