Why won’t the audiences come back?
NewsThe New York Times has woken up to the performing-arts crisis:
…The resumption of live performance after the long pandemic shutdown brought plenty to cheer about over the past year. But far fewer people are showing up to join those cheers than presenters had hoped.
Around New York, and across the country, audiences remain well below prepandemic levels. From regional theaters to Broadway, and from local orchestras to grand opera houses, performing arts organizations are reporting persistent — and worrisome — drops in attendance…
“The biggest problem is that we haven’t finished with the pandemic,” said Peter Gelb, the general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, which never had to cancel last season. “I believe our audience is there — just some of them are in hibernation.”
Carnegie Hall ended the season with an average attendance level of 88 percent, compared with 93 percent before the pandemic, but achieved that in part by presenting fewer concerts: about 115, compared with about 170 before the pandemic. The New York Philharmonic, similarly, finished the season with an average of 90 percent capacity, but that was with a pared-down season of about 80 concerts, compared with 120 in a normal year… (more here).
No-one seems to know why.
Could it be that too much focus has been placed on ‘audience’ and too little on individuals who like music?
The industry sees its customers as sheep. There has been little research into why people go, or don’t go, or stopped going to world-class classical music, and what it will take to bring them back.
The New York Philharmonic can expect uplift this season from the sheer brilliance of its new hall, but the rest will still face unsold seats.
A massive strategic shift is required, and I don’t see any great brains being applied to it.
Gelb’s comment says it all: ‘we know you’re there, maybe in some kind of coma.’
iam sure it is the age of the audience.
if it was a young crowd it would be packed
I don’t think so. At least in Germany all kind of performances are affected by a decline of tickets sold. This is also true for pop and rock concerts and festivals. Only the very big ones are sold out. It may be that the classical concerts and opera are more affected than others but serious numbers on that are missing.
Cineworld second largest cinema chain is on the brink of going bankrupt, and when my wife has been to a cinema she has been the only one there. It is very much a general problem for performance venues, we have been to sell out nights but classical have fewer than a quarter of seats sold.
People are now slowly waking up to the fact that they were sold a pup, COVID is not that dangerous for most people, the so called vaccines are both unsafe and ineffective and will not protect them from catching Covid. There is plenty of evidence for excess deaths from the vaccines and increasing reluctance to take further shots. It is hardly surprising that people have decided to stay at home.
I really wonder what it must be like to live your life. It must be exciting, like being able to see sky as green and dogs talking human language etc. But it might also be lonely and humiliating…I wish you all the best
This level of ignorance at this point in time is astonishing; you should find better news sources.
In the major cities of the U.S., people were told for three years (well after an effective vaccine was available) that they could not live a normal life any more, that they had to take major precautions (for example: avoid crowds!), change their lives entirely, and that there was a high likelihood they would die or suffer long-term health implications if they caught the virus, regardless of their current fitness or age. Politicians in the major cities (where most orchestras, opera companies, musical theatre troupes, etc. reside) also directly connected these beliefs to politics. If you are a good, liberal-thinking person who hates Donald Trump, then you should be very, very concerned about covid, take all the precautions, and believe every last bit of fearful information served up. (Again, long after effective vaccines were available.)
Sadly, the genie is out of the bottle, and he can’t be forced back in. Politicians and the functionaries who endorsed their messages of doom are now begging people to return to the cities, to the restaurants, to the theaters, but the people are just not coming. And why should they? They believe what they were told for three straight years. For their part, many organizations/theaters continue to require masks, in some cases even still require distancing: these requirements “sell” the idea to the public that the theater is a dangerous place to be. The terrified will remain home, because hey, is a crappy cross-gender version of “Company” really worth dying for? The unfraid will also remain home, because why sit in an opera house for four hours, masked and uncomfortable, shouted at by ushers, glared at by other patrons if you raise the mask to get a bit of fresh air? You could listen to a better performance at home on the hi-fi anyway.
The politicians, theaters, and audiences have done this to themselves. As soon as there was a vaccine accessible to all, we should have declared victory and gone back to normal across the U.S., but we didn’t. This is the result, and people need to start owning it.
“Gelb’s comment says it all: ‘we know you’re there, maybe in some kind of coma.’”
Peter Gelb as the Generaldirektor is enough reasons not to visit the Met. He is much funnier a man, sorry, a person, than he realises.
