Tom wrote:Most orchestra musicians make it clear that Pops concerts are beneath them, it's just that most stop short of being unwilling to play them completely because they know deep down inside that the pops concert with someone like Kenny G or Michael McDonald on the program today is funding the Mahler, Bruckner, and Shostakovich symphony concerts tomorrow that don't draw flies.
Here's a proposal which might actually be attempted if some of those orchestra players who witness the empty house chairs for Mahler, Bruckner, and Shostakovich push actively for their orchestra's marketing staff to try. The primary target for this marketing campaign would be those people who have attended only the orchestra's concerts with Kenny G, Michael McDonald, etc. and are not already subscribers of the orchestra:
" You'll love our orchestra!
MONEY BACK GUARANTEE!"
Reserve one, two, three, or four seats to an upcoming concert that features, for example, Shostakovich #____ coupled with other truly creative programming (that's the responsibility of the Artistic Director to offer variety within what we label as "classical music").
To participate in the Money Back Guarantee offer, audience members would agree to listen before the concert (on the honor system) to a downloadable MP3 (or CD, if they're not computer-friendly) of an engaging introduction to the repertoire to be performed on the program, styled after Bill McGlaughlin's "Exploring Music" or BBC Radio 3's "Discovering Music" or CSO's "Beyond the Score."
The audience members would "check in" upon arrival at the concert, confirming that they listened to the introductory program.
After attending the concert, if they truly felt that they "hated the music" or "didn't get their money's worth," they could request a partial or full refund of their ticket costs.
If promoted aggressively*, new audience members might be willing to "put their toe in the water" and give it a try. The net result would be
some new fans of the so-called "standard" repertoire. It could go as far as having a "Billy May" type character announce the "Money Back Guarantee" program. Dignified? Perhaps not. But do those same people who attend concerts by Michael McDonald, Kenny G, etc. care how "dignified" the ads or the concert itself is? No! Perhaps they might smile and say to themselves, "OK, I'll give this Shostakovich a try."
*It is worth noting that the CSO has regular ad campaigns on the AM NewsRadio station in Chicago. It must be working to gain new audience members. This would be one avenue for promoting the "Money Back Guarantee."
