At a recent performance of the New York Philharmonic Biennial, five orchestra members approaching retirement were singled out and thanked publicly by the Board Chairman, Gary Parr for their years of service. As each accepted his or her bouquet of roses and made a brief statement of thanks, there was one personage that no one forgot to thank: The Audience.
I couldn't escape a slight feeling of unease on hearing this.
Listening to musicians who had played for decades in one of the country's most renowned orchestras, it struck me that if they all have The Audience in the forefront of their minds, that must mean only one thing: the relationship between symphonic music and audiences in this country is precarious. And possibly moreso than ever before.
A cursory glance around the orchestra section reveals a sea of greying and white hair. In fact whenever I bring my 83-yr old mother to the NY Phil, she makes the same remark as we take our seats: "Isn't it wonderful how many old people are getting out in this city!"
The New York Philharmonic is already doing a lot to cultivate the next generation of audiences but let's face it, cultural institutions like the ballet, opera and symphony orchestras will never be funded sufficiently to fill the gap left by dwindling public school budgets which seem to always cut music and other arts first.
Whether aware of it or not, the musicians standing on stage at Avery Fischer the other night were sounding a warning bell. Unless we put an instrument into the hands of our eight, nine and ten-year-olds, The Audience will grow to be an ever more rarified thing to behold.
