“Take a look around during an Alabama Symphony Orchestra Masterworks series performance—or a similar show by any American orchestra—and you’re likely to see a room filled with refined, middle-age to elderly music fans,” writes Carla Jean Whitley in Sunday’s (4/26) Birmingham News. “If the ASO has its way, that could soon change.… Come this fall, 38-year-old Carlos Izcaray will take center stage as music director. Simultaneously, the ASO will relaunch its junior patrons group…. The ASO hopes this is its opportunity to fan a spark into a flame…. Jonathan Hoffmann [a 27-year-old attorney] is the epitome of the ASO’s target demographic. When he and his wife arrived in Birmingham in September, Hoffmann quickly called the ASO to learn about its young professionals and attorneys groups…. The Junior Patrons effort is a natural extension of the ASO’s existing programming. The Classical Edge series continues to increase its emphasis on fusing indie-rock bands with the orchestra.… It’s an approach Izcaray compares to cuisine. Diners aren’t always in the mood for a white tablecloth restaurant. Sometimes, street food is the way to go. ‘Tastes aren’t changing, they’re expanding,’ he says. ‘We’re trying to bring the same type of palate to the symphony world.’ ”
Posted April 28, 2015
