“As the pandemic continues and live concerts are all but impossible, classical music organizations have moved their seasons online—with widely varying paywalls and content,” writes Melinda Bargreen in Monday’s (10/26) Seattle Times. “The Seattle Chamber Music Society is releasing findings for its 2020 Virtual Summer Festival, a four-week series of 12 concerts by 41 musicians whose performances were filmed in Seattle and in remote locations. Of the 935 patrons surveyed, with a 36% response rate (25% is typical), the virtual festival rated 8.4 on a scale of 10. It brought in 389 new ticket purchasers (32% of patrons) and 92 first-time donors … and 300 more subscribers than usual—likely because there were no constraints on the size of the concert-hall space (the festival is usually held in Seattle’s 536-seat Nordstrom Recital Hall in Benaroya Hall). First-time donations came in from Canada and U.S. states from California to Massachusetts…. And 99% of respondents said they were ‘very interested’ in subscribing to the virtual Winter Festival series in January…. The concerts were new content…. ‘People took a chance, had a positive experience, and supported us financially,’ Executive Director Connie Cooper notes. ‘We’ll continue to reach out to more new folks.’ ”
Change font size