“World-class classical music”= Wokeness, lectures, diversity.
Stabbed in New Woke City in broad daylight really must attract so many tourists. No? Well, just defund the police, liberate the oppressed from prisons back on the streets.
How, oh, how, could I prefer watching Carlos Kleiber on youtube?
Same page as I. Just saw your post after writing my own.
Look at the productions Gelb has launched in recent years…and has announced for 2022-2023. It’s going to get worse before it gets better.
Programming-Programming-Programming.
(Also, what Fritz said)
What’s wrong with them? why don’t you eleborate?
All true. I’d just add that the vaccines are now shown to be useless in that they don’t stop you catching ‘it’ or passing ‘it’ on, and it looks like more people are dying from the vaccines than from covid itself!!
The same medieval mentality that is leading to an upsurge in Polio. Is Smallpox next?
The deniers will never learn. They continue to spout unsubstantiated facts as if it was science.
What Fauci/the CDC/other health professionals have now confirmed, is “unsubstantiated facts”? How, exactly??
Your cognitive dissonance won’t allow you to accept where the polio is actually coming from… and it ain’t American citizens. Consider for a moment the third-world hoards pouring in by the millions at our southern “border”
Your racist nonsense would be more effective if you could write English correctly: the word is “hordes” not “hoards”
The NPC’s who point out spelling errors are the most ignorable NPC’s of them all.
Odd, isn’t it, how racist nonsense and spelling errors often go together?
That isn’t cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is specifically the feeling of uncomfortable tension that arises between two simultaneously held conflicting beliefs.
It is not an interchangeable term for ‘confused thinking’. Leave the technical talk to psychologists if you’re not sure.
Only Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan have not completely eradictated polio.
If you read anything other than the Trump playbook, you’d know that the countries below the southern US border eradicated polio decades ago.
The real problem with the proliferation of polio and other viruses are the anti-vaxxers. They put the entire world at risk.
But heck, let’s not take responsibility and just vilify the immigrants. That’s the easiest route to take.
If you lived anywhere other than in your particular news silo, you’d know that people from all over the world are pouring in through the border, not just those who originate from South America. And they’re “illegal immigrants”. Millions and millions of them.
Instead of hyperbole, the average number of immigrants coming to the US per year for the past decade has been around 1 million.
“Millions and millions of them” seems to exaggerate (and inflame the rhetoric) the total number of immigrants who seek a better life in the US every year, either for economic or political reasons.
Just like my ancestors 125 years ago. God Bless America.
When was the last time you were at this border?
here you are, Polio in New York City
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjBt4qL_9v5AhVFF2IAHcBeC94QFnoECAMQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww1.nyc.gov%2Fsite%2Fdoh%2Fabout%2Fpress%2Fpr2022%2Fnysdoh-and-nycdohm-wastewater-monitoring-finds-polio-urge-to-get-vaccinated.page&usg=AOvVaw2wtXaX9vfHl87q5ULMR6cC
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjBt4qL_9v5AhVFF2IAHcBeC94QFnoECAUQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2022%2F08%2F12%2Fnyregion%2Fpolio-nyc-sewage.html&usg=AOvVaw25hwys_8_C3-fa_Y0AUk3b
The “upsurge” in polio is directly attributed to the polio vaccine administered in Israel, as the strain of polio with which people have become sickened with is circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 3(cVDPV3). The outbreaks in the United States have been mostly confined to counties in lower NY where there is a large population of Chassidim who travel regularly to and from Israel, and it is directly related to a previously-administered vaccine strain from Israel.
Furthermore, educate yourself on the history of the polio vaccine as it relates to SV40 and the epidemic of cancer that we currently face.
Or, you can continue to post knee-jerk reactions and ad-hominem attacks.
Your choice.
Right, the NYC polio cases are the result of unvaccinated natives picking up polio from live-virus vaccinated. Not “hoards” of Mexican “pouring” across the border.
The upsurge in polio in Brooklyn and Rockland County is at the hands of the Chassidic community who have added a law to the Talmud which never existed. Generally the Talmud has good laws for those who follow it which preserved the community. In this viewpoint, they have chosen to poison their own and spread the disease to others outside their community by not vaccinating their children. The polio vaccine is at this point long past the experimental stage and is safe. By the way, in all the years I’;ve gone to the MET, I’ve never seen a Chassid there.
