“Chamber orchestras are like little race cars, said Eckart Preu, music director of the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra,” writes Janelle Gelfand in Friday’s (7/27) Cincinnati Business Courier. “ ‘Since we don’t have to sell 3,000 tickets, we can be more inventive … go to bars and do little shows there,’ he said…. Now, as the 32-piece orchestra readies its fourth Summermusik Festival (Aug. 4-25), it is riding on an upswing of ticket sales…. Besides four traditional shows for full orchestra in Corbett Theater … Summermusik features ‘Chamber Crawls’ in bars … and short afternoon concerts in alternative spaces…. Four years ago, it may have been viewed as risky to transform the Chamber Orchestra’s traditional format…. But by 2013, that wasn’t working anymore.… The board’s choice of an August festival … ‘when there’s not a lot else to do,’ … was strategic, [Board President Wes] Needham said…. Today, the orchestra [collaborates] with local dance companies, Madcap Puppets, photographers or art museums. Sometimes, there are unexpected surprises—such as the time the Cincinnati Caledonian Pipes & Drums Band marched into the hall.” Says Needham, “I think we have a flair about us that is fun, that’s energetic and that people want to be a part of.”
Posted July 30, 2018
