“What do patrons of the Los Angeles Philharmonic get when they tag along on a trip to Tokyo? Face time with the world’s most famous conductor, plus karaoke,” writes Joel Stein on Monday (9/21) at Bloomberg.com. Each year, the orchestra “goes on tour for two weeks, and the board and major patrons who give more than $50,000 each are invited to go with it…. ‘We’re groupies,’ says patron Dina Nahmias. … This is [First Associate Concertmaster Nathan] Cole’s third trip to Asia. Most of the patrons have also been to Tokyo before… They’re not here for the sightseeing; they’re here because they get to see what they love in a way that no one else can. The patrons know these musicians and their music so thoroughly they feel like proud parents at a concert…. The orchestra’s performance [at Suntory Hall] of Mahler’s Sixth—a piece so somber it’s called ‘The Tragic’—plays well to the serious Japanese audience: The applause is long enough to count as a fifth movement…. At a press conference for Japanese media, Dudamel acknowledged the patrons, calling them ‘crazy people who follow us everywhere.’ The patrons were giddy at the mention.”
Posted September 22, 2015
A standing ovation for Los Angeles Philharmonic tour concert at Tokyo’s Suntory hall, spring 2015. Photo by Jeremie Souteyrat