To your last sentence I say: Thank God For That!!!!!!
Stops you dying of covid but not dying of cancer or a stroke, or, aheart attack, or even old age!
Fritz is spot on here. I’d also add that in her fearful hibernation, ‘Grandma’ learned how to zoom with her lady friends and figured out what streaming is. New habits formed.
Your views on Covid and masks are your own. What matters is the views of older patrons of classical music. Wait for their views to change, or attract a younger audience. We can’t control the former, we can the latter.
Spare me your politization of Covid; if you have a sane brain and medical issues the Covid pandemic is a medical issue, not a political one (as made mostly by delusional Trump). Yes, it effected our public lives, but many companies like the MET have many singers on their roster over and over. who are way past their selling point in their careers (example Lucic, Gagnidze, Morris, Westbroek) or singers who are just fair mediocrities and have very little selling point for the names singing on that stage between 1960-2000 they are replacing (example Monastyrska, Fabiano, Costello, Eyvazov, Ludgren, Blue, Goerke, T.Wilson, O.Petrova, S.Philips, Plachetka, Stikhina etc) who in those times would been considered the first or second understudy only. Even trough 1990-2001 you had still names which sold tickets, but today are missing on rosters of many opera houses around the globe. After 40 years of casting Director Jonathan Friend we were hoping for a positive change, but it looks still SOS and you could hardly find three performances in row you would like to travel to the MET and personally attend from any city. Gelb’s HD broadcasts and frequent Sirius broadcasts made performances accessible to many of those who cannot travel for different reasons o New York City, but became also an enemy of tickets sales, because many of them stay glued to their TVs or Sirius Radios almost free of charge. The pandemic did not help the declining performing quality which is the major reason all cultural institutions have a problem to fill their seats.
Well comrade, had Trump and his anti-vaxxer cronies not gone to extremes to cast doubt on the vaccine, Fauci, the CDC and all science in general and make sure as many people as possible did NOT take the vaccine, or even practice rudimentary masking, the vaccine might have been a victory. But the flat-earthers of the far right made sure that didn’t happen.
Some possible explanations
(1) People aren’t planning like they used to because who knows whether they’ll catch Covid three days before the performance, and then the day of performance comes round and they think, you know what, I can’t be bothered to shlepp into town, especially now that I’m working from home and don’t have a season ticket anymore.
(2) It was never that good in the first place. The repertoire was stale, the performers were going through the motions, and somebody’s bloody mobile phone was always going off in a quiet bit.
(3) People are skint. And that’s even before their fuel bills go through the roof in the winter. Discretionary spending on stuff like classical music will be the first to go.
More like people are broke with cutting back and saving up for an astronomically high feul bill in October andvthe escalating cost of living.
Hence, a massive loss of cultural interest in our increasingly degenerated societies, which have limited their existence to problems of resource accumulation, survival and biological reproduction.
Why don’t the audiences come back? Here are a couple of the reasons in my own household.
1. My wife and I are now officially “seniors,” and I have mild asthma. Both of those are “higher risk” factors for a serious Covid experience. In early 2020, we stopped attending any live performing arts events. . . . We resumed in 2021, when, in keeping with local and state governments’ public health mandates, our local symphony, opera, theatres, and general performance auditorium all began requiring audience members to be masked. (Our doctor told us, “If you’re vaccinated and everyone is masked, that’s about as good as things are going to get, for now.”) . . . But we again ceased attending when government-imposed mask mandates were withdrawn and all of these venues, acting as if Covid precautions were just too much trouble, promptly abandoned their masking requirements. (And no, we don’t like wearing masks any more than anyone else does, but it’s just a simple and civil thing in which everyone does what they can to protect everyone else, especially when the latest Covid variants are the most contagious of all, and, in our geographical area, account for more than half of all reported new cases.)
