Symphonies in other cities
By Matthew Heil
Public Relations Manager
In the business of symphonies, while there are big names (The New York Philharmonic and Boston Pops come to mind) most of the compositions heard by music lovers are performed by the "home team," the orchestra nearest and dearest. The symphony may cover all or part of a metropolitan area. You may have groups that occupy a musical niche (chamber music, pops or straight-up classical). Each comes with a different audience and a unique mission.
Since they tend to cater to their hometowns, it's rare to glimpse the example of other orchestras at work. So for all The Phoenix Symphony fans who are curious, here's a link from The New Yorker about regional symphonies from Alex Ross. It's an interesting insight to regional orchestras.
Public Relations Manager
In the business of symphonies, while there are big names (The New York Philharmonic and Boston Pops come to mind) most of the compositions heard by music lovers are performed by the "home team," the orchestra nearest and dearest. The symphony may cover all or part of a metropolitan area. You may have groups that occupy a musical niche (chamber music, pops or straight-up classical). Each comes with a different audience and a unique mission.
Since they tend to cater to their hometowns, it's rare to glimpse the example of other orchestras at work. So for all The Phoenix Symphony fans who are curious, here's a link from The New Yorker about regional symphonies from Alex Ross. It's an interesting insight to regional orchestras.
3 Comments:
This is a great article. But it is important to note the way the word "regional" is used on the blog and in the article. It is true that these orchestras and our own rarely travel outside the area or region, they are not regional orchestras in music industry terms. "Regional" applies to orchestras under a specific budget and number of musicians and how much they are paid. The orchestras in the article as well as Phoenix are "major orchestras."
Also the Indianapolis Symphony has toured Europe and made many recordings. Nashville has recorded for Naxos and been to New York City within the past few years.
As a former “New Yorker,” I know that the New York Philharmonic is everything and that anything west of the Hudson River is considered rural and, thus, “regional” music making. Our Phoenix Symphony is “major” league in every way. Let us look at what I consider to be the “regional” orchestras that are blowing, bowing, and banging strong here in the Valley of the Sun.
Musica Nova Orchestra with Maestro Warren Cohen at the Scottsdale Center for the Arts and Pinnacle Presbyterian Church. Mesa Symphony with Maestro Cal Stewart Kellogg at the Mesa Arts Center. Tempe Symphony with Dr. Richard E. Strange at the new Tempe Arts Center. Chandler Symphony with Maestros Jack Herriman and Alex Zheng at the Chandler Center for the Arts. (University and college orchestras, chamber orchestras, and youth orchestras were excluded from this classification. Note that only orchestras that play with a “full deck” were included . . . instrumentation, that is.)
Of course, all of them exist on a part-time basis. Only the first two organizations pay their musicians a nominal service fee. The latter two do not charge an admission fee to its audience. They both have extremely dynamic and popular leadership. They rehearse on a weekly basis, giving everything multiple practice runs so the musicians are thoroughly immersed in the chosen program by the time the concert finally arrives. Perhaps for those reasons, the volunteer orchestras tend to consistently get the bigger audiences.
However, the other two “professional” organizations are gaining through two entirely different approaches. The Mesa Symphony almost went under a couple of seasons ago. It appears that the strategy for survival has been to program the most popular classics all the time. Also, they have downsized their repertoire in terms of instrumentation. Very seldom do they program large pieces with multiple percussion like they used to under their former music director. Too bad for us percussionists… But, I have not heard any more doomsday forecasts. (It is still disturbing to me that the management at Symphony of the West Valley, the biggest and second only to the Phoenix Symphony in professional music making, just let the music die in mid-season.)
On the other end of the universe, the Musica Nova Orchestra almost exclusively programs the new, the unknown, and the rediscovered symphonic works from the 20th and 21st centuries. How does such an entity survive financially? Music Director Cohen must be a full-time musicologist with only a few overstatements of “This is the greatest music ever written!” Regional premieres of works by Boris Tchaikovsky? Arnell? Zemlinsky! Can’t get that downtown. Now, that’s a “regional” orchestra worth supporting.
The "Seasonal Maestro" chimes in:
"I know that you are not including chamber orchestras in your Phoenix orchestra list. Four Seasons Orchestra is the longest surviving chamber orchestra in the valley. We have been presenting professional concerts since January of 1992. We were nominated in two Grammy categories in 2000. We have given many world premieres and American premieres. Our pay is also one of the highest for orchestras in the valley at $75.00 per rehearsal and $100.00 per concert (when we can get the funding). We usually hire between twenty to thirty musicians. Unfortuantely, there are only a precious few tuba parts on our programs.
You might want to broaden your scope to Arizona. Then you can include the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra, which is a fine community and semi-professional orchestra. There is a paid conductor and some paid musicians. Also the Tucson Symphony has passed its seventy-fifth anniversary. I believe it is in its 77th season and is the oldest symphony in Arizona. Phoenix is sixty years old, born in 1947 with the first season costing $30,000 from Louise Kerr. Mesa is also about sixty years old."
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