In Sunday’s (11/30) Denver Post, Ray Mark Rinaldi writes that community orchestras, “with shorter seasons” than professional orchestras “and mostly unpaid players,” are thriving in Colorado’s Front Range. “The Denver Philharmonic, which has revamped its marketing and loosened up the atmosphere at concerts, has seen a 60 percent increase in ticket sales over the past two seasons. The Littleton-based Arapahoe Philharmonic is up 38 percent…. The Boulder Philharmonic … has seen a 70 percent increase in subscriptions since 2008.… The orchestras vary greatly in terms of quality…. Their music directors are paid, but the players are generally experienced musicians who make their living in other ways and perform for the love of it…. Community orchestra [venues] tend to be familiar places. Arapahoe plays in the Mission Hills Church. Boulder’s home is Macky Auditorium on the CU campus, where many patrons went to college.… Audiences [at the Denver Philharmonic] might tailgate before the show amid food trucks…. The orchestra embraces popular technology, encouraging the use of Twitter during concerts…. Social media has done much to level the playing field when it comes to marketing. They can promote themselves in ways that make their concerts and their differences much more visible.”
Posted December 5, 2014
Pictured: Devin Hughes leads the Araphoe Philharmonic, based in Littleton, Colorado