2. As specifically concerns our local orchestra, even before Covid the group had taken to presenting an increasing number of what I call “bonbon” concerts, e.g., multiple overtures and preludes on the same program, and/or short “cheerful” symphonies. (This was in the “main” classical series, not the “pops” series, which we also attended, and where such things are standard.) The orchestra was also presenting an increasing number of concerts that we just considered “poor value for money spent,” e.g., the concert begins just after 8:00 p.m., the entire second half of the program is the “Firebird Suite,” and the concert is over by 9:20–which included an intermission (interval)
Mr. Lebrecht has commented: “The industry sees its customers as sheep. There has been little research into why people go, or don’t go, or stopped going to world-class classical music, and what it will take to bring them back.”
In each of the cases above, we wrote to the management of the symphony, the opera, the theatre, the auditorium, etc., and told them we really missed attending live performing arts, but explained our reasons. Some people may be fine with attending public indoor events where unmasked people are coughing, sneezing, or just generally breathing at one another during a pandemic. We’re not among them. Some people may prefer an “undemanding” symphony repertoire without much “meat on its bones.” We’re also not among those.
Agreed on Point 1. Since Canadian provinces dumped mask mandates in public places, organizations aren’t allowed to mandate them. Which means that if I go to a concert (alone, I don’t have a partner) I may have unmasked persons on both sides of me (and behind me), whose aerosols I will be breathing for 90 minutes or more. As a senior, I’ll pass.
This is now a major problem, both in the UK as well as, it would appear, in the US, and I worry about the lack of urgency in getting to the bottom of it. The headwinds of inflation and ongoing COVID issues are being felt equally around the world, yet other countries do not struggle with attendance in the same way.
I don’t believe there is one simple answer, but rather a perfect storm of economic conditions, Covid, questionable and overly politicised cultural policy making and generally changing social attitudes to going out.
We need to start asking the right questions and soon, because a lot of promoters, particularly those without huge public funding, are on the brink. As both a performer and promoter myself, these are conversations I am now having with colleagues almost daily and if the current trend continues, we will be looking at a greatly diminished cultural landscape within a few short years.
The NYT has been … woken …, for a while.
But we are staring at the Solution, She is right in front of our eyes:
More Latin sermons, more sermons and lectures in general, before and after the concert, more thrashing and denigrating of high-power donors, more journalists invited to expensive dinners so they can honey-sugar your reviews, a no-compromise hardcore public stance against Me2 and political correctness and against inclusiveness in classical music, more not-so-blind auditions to improve the level of the orchestra, more fidelity to archaic poetry lines even if they sound racist, free tickets, more Russian music, and, above all, more sub-par Beethoven.
Implement this operational recipe and audiences of all races, ages and sexual orientation will flock.
Everything I’ve been to has been very full. But I haven’t been to Baltimore or to a Broadway show.
While their core audience sat at home, institution after institution pronounced them irredeemably racist, and then replaced great music with Price, Chevalier de Saint George and other such dreck, then replaced Schiller with rap. Then cities capitulated to the leftist anti cop rhetoric and crime skyrocketed. Then inflation from shutting down a country over a bad cold made tickets and dinner unaffordable. Any other stupid questions?
I’ve said here before that if Covid were the only issue, I’d go to at least a reduced number of concerts by my local orchestra (Philly). The reason I refuse to go to any at all at this point is their decision to go woke as part of their core mission. I won’t support woke institutions if I can help it.
If I lived in Philly or Baltimore the last thing I would do is venture out at night risking my life to attend a concert. Until the cities get the feral animals under control nightlife is not worth the risk.
Yes. Significantly increased violent crime is a factor in not wanting to return to the city for nights out. I go into town about once a month to meet friends for lunch, and that’s the extent of it.
Not even the Blmostedt concert? – providing he recovers (may he do that). At least you send the message that there is still public for the real thing.
Of course I meant Blomstedt.
Actually, I’m planning on going to that one only this season. With the Orchestra’s luck of recent years, he’ll probably cancel.
The Blomstedt concert along with the Emanuel Ax, Augustin Hadelich, and Tugan Sokhiev concerts are pretty much the only ones worth attending. Perhaps Hilary Hahn too. (To be blunt, the way Philly is these days I’m shocked the Sokhiev/Tchaik 4 pairing hasn’t been canceled, literally and figuratively.)
Even if their woke turn hadn’t happened, I was already disturbed by the extent to which their lineup of guest conductors has gone downhill for a number of years years; especially when you look at who they used to get. And the rare ones they get that I’m eager to see often wind up cancelling for one reason or another.
