“When the rapper Kendrick Lamar performed with the National Symphony Orchestra, it was called a ‘pops’ concert. When Cameron Carpenter, the enfant terrible of the organ, plays with the NSO this week, it counts as ‘classical,’ ” writes Anne Midgette in Wednesday’s (12/2) Washington Post. “But when Ben Folds, the singer-songwriter, comes to the NSO on Friday to perform his piano concerto … it will be as part of a new series called ‘NSO Declassified’: an attempt to get beyond these inadequate labels…. It’s billed as ‘an interactive multimedia mix of dance-inspired music.’ Tickets are a flat $39…. The piano concerto … was co-commissioned by the Nashville Symphony, the Nashville Ballet and the Minnesota Orchestra.… ‘NSO Declassified’ … builds on some of the orchestra’s outreach efforts in its annual ‘In Your Neighborhood’ concerts around the city … Plenty of orchestras are making efforts to target new audiences—[Sarah] Hicks, who conducts this week’s NSO programs, is in charge of a wide-ranging series at the Minnesota Orchestra called ‘Live at Orchestra Hall.’ … The San Francisco Symphony is deliberately avoiding its regular patrons when publicizing its alternative rehearsal-hall-turned performance space, ‘Sound Box.’ ”
Posted December 3, 2015
