Why concerts?

It has been said that modern concert halls are now like museums - nothing but relics from the past dwell there. The criticism is partly justified. I should know - I am one of the museum pieces on display. I don't exactly know how many symphony concerts I've played over the years but the number is easily in the hundreds. I have also played with many mariachi bands and the number of gigs there is probably in the thousands. Recording sessions also number in the hundreds. So, what makes me agree with the assessment of modern concert life? I think concerts over the years, and classical music, have been accorded a degree of seriousness which renders them inert. In the old days - going back to Bach and Vivaldi and Mozart - music served a social purpose. People didn't just sit and listen. Music was part of social or religious events. People talked, or walked or ate or worshipped while music was played. Opera performances were lively. There was audience interaction with the musicians and performers. We need to recapture that social aspect. Beethoven expected his audience to listen while he played. He was much too serious. Classical music became a philosophical exercise of sorts - put up on a pedestal. I say forget that!!! And if you insist on having concerts where people just sit quietly and listen, make them a lot shorter please, before we lose our audiences altogether. The sooner the better.

Bait and Switch?

I just received the new brochure from the Spencer Theater in Alto New Mexico. It's a two and a half hour drive from here and it's a nice theatre - seats about six hundred. We have played there twice. The announcement of the upcoming season got me thinking that it didn't start out this way. When the theatre was inaugurated, a few years back, the main items on the menu consisted of top-of-the-line classical concert artists from the U.S. and abroad - the thing is well-funded. Now, looking at the sixteen dates on the calendar, there is not a single classical music show scheduled. It's all about Annie, Oliver, The Pajama Game, Bye Bye Birdie, Footloose, Crystal Gayle, etc.. Why are they like that? Maybe they got tired of so much classical stuff? As the saying goes, he who pays the piper calls the tune. Perhaps we'll never play there again. The last time was when we played for Olga Kern, the piano player. She turned out to be a surly, childish, arrogant, and almost condescending person. Why does the Spencer Theater hate classical music now?