I’m in Philly and ditto. Just got their insufferably long “why aren’t you coming back?!?” that asked questions about social justice and woke programming. with no “knock it off, I hate it” answer options.
Just after that survey, the news broke about the orchestra demanding masks of the choir in Scotland for Beethoven 9 during the tour they just launch.
Yannick – who I used to really adore – and the front office have lost it.
Could it just be that no small part of the problem is that paying customers don’t want to listen to the music that is being tyrannically imposed upon them time and time again in the name of equality? Or hear the overtones of ideology behind every concert programme at the expense of merit?
I’ve heard enough of the insipid dross being served up in the name of representation quotas. Maybe they should offer tickets at Florence ‘Half’ Price.
Precisely. Why be force fed garbage when you can eat at home for free?
A number of people came to Chicago Symphony concerts from work. They were already downtown. Now many of them are working from home, and very possibly in their pajamas. Getting dressed and contending with Chicago late afternoon traffic is a lot more daunting than walking over to the hall from your office.
This, obviously, is only a partial explanation, probably one of a number of factors. It is interesting that there is also a wider disparity in attendance, at least from my vantage point on stage. The more popular programs have audiences very similar to what we were seeing before COVID. But the more arcane ones seem to result in a lot more empty seats than they used to.
I can of course only speak for myself, but I rarely attend concerts after work. After 6-7 hours of bad sleep and another 8-9 hours in front of a computer, I would simply be too tired to enjoy music. But on weekends I am more rested and sometimes I take a nap before going to the concert. I realize however that some poeple do attend after work and one impact of telework is less public during week days.
I am thinking Chicagorat probably has an alternate explanation, lol.
Poor old Chicagorat ain’t be given any attention by The Muti lately, so is a bit (um) ratty…
This week end I have seen that it was the same problem in the USA for the baseball ballparks. In Europe it’s the same problems in the cinemas.
Baseball is not an indicator, it’s a dying sport in the USA and even 20-30 years ago it wasn’t uncommon for a baseball stadium that held 40k people to have 12k in attendance at best, especially this late in the season for a bad team.
You won’t see an NFL or Div 1 College (American) Football (not Soccer) stadium that isn’t packed to the gills every weekend. The Big 10 stadiums hold over 100k people and they are packed to the rafters often in towns that don’t even have a population of 100k and the residents sell space on their front lawns for parking and tailgating (looking at you Ann Arbor.)
Also take a look at things like Nascar, MMA/UFC and other wildly popular sports. Packed.
Absolutely right. Just saw Joe Rogan’s comedy tour — he sold out a large hockey arena, at least 12K tickets.
Baseball has always had lower attendance than football because the teams have lots more games.
Well, to add to the comments…
We have YouTube now, which many got very accustomed to during the COVID days and frankly, for nothing-I can watch some of the best performances ever.
Another reason, uninspiring programming! Ugh…did you see Tanglewood this year? Yawn. Woke programming. Yawn. How about just something new—and good?! Tickets aren’t cheap!
Wokeness—We are constantly being told (scolded?) that classical music is racist….Why would we go if we are doing something bad?! What will people think?! (I kid, but you get the point.)
The audiences are mostly over 60–They have had the fear of catching anything shoved down their throats—many will just choose to do something else rather than sit in an audience now. Or the buses that used to take them out aren’t running like they did pre-COVID. The other audience members don’t want to mask up and sit in an audience to listen to music they mostly don’t care about. It’s not a good date-night place right now.
So, that’s where your audience is. I am surprised the numbers are still as high as they are. If things come back, it will just take a while.
There is nothing new. The price-quality combination is not there. Opera goers are not sheep.
(1) Tickets are too expensive.
(2) Featuring artists or conductors for any reason other than their superb artistic merit will deteriorate attendance.
P.S. I would like go to several performances next season. There is only one I am inclined to go to. And, also, back to the price-quality ratio.
P.P.S. It is time to stop blaming covid for what has other reasons for failure.
Older people are still afraid of Covid. One of several reasons why classical music must attract a younger audience. I do not know how, but it must.
Sure, especially when someone younger reads comments such as the above, she/he will get the urge to spend a few hours in the company of far-right grumpy old men, complaining about everything and criticizing what is important to the young and what they do not understand at all. Not to mention mummified eighty-year-old conductors, former tenors with too long paws and aging divas, supporters of dictators. And it’s not cheap. Forget it.
