Elgin Symphony Orchestra blog
I discovered recently that Michael Pastreich, executive director of the ESO, keeps a blog. Though it hasn’t been updated recently, it gives some insight into the thinking of ESO management. In one entry he says:
The Elgin Symphony Orchestra is what I call a satellite orchestra. This means that we are neither in the center of a major metropolitan area, nor in a smaller metropolitan area…In a satellite situation, people who either live or work half way between Elgin and Chicago have a much greater focus on Chicago than Elgin.
Somebody was floating rumors last year that the ESO would defect to Schaumburg if they didn’t get their concert hall. I thought that was humorous when I first heard it. And now that I’ve read what Michael Pastreich says about satellite orchestras, I have no doubt that the ESO itself realizes that that is not an option. Schaumburg is simply too close to Chicago. The ESO has a market out here–for now, because it is far enough from Chicago. Move it any closer, and the audience will simply choose Chicago. The ESO is fine, but there’s no comparison between the two orchestras.
I say the ESO has a market for now, because I’m well aware as any classical music enthusiast is aware that the trends in classical music are not towards an expanding market. Go to any concert, and you won’t be able to help but notice that this is a dying audience, quite literally. It’s full of old people. Classical music used to mean much more in American society, and these people grew up with it. The same cannot be said of their children or grandchildren, and how these old people are going to be replaced with new subscribers is a question that every orchestra will have to deal with. Chicago’s orchestra will always find support no matter what its attendance and how much money it loses, because billionaires have to give their money to somebody, and the CSO is very prestigious. But for an orchestra like Elgin’s, which doesn’t have that sort of prestige, the future is less sanguine.
I wouldn’t want to make a $125M bet on the ESO’s long-term survival. Where would I make a $125M bet…hmmm, maybe i’ll get to that in another post…
But back to the ESO and Pastreich’s blog–one final quote:
I do not think the ESO can try to be the best interpreter of Wagner (this might belong to the Berlin Philharmonic) or American music (this might belong to the San Francisco Symphony). So what can we do better than anyone else in the world? The Elgin Symphony Orchestra can bring educated and upper income people into downtown Elgin better than anyone else in the world, and this is a service to our community needs.
I find this a hugely problematic statement, and I hope this isn’t the justification for their existence, but I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.
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I find it odd that at the same time that Pastreich concedes the audience to Chicago he claims the ESO’s best strength is bringing people into Elgin. How’s that work?
The answer of rebuilding the audience to me seems quite simple - introduce kids at an early age to classical music appreciation. That’s how the current aging audience got hooked on classics. Unfortuneately, music and the arts are the first thing to go when budgets get tight.
Have you noticed that they’ve stopped using classical music for animated movies? Now it’s all pop music, and often in the worst taste.
Children are exposed less and less to even the sound of classical instruments.
Ironically, that may mean that when they DO hear classical music, it will actually be good music. Who knows…