A few weeks ago, I came
across an advertising campaign of Folkoperan (Stockholm, Sweden) called “Broccoli vs. Opera”. The idea behind it is that the only think children dislike
more than opera is broccoli. Thus, when having to choose between the two…
they´ll go for the lesser of two evils.
The campaign irritated
me. The prejudiced assumptions behind it irritated me. The way many in the
classical music world avoid addressing the real barriers, the ones raised by
them, upsets me. Do you remember the “Classical Cannabis: the high note series” promoted by the Colorado Symphony Orchestra back
in 2014?
That sort of thing… Anything but trying to understand better what is keeping
people, of all ages, away. Perhaps because a better understanding would require
action; and change.
I´ve written before on this blog about the
attitudes that help reinforce the idea many people have of the negative elitism
of the classical music world. The one that strives to maintain an exclusive
space for exclusive audiences, where one is not truly welcome unless they succumb
to the “etiquette”. I am thinking of the La Scala (Milan, Italy) refusing to admit people wearing T-shirts on warm days or the Gulbenkian Foundation preaching
respect for the silence (AKA “don’t cough”) – one reads on the Foundation’s website that this is how the audience should
help to make a concert “memorable” and to create an environment of demand and devotion.
More recently, a colleague drew my attention to the Musikverein’s (Vienna, Austria) dress code: “…many of our visitors sense that a certain elegance is suited to
the ambience of the Musikverein. For this reason we welcome and request that
visitors dress accordingly”. Look how “many visitors” define how the clothes one
wears define the enjoyment of a concert…
Due to its own special kind
of “love of self”, the classical music world remains highly excluding. Avoiding
broccoli and smoking marijuana will not solve the situation. There are orchestras,
ensembles, concert halls and theatres around the world that feel a bit more
restless, that truly wish to share the enjoyment of their art. They try to
understand who the people they wish to engage with are, what keeps them away
and what kind of bridges they can build.
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| Dave M. Benett Getty Images |
Back in 2012, the
English National Opera realised, through audience research, that “What should I
wear?” was a major issue for many people. The campaign “ENO say Undress” aimed
at informing people that they could come dressed as they liked. This was part
of a larger initiative, still happening today, called “Opera Undressed”, that aims at giving people who never went to the
opera house a taste of what that is. At a significantly lower price, people get
a good seat, a pre-performance talk together with an outline of the opera’s
story and 50% discount for future performances. It was also audience research
that orientated their decision making regarding their rebranding in 2017, their
objectives being to become more accessible, related to new audiences and… let
people know that operas were sung in English.
When Aubrey Bergauer
took over the California Symphony, she also started by asking questions. Her
survey “Orchestra X” revealed things such as “The problem is not the repertoire,
it’s the experience”; “the symphony’s website felt like insider baseball”; “you
need a PhD to understand the technical descriptions of the music”. Bergauer has now moved on to a different
organisation, but, through her work, she managed to create a totally different
relationship between some people and classical music. She has also left the "Newcomer’s guide", which may be extremely helpful for
many other venues around the world.
There’s more, of
course. The Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment, Classical Revolution (Chamber Music for the People), The Multi-Story Orchestra have helped redefine the experience
of listening to classical music, be it at a pub or a car park. The Multi-Story
Orchestra has just announced a new drama, “The Endz”, in collaboration with pupils from Harris Academy
Peckham (south London), that will bring gang culture to the stage. But also in Portugal, we have been following the initiatives of maestro Martim Sousa Tavares (this year he takes classical music to Lux-Frágil in Lisbon, in addition to his work with the Orchestra without Borders); the projects of the Orquestra de Câmara Portuguesa; the work of Catarina Molder, which includes the programme Super Diva - Ópera for All.
These organisations,
these artists, don’t wish to keep their art to themselves and a few more people,
they want to share it widely. The barriers are many and change has to come from
within. The motto could change to “Simply enjoy the music”.
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