On Tuesday (5/29) at the journal of the Congress for the New Urbanism, Robert Steuteville interviews Andrew Balio, principal trumpet of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Balio is founder of the Future Symphony Institute, whose mission is to “formulate a strategy for the renaissance of live classical music.” “Q: What does classical music have to do with urbanism? Balio: We discovered that both the concert halls and the urban planning around the halls can … be a major stimulus to participation and audiences.… Look at the Los Angeles Philharmonic hall, designed by Frank Gehry. That’s a kind of modernism that may not work anywhere else, but it is perfect for LA…. One of our sayings is that as the city goes, so goes the orchestra.… Certainly a hall can be an anchor institution, but if nothing is going on inside the hall most of the time, then it is dead space. It is important that as we design these halls they can be used throughout the day.… The hall is the orchestra’s home and we need more people coming in. Even if they have no interest in music we might be able to entice them.” Click here to read Symphony magazine’s 2017 article about concert halls that aim to revitalize urban life while meeting the needs of orchestras.
Posted June 1, 2018
In photo: Walt Disney Concert Hall, home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