It’s the ticket prices, duh
During the pandemic a lot of us discovered that staying home, not having to dress up, having some Jameson Irish Whiskey or Fullers ISB, with a fine DVD or CD playing is every bit as rewarding as going out. Just last night I watched Leonard Bernstein’s Resurrection from Ely Cathedral. What’s not to love?
I love it too, but it is dead. It is a fossilized performance. Theres no getting around that – no matter how great it is.
I have to disagree. Perhaps none of the conductors currently before the public are in the same class as Lenny, but there is nothing like live music.
The older people where a mask walking in an empty
Street. They feel vulnerable
Gelb’s current problem is as follows: the majority of his audience are Senior Citizens. Yes, the pandemic is holding a lot of them back, however, when your productions are from hunger and gimmicks and your seat prices are through the roof and the economy sucks, they won’t come. It is not going to improve until he’s gone. Now that there is a whiff of scandal around Anne Ziff and her looted artwork from the Near East, perhaps that may happen, as she is the reason he’s still there.
Lindemann’s suspect artifacts, not Ziff’s…
It’s most of the Met board that support him, although Anne Ziff is the head cheerleader. Sweet woman, but a bad judge of people.
Gelb has been on a campaign to alienate the core Met audience since day one. He has accomplished his goal.
There are lots of reasons, but crime is an unfortunate elephant in the room. So long as crime rates are up, suburbians will think twice about coming into the city, and it will put a huge crimp the financial solvency of culture.
One solution is to do a concert every so often in suburbs, but that may ruin orchestra’s abilities to get audiences in their longterm concert halls.
we could also get rid of Soros DA’s and begin prosecuting crime once again…but common-sense solutions are most unlikely these days
Soros is your Jewish scapegoat boogeyman. He’s far from responsible. Keep in mind, the Republicans desire for free spending opened up that can of worms with Citizens United. It worked far better when this sort of money could not be added from other sides. I suspect the Koch’s have done more harm to this country on many levels through their spending. By the way it was announced today that a Chicago businessman just salted $1.6 billion in dark money for “conservative” causes. He was too much of a coward to attache his name to it and had to be outed.
He’s not a coward- just knows thatif he put out his name, the Left would destroy him. They will now anyway. His money doesn’t compare to the “dark” money of Zuckerberg, Soros, etc. so give me a break. As far as describing Soros as being my Jewish scapegoat, you’re reprehensible. I don’t give a damn if he’s Jewish or not. Besides, I am Jewish, so the most it might matter is my embarrassment at what a fellow jew has done to our cities.
George Soros has done nothing to the cities.
That’s rich coming from someone who supports the same politicians who are responsible for the spike in crime (before you ask, I did not vote for Trump, whom I despise).
But, to your point, your own Baltimore Symphony does concerts in the Washington suburb of Bethesda , which has the best concert hall of the D.C. area (Strathmore), plus free parking. And the concerts are still poorly attended.
As I said elsewhere, I did not renew my subscription that I had for a long time, in fact since Strathmore opened. The reason is that the Baltimore Symphony went woke. Plus the firing of Emily Skala, who, as I said before, wrote crazy thing, but wrote them in her own name. Nutjobs are still entitled to fair treatment.
I still decided to buy tickets to two “non-woke’ concerts, maybe they get the message.
He’s right, they are in a Coma.
Some people have worked out the Coma was a hoax – rebranded flu to control everybody on the planet and they’ve never experienced anything like it. They’ve also worked out that the vaccine that isn’t, is premeditated mu$der. A check on instagram will show the life long injuries sustained which the MSM are being instructed and paid off not to report, and the disgusting doctors being paid off to tell those who have developed pericarditis from the liquid s$£t, that they’re suffering from anxiety, not a heart problem and to go home and take an aspirin!
And now, suddenly (!) there’s a cost of living crisis that is engineered by all the global governments and yes, it’s your fault and you will pay for it, just like they want you to pay $$$$ for your funeral, or life insurance or mortgage scam or healthcare scam that they want you to suffer for.
And after all that, the psycological effect on people? These global criminals don’t want people to remember what life was like before 2020, which is why the concert halls are empty.
