At its October 14 opening-night concert at Springfield Symphony Hall, the Springfield (Mass.) Symphony Orchestra launched a new program-note initiative that sends information about the concert program via text messages directly to concertgoers’ phones during the performance. At the concert—which featured Brahms’s Symphony No. 2, Rossini’s La Gazza Ladra Overture, Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with soloist Claire Huangci—patrons were invited to go to a designated portion of the concert hall to receive text messages about the Brahms symphony. The program-note initiative was first developed by High School of Commerce Director of Bands and SSO board member Matt Bertuzzi for “Meet the Musicians: High School Edition,” an educational program that brings area high school students into Symphony Hall to experience an SSO open rehearsal. Music Director Kevin Rhodes and Bertuzzi worked together to adapt it for SSO evening concerts. Says Rhodes, “I love modern technology and am every day thankful that I live in an era where information and communication is so readily and easily available as the phone in my pocket. So we’re going to take that phone in your pocket and use it to help break down some of those mysteries of classical music.”
Posted October 23, 2017
