“There’s been a change in the news coming out of symphony orchestras over the past summer,” writes Doug McLennan in his Diacritical blog on ArtsJournal,com. “Usually there’s a background drumbeat of struggle as orchestras fight to stay alive. But for months now, the beat has shifted, and we’re hearing about orchestras that are not only surviving but thriving…. For every good news story … there are other orchestras struggling to just stay alive, but here are some recently-reported successes.” McLennan reports positive ticket sales, record attendance, budget surpluses, progressive musician contracts, and rising endowments at orchestras including the St. Louis Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, and Seattle Symphony. “It’s easy to cherry-pick successes and failures. It’s also easy to dwell on the bad stories and worry that they are cautionary tales.… But I have been struck over the last several weeks by the number of good news orchestra stories we’ve been finding on ArtsJournal.”
Posted September 21, 2016
Pictured: Music Director Krzysztof Urbański and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra
