“Although the Philadelphia Orchestra has had a fitful digital presence in the past, 30 of its WRTI-FM broadcasts, plus older concerts dating back to the Wolfgang Sawallisch era, are newly available for a mere click of the On Demand tab—for a reasonable charge,” writes David Patrick Stearns in Friday’s (11/4) Philadelphia Inquirer. “On www.philorch.org, anybody can preview audio and video of music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting the orchestra in Hong Kong last spring in a characteristic program of the Brahms Symphony No. 2 and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. The rest sits just out of reach—with an elegant padlock. Unlocking it requires a $50 donation good for the next 12 months. Those already part of the orchestra family have log-ins and passwords that are the keys to the kingdom without an extra charge. ‘This is to engage patron loyalty and to take down boundaries between our music and those who care for it,’ orchestra president and CEO Allison Vulgamore said.… The goal is to have 75 audio and video concerts.… There’s value in being able to say the Philadelphia Orchestra’s On Demand feature is one of the best deals in town.”
Posted November 9, 2016
