Dragon-Con

[tbn.al]

Has anyone ever been to one of these events? Our community symphony is playing a concert of movie themes, mostly Sci-Fi, Saturday night in the ballroom and I have no idea what to expect. All I know is there will be a bunch of Sci-Fi geeks dressed up as their favorite characters and acting crazy. Should I pack some mace? How crazy are these people?

[Heavy_Metal]

Ever watch "The Big Bang Theory"?

[bort]

Bi-mon Sci Fi Con? Be there and be square.

But seriously, these people are harmless... just eccentric and enthusiastic.

[tbn.al]

Where did you find that?

[tbn.al]

Dragon-Con 2015 is history and I must say it more more than I expected, in every way. There were some unbelievable costumes with really strange people in them. I was amazed at their ingenuity. One guy had made an 8 foot robot out of stuff obviously from the city dump into which he climbed and manipulated all over the room. The concert, especially tailored for 2500 of my favorite sci-fi geeks went really well. We had too many standing ovations to count. The crowd favorite was the Diva operatic solo from The 5th Element. Julie Trammel was in full costume and not only sang the crap out of an impossible solo but did all the motions as well. One of the audience recorded some of the concert on a very good smart phone if you want to hear/see.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb0CMtieIDA" target="_blank

[Donn]

Nice - pretty good job on the sound, too.

[Heavy_Metal]

Well done! And they certainly appreciated it.

Which arrangement was it?

[tbn.al]

That was "Star Trek, Through the Years" arr. Calvin Custer, Hal Leonard. Everything we did in that nearly two hour concert was just commercial arrangements of film scores. Nothing really difficult but very taxing on brass lips. I was swollen beyond belief the next morning. You are right. That was the most enthusiastic, appreciative audience I have played for in more than 50 years on the stage. The debate continues, "Should a Symphony Orchestra stoop to playing pop tunes just to please an audience?" We passed out our orchestra business cards and almost doubled our online mailing list by the next day. As hard as it is to get an audience for classical music nowadays I say "whatever works"! I'll be interested to see if there is a numbers improvement when we break into our regular classical season.

[Ben]

We passed out our orchestra business cards and almost doubled our online mailing list by the next day.

I have always thought a personal touch is critical for audience development and retention. I am glad you got a chance to meet some potential new fans and clients! That's part of the fun for both sides of the stage. Maybe somewhere along the way we've lost sight of fun...

[Heavy_Metal]

The debate continues, "Should a Symphony Orchestra stoop to playing pop tunes just to please an audience?" We passed out our orchestra business cards and almost doubled our online mailing list by the next day. As hard as it is to get an audience for classical music nowadays I say "whatever works"! I'll be interested to see if there is a numbers improvement when we break into our regular classical season.

I'd bet it worked for Seattle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w59e20ijOpE" target="_blank"