“Once every semester, the Bamberg Symphony [in Germany] puts on what they call ‘student concerts’—but it’s really for all young people,” writes Kyle Macdonald in Tuesday’s Classicfm.com site (London). “These are sell-outs, often with queues around the block—all young people wanting to hear a classical concert. At a time when many orchestras around the world want to attract and engage a youthful audience, we asked Chief Executive Marcus Rudolf Axt about what he thought made his orchestra’s series work … ‘“[We play] the interesting, important, and most complicated pieces… So it’s not an easy-listening thing, but more something the students want to learn about. … When we did our first student concerts the orchestra thought, “We have to be casual and dress like students…” And then we got lots of complaints. Because the audience was dressed up, they expected the orchestra to be in white tie and tails. … Jonathan Nott, our chief conductor, is always doing a little introduction, and then we play the piece. He talks, he makes jokes sometimes, he says what he thinks is interesting about that piece. It’s not a musicological lecture, he just turns about and tells what’s special about the piece and things to listen for.”
Posted May 18, 2016
