“This week, the National Philharmonic, an ambitious orchestra in Maryland, announced that it had run out of money and would close,” writes Anne Midgette in Friday’s (7/19) Washington Post. “Thousands of people have already read about the National Philharmonic’s plight on our website. How many have read reviews of the National Philharmonic’s concerts in the past few years? A few hundred. Cumulatively.… It saddens me to see people … showing so much more interest in this news than they showed in anything the orchestra did when it was healthy…. There are a lot of other narratives about classical music that are more positive and that could use your support. In the Washington region, there’s the Fairfax Symphony … with its strong music director and range of interesting programs; or the Alexandria Symphony, energized by a new music director; or the New Orchestra of Washington, founded by millennials … or D.C. Strings.… These stories are happening, literally, all over the country. Let’s try focusing on the positives that