In Sunday’s (1/11) Chicago Tribune (subscription required) Mark Caro interviews incoming Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association President Jeff Alexander, who settles into his new position this month. Alexander states, “I’ve been hearing this my entire career, that symphony orchestras are doomed and the art form is doomed, but I don’t see it that way at all. To me it’s a breathtaking art form. It speaks so clearly to so many human emotions and human needs that it will never die. There will always be an audience for it and hopefully a very big audience for it … Of course, there could be an improvement in ethnicity attendance. That’s true everywhere. To sell tickets to a symphony orchestra concert in the 21st century is a challenge, no doubt about it. And starting in 1980 with the invention of the compact disc and the general advancement of technology over the past 30 years, (it’s) been a challenge for live performances in any art form. You can sit at home now and be completely entertained…. But here we are, still surviving with hundreds of thousands of people coming to our concerts every year. So I think we’ll be here for centuries to come.”
Posted January 12, 2015
