Dear Alma, Should I be playing candlelight concerts?

From our agone aunt:

Dear Alma,

I am in an orchestra, and do some playing on the side – chamber concerts or pickup gigs here and there. Recently I have been asked to do a couple of concerts that are contracted by a company that puts on basically classical pops with pickup quartets, surrounded by electric candles. They pay decently, treat us well, have set repertoire, and the concerts are well-attended.

Here is the question. Some of my colleagues have expressed negative feelings towards musicians accepting these gigs, because they feel like a corporate, out-of-town “pretend classical” event is pulling audience away from the actual classical concerts. I don’t want to turn down decent work that pays well, but I also don’t want to get in a sticky situation with my colleagues.

On the Fence

Dear On the Fence,

Yes I have seen these concerts advertised. Aggressively. On my Instagram especially. If I am thinking of the same operation, it normally features a photo of 4 young musicians surrounded by a sea of plastic candles, with catchy titles reflecting a Hallmark Holiday or some such. And operation it is. Over 100 cities, and the catch phrase on the website is “Almost like, you know, heaven”. Talk about classy! I want to go! You can even hear these “spectacular musicians” play Aretha Franklin or Coldplay! Why do they stop here – why not make a series of music schools to train the next generation of “spectacular musicians”? It’s just, you know, like, very high level stuff.

But really. Musician to musician, it’s hard to turn down a gig. And it’s probably pretty fun to play. And I know about the concerns. Taking audience away from actual classical events. But is there even a crossover? If someone is going to go hear an orchestra play, are they going to be flipping a coin over these two, polar opposites? I don’t know, but my instinct says no. Not the same audience.

On the Fence, I used to have a student who had a regular gig playing in a baroque orchestra in a castle on weekends. She was in FULL consume. She gave me tickets for our family to attend, and we all dressed up. It came with dinner and a kindof comedy warm-up routine, then we piled into the ballroom and the orchestra played with candles on their stands. They were very good, surprisingly. But, looking around the room, it would take a real stretch for me to imagine any of the patrons going to hear Mahler at the symphony, if you catch my drift.

So, no, I don’t imagine that these events will pull away audience. Maybe a teeny little bit. And maybe it’s that kind of information that you can share with your concerned colleagues.

And maybe you will just love being surrounded by thousands of non-recyclable plastic candles, playing Beatles tunes. You can fill up your whole house with them. And then the landfill. It going to be, like, really super magical.

Questions for Alma? Please put them in the comments section or send to DearAlmaQuery@gmail.com