Classical Voice North America: After Covid, A Renewed Commitment To Music
PERSPECTIVE — The performing arts sector has been in crisis mode for nearly three years. Predictions of doom for classical music’s infrastructure, never in short supply to begin with, spiked to unprecedented levels with the arrival of the pandemic.
There’s even been speculation about how Covid’s long-term disruptions have taken a toll on our personalities, with negative effects hitting the younger generation particularly hard. If these concerns have any validity, how much more difficult will the goal of courting new audiences become?
Yet encouraging signs of revitalization can be found across the spectrum of classical music institutions. The situation with regard to regional orchestras is especially noteworthy, since during the pandemic’s early stages smaller ensembles seemed even more vulnerable than bigger orchestras with sizable endowments.
But the drastic need to rethink priorities has also yielded renewed purpose. “In the midst of these seemingly endless obstacles that come our way, you have a group of musicians who play together with such a sense of community and empathy,” said Eric Garcia about his experience as music director of the Boise Philharmonic.
Classical Voice North America
By Thomas May
Editor’s Note: This is the first installment of a two-part report on the post-pandemic outlook of regional orchestras in America’s Northwest.
PERSPECTIVE — The performing arts sector has been in crisis mode for nearly three years. Predictions of doom for classical music’s infrastructure, never in short supply to begin with, spiked to unprecedented levels with the arrival of the pandemic.
There’s even been speculation about how Covid’s long-term disruptions have taken a toll on our personalities, with negative effects hitting the younger generation particularly hard. If these concerns have any validity, how much more difficult will the goal of courting new audiences become?
Yet encouraging signs of revitalization can be found across the spectrum of classical music institutions. The situation with regard to regional orchestras is especially noteworthy, since during the pandemic’s early stages smaller ensembles seemed even more vulnerable than bigger orchestras with sizable endowments.
But the drastic need to rethink priorities has also yielded renewed purpose. “In the midst of these seemingly endless obstacles that come our way, you have a group of musicians who play together with such a sense of community and empathy,” said Eric Garcia about his experience as music director of the Boise Philharmonic.
Read more here.