Boston stays dark to April

Boston stays dark to April

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norman lebrecht

October 17, 2020

A message from Mark Volpe, President and CEO of the Boston Symphony Orchestra; Andris Nelsons, BSO Music Director; and Keith Lockhart, Boston Pops Conductor:

It is with great disappointment that we inform you the BSO and Boston Pops will not be performing for live audiences through April as a result of COVID-19-related restrictions. We deeply regret having to cancel the 2020 Holiday Pops series in December and the remaining 2020-21 BSO season through the winter and spring months. Though this news likely doesn’t come as a surprise — since the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact all our personal and professional lives — it is still a major loss for the organization and everyone who appreciates and cherishes the BSO and Boston Pops.

One bright silver lining that has resulted from this challenging period has been the creation of a new library of audio and video material, helping millions in the music community of Boston and around the world get through this difficult time and the forced hiatus from the live concert experience. And while we eagerly await the end of that hiatus, we are also excited to be announcing a series of newly created online performances later this month; we feel great inspiration to continue creating new virtual offerings and look forward to sharing the full details of those performances with you soon.

 

Comments

  • J says:

    Yet another casualty of the TRUMP VIRUS. (Please, whatever deity you look to, ask them to “…deliver us from [this] evil…”)

    As per another post, in addition to the BSO, who is most likely on reduced wages, there will be a lot of freelancers, many who depend on holiday season work as a large portion of yearly income, who will not receive a dime from performing this year.

    I don’t mean to be pessimistic, but I’m very concerned about what is going to happen to our industry. Even with regime change, vaccines, etc, etc, the damage is being done, especially for smaller ensembles that don’t have endowments to fall back on like the BSO. Very sad.

    • Sand says:

      Oh please you fools it’s your virus and the Trump administration can come up with a cure we would help the world. Democrats closing everything down is the problem and jealously will only cause more damage to Sm business. Only big bus open why??cry me a river. Other virus we had was just as bad we didn’t close or wear a mask. We got a cure fast. It’s called history. Their killing the middle class. You stupid people pray for yourselves.you people make America sick.

  • Larry D says:

    It’s all Peter Gelb’s fault!

  • Cathy says:

    Perhaps this pandemic will help teach us the price of being overly narcissistic; The price of locking ourselves in the practice room for hours a day in the hope of joining classical musics 1%, and not caring much about the well being of fellow musicians.

    There are worldly limits to what Music Festivals, Masterclasses, Prestigious Conservatories and even Practicing can achieve in economically. COVID is making that come more to surface.

    • J says:

      Let’s assume some elements of your argument are true. Fine. The TRUMP VIRUS, however, is external to the political economy of the “classical” music industry. Even the 1% of which you speak are now going to have difficulty earning a living due to something that has nothing to do with market share, community outreach, audition processes, union negotiations, and all the other logistical processes and human relations aspects of running, and being in, a orchestra, for instance. If someone is getting into this business and does not know the percentages of finding mortgage-paying work, they are either uninformed or ill-advised. I’ve been playing and teaching for decades and the great majority know what the odds are.

      There are plenty of narcissists and people who don’t care about other people in every other field of endeavor. (A certain he-who-shall-not-be-named chief executive comes to mind. He’s the one who the TRUMP VIRUS refers to.)

      And at some point if you don’t lock yourself into a practice room for hours a day, one is probably going to reduce their chances of finding work.

    • Una says:

      Sure is the case. So. glad I am at the end of my career and had the life I had in abundance and such joy. Would not set out on the life of a professional singer today. There was hardly any work there for some years unless you were a high-flying star. Very few get there but now the middle lever has gone. Always plenty of work if you play for nothing, online or for peanuts. Still stuffing the music colleges with students and they promising them the earth. Private teachers charging the earth as well. The day of going to dig your teacher’s garden in return for some lessons is over. Not pessimistic but just realty with too much of life itself being sacrificed.

      • J says:

        Una – on the mark, and for the record, I am not naïve enough to think that what you, or Cathy, above, have brought up is not operative. I share the perspective and I’ve felt this way for a long time. But… we do live in a free-market system, and people can pursue being in the arts if they so choose. The point I did want to make is that what the TRUMP VIRUS is doing to the performing arts, and many other lines of work, is separate from what those lines of work are doing to/for themselves. I guess I feel that it’s an important distinction.

        And to ione of your points, at the moment, at least, it doesn’t look like enrollment is down at any of the major music schools.

      • Marge O. says:

        the us empire was all about economic hustling and huckstering. 330M+ car dealers/salesmen. Why would “music” be any different in that cesspool?

    • Marge O. says:

      The us was NEVER a meritocracy. Look at con-servatories, ec.. rich kids, elitists, and trustfunders. that was us ‘classical’ musak and the vast majority of its’ members.

    • Marge O. says:

      Spot on Cathy. That’s reality/truth. It was a race to the bottom 1% getting that orchestral “position”–a neponomics /diversity fest of trust funders, wealthy families getting the donations, gigs, elitist parties/photo ops, etcetc… let them all rot

  • Karl says:

    I doubt we will have concerts until late 2021.

  • Sandy says:

    Trump is finding a cure and all you White people are trying to kill everyone in America

  • Marge O. says:

    It get dark in beanotown around 3P. They should be used to darkness and hustler misery. close the elitist orchestra down if they pay their CON-ductor yet let go 50 employees.

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