Gareth Davies, principal flute of the London Symphony Orchestra, has been reflecting on the constant demands for change in classical concerts. In a typically thoughtful blog, he dismisses most change initiatives as tinsel.

There seems very little invention and much more repackaging. I remember when I was a student in the 90’s, the fashion was to ditch the concert attire and for men to wear… ground breaking (drum roll please) brightly coloured waistcoats. I don’t think a waistcoat has ever knowingly encouraged anyone to go anywhere. Similarly, standing up instead of sitting down made a brief game changing appearance. That’s the players not the audience unless you count the proms. Don’t get me started on fancy lighting. Why on earth anyone thinks that  the holy grail of audiences for classical music – young people – who have been brought up on YouTube, video games, 3D films, iPhones and on demand content, are going to be impressed by subtly changing mood lighting during a symphony which never asked for it in the first place, is beyond me. 

bbc proms plastic trumpets

As I watched the BBC news this week where Katie Derham talked about the new Proms season, the montage they used was exclusively clips of the headline grabbing acts involving DJs, jazz, urban and the like. Let me make this clear, I think it’s a good thing that the Proms embraces other forms of music, but as a percentage of the goodies on offer, it’s tiny. It’s frustrating then that these are the only bits a viewer that morning would have seen on TV.

 

 

Read the full blog here.

 

 

The young conductor Jonathan Bloxham has sent us this from his festival, Northern Sounds:

 

gateshead gardener

photo (c) Kaupo Kikkas

Hi Norman, 

I’d like to you meet Dave, a 74 year old community gardener from Gateshead who has never been to a classical concert but on Sunday will be performing Ligeti at the Sage.

This is part of a unique collaboration between myself and the photographer, Kaupo Kikkas. It is a project called ‘100 Faces of Gateshead’ and in it we bring together 100 people from different backgrounds in the town to each play one part in Ligeti Poeme Symphonic for 100 Metronomes. The idea behind is that music, art, can bring people from all walks of life together without prejudicing one group or another.

To support the project visually, Kaupo has taken portraits of all 100 participants – disabled actors, CEOs, retired, students, clergy – and we’ve complied a multimedia video, a exhibition and a book of all the photographs to accompany the performance.

The performance is the opening concert of my Northern Chords festival.


 

Lovely, revealing, un-pressy interview by Timothy Hazlett with the American composer John Luther Adams, whose success in the past year has overtaken that of his namesake without the added middle name.

Confused? You won’t be.  Click here.

john luther adams

h/t: Steve Smith

Can’t be done, right?

All the symphonies need someone at the front, giving shape and direction.

That’s what we thought.

The Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra of Los Angeles, a conductorless ensemble, decided to perform the fourth symphony without external interference.

See what you think.

kaleidoscope chamber orch

They restore your faith in youth and beauty.

stillwater choir

Three weeks ago, the Stillwater Area High School Concert Choir posted a video of their break at a hotel in Ames, Iowa. They liked the pool’s acoustics and sang F. Melius Christiansen’s “O Day Full of Grace.”

Three-quarters of a million people have watched in wonder.

More now.