They certainly don’t want you to remember that you didn’t have to wear a mask or have a flu jab before taking a flight, pre 2020, incase you infected a fellow traveller with pneumonia and they ended up in ICU.
This is the elephant in the room around which all of the pearl-clutchers dance.
How many times over the years have we heard the PR meisters of classical music tout the music itself as having qualities transcendent of language barriers and cultural differences?
When have U.S. performing arts organizations ever been able to afford to engage in discrimination against potential audience members? With the promotion of concerts aimed at drawing more members of varied and diverse demographics, and outreach partnerships with American public schools, the answer is “never.”
Until now. This may come as a shock to many, but in our current economy people find themselves struggling to pay bills, much less enjoy a healthy discretionary budget for entertainment in the form of live concerts. Why would they want to take their hard-earned money and spend it at a venue where they are forced to submit to draconian, ill-advised and ham-handed admissions policies where they are treated as a potential bio-terrorist before they even enter the hall?
Even now–when the much-vaunted CDC has completely backpedaled on all of the doom, gloom and advisories they were dishing out two years ago– people have not forgotten how they were treated at these venues, nor will they any time soon.
These people not only pay money to attend your concerts, but they give the gift of their time, attention and ears because they think that what you have to “say” is important. They can always listen to Mahler or Bruckner in the comfort of their own homes, rather than spend money to be treated like criminals.
You need them more than they need you.
Put on a good enough show and people will come. Don’t blame Covid.
The Slipped Psychos are out in BEYOND full-force on this post. As a life long NYC resident, here on the ground all through the pandemic, I’m sick to death of all the pussy-cats who don’t even step foot in the city complaining that it’s a crime-ridden post-apocalyptic hellscape. Sure, if your information comes from media that trumpets only stories of violent crime and snapshots of statistics, you may think that. Frankly, I’m fine if those morons stay out of the city. My gripes have to do with mega-rich folks who are still “moving” here without taking up full time residence, making life more expensive for regular people who actually live here. City’s fine for me. If the Philharmonic, for example, lowered their ticket prices and actually walked the talk of being the orchestra for all NYers, then I’d be there. Until then, I’ll just bite comp tickets from my friends in the band lol
Well said!!!
I’m a 48 years young Social worker and NYC resident. I just want to AFFORD to go. That applies to Broadway as well; never could afford it even pre-pandemic. My primary complaint when I did go, was always sitting behind or next to someone who felt the need to check their phone every 3 mins. That distraction alone diminished my experiences.
I’m not negating people’s fear of Covid, health risks, crime stats, or the cost of inconvenience. I just feel that the city is back up and running for those who choose to venture out. Yes, crime is real, but the venues are the least likely (read: safest) places in the city to be a murder victim compared to Yankee stadium, let’s say. The police are more likely to actually show up if you had to call 911 between parking your car and the walk to Alice Tully hall or The Met. These venues aren’t in the south Bronx (no hate to the Bronxites).
I was excited to receive my season 2022/23 brochure in the mail from the NY Phil and as I peruse the lineup, I don’t see any “woke” programming. About 90% of it is your regular “born before WW2” composer. Yes, there is a 10% sprinkling of Price, Correa, Lu, and other unknowns; but is that what we’re doing now? Crying about the 10% because it’s not 99% of who you recognize? We will never get to know the unknowns, the up and coming kids coming out of Julliard, etc if we don’t add them to the programs for exposure. Even Beethoven and Bartok we’re once unknowns.
Sheesh…. Let’s breathe, take a step back, put down the rocks and rotten tomatoes, and just make a little room. We won’t like everything on a program, but it doesn’t mean it’s bad.
We don’t need to politicize EVERYTHING!! If you can go, then please go. Our extremely talented musicians need you. If you can’t for whatever reason, then don’t.
Absolutely spot on. So true.
Becase life itself has changed, and so are we! No going back in life, just different. Great shame.
Has any analysis been done to compare post-pandemic audiences by country or region?
My guess is that few of those who’ve commented actually read the NY Times piece, and instead wrote based on their (evidence-free) assumptions. Perhaps the key paragraph is this one:
“Some Broadway revivals have done boffo business at the box office, including Neil Simon’s marital comedy ‘Plaza Suite,’ which offered fans a rare opportunity to see the spouses Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick working together onstage; ‘The Music Man,’ starring [Hugh] Jackman, a huge draw; and ‘Into the Woods,’ the Stephen Sondheim musical that is playing to rhapsodic crowds. ‘Fire Shut Up in My Bones,’ the first work by a Black composer to be presented by the Metropolitan Opera, played to sold-out houses as word of mouth spread.”
In other words, produce something with buzz and They Will Come. It may not be the people who bark at every Lebrechtian dog whistle — who are outraged at every imaginative directorial innovation, every new or unfamiliar work, who long nostalgically for Wagner with spears, horned helmets and live horses, and who decry every young soprano and conductor for not being Flagstad or Toscanini — but make provocative happenings that people don’t want to miss for fear of seeming out of touch, and you’ll find an audience.
We just want well-programmed music, in good performances and ideally a comfortable environment. “Provocative happenings”, indeed!
You can sneer, but spears, horned helmets and live horses are no sillier than most, so-called “innovative” productions.
I refuse to visit downtown Minneapolis because of the crime and I refuse to donate to (or buy tickets for ) the MN Orchestra because of the wokeness that saturates everything they do.
Where the opera houses are concerned, it is possible that habitual attenders who had kept it up through a long, long, slow decline in the quality of performances pre-pandemic just realized during lockdown that they hadn’t been getting the satisfaction they hoped from what they were hearing, and decided to let it go. The nine or ten Met performances I heard in New York in the re-opened season certainly weren’t encouraging. People who are committed to the artform try to get excited when the occasional extraordinary (i.e. adequate) new singer appears, but for some it just may not be working.
Could be that everyone has realized the classical performing arts scene in NYC is grossly overpriced and overrated? I lived in NYC for a decade and came to realize quickly that visiting orchestras were far superior to anything the NY Phil did.
Certainly compared to the CSO, Philadelphia, Cleveland and Boston symphonies, let alone virtually all of the European ensembles visiting Carnegie Hall.
There is no mystery, Norman. The pandemic is not over. The classical music and drama audiences are mostly intelligent and older, and they know that it is still contagious and spreading. Most cases now are mild, but oldsters are more vulnerable
and could get seriously sick. So you, Peter Gelb and others needn’t seek far and wide for an answer which is quite simple and as plain as can be.
Every play, every classical concert or opera I have attended since Covid was lifted has been packed out. The première of Tchaikovsky’s Pikovaya Dama (in Russian) at La Monnaie in Brussels on September 11 is down to last tickets sales. There is hardly anything left. It remains to be seen what effect high inflation will have on audience capacity later in the year.
Because The NYT and others helped to create a climate of fear. And the fearful are not coming out yet. (Or just now prefer to stay in.)
Does the Met still require patrons to wear masks? If so, that is part of your answer.
It puts off those who don’t want to wear them for hours; and those that are already nervous, are not exactly reassured to be in such an environment.
Lose-lose.
I attended the Met about 20 times last season and heard absolutely no complaints. If anything, people were more than grateful for the security they felt and for efficient, polite, and well-staffed door staff.
New Yorkers have been just fine. If you don’t like it, don’t come. Go to a movie theater for the HDs.
Could it be the ticket prices?
I don’t think the Met has ever experimented with increasing revenue by actually lowering ticket prices across the board to increase ticket sales. It’s always been easier to squeeze the wealthier ticket buyers with exorbitant prices in the center and aisle orchestra, the Grand Tier, and the Parterre.
Most off-putting was the introduction of the dynamic pricing model. That’s when you really saw a precipitous decline in attendance, particularly in the orchestra.
The Met’s marketing department has been way off ever since Gelb assumed the reins. It became amateur hour at the Met.
I’m surprised actually how well attended the concerts were last year. I would not come to a show, sit 4 hours next to some person with the mask under their nose. Who knows what their Covid situation is. But people are braver than me.
There was a bump up in attendance after the Met made booster mandated for audience. People want culture and entertainment but also safety. The Met so far has done a good job in that.
Some operas sold extremely well and some didn’t. The audience will be back for exciting productions and when they know they’re safe.
I am not concerned of our future as performing musicians and of classical music.
Just as ppl didn’t return to work after the pandemic, they aren’t returning to live theater/concerts. They have turned into homebodies, couch potatoes etc not wanting to leave home. In addition, the increase in violence in cities keeps people away