In Saturday’s (11/19) Cincinnati Enquirer, Janelle Gelfand writes, “The lights dim, the orchestra tunes, and the audience is told to ‘please turn off your cell phones.’ Except in the ‘TweetSeats’ at Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra concerts in Music Hall. That’s where iPhones, Blackberries and tablets light up and concertgoers start tweeting live along with the music. … The idea of attending a classical concert might seem intimidating to generations of Americans who have grown up with little exposure to such music. But they can now use a hashtag (#CinSym) to help them understand what classical music is all about. It’s part of the symphony’s social media strategy to market to a larger audience. At three CSO concerts this season, including Thursday night’s, 10 to 15 tweeters have sat in their own tweet section, while assistant conductor Will White or associate conductor Robert Trevino tweeted from backstage—in real time—about the music they were hearing: Mozart, Mahler, Khachaturian, Stravinsky and Prokofiev. … ‘I think the advantage with tweeting is that it’s a live feed,’ said White, 28. ‘It’s not like a pre-concert talk where you hear a more general overview of the historical background of the composers. With this, it’s live as it’s happening.’ ”
Posted November 22, 2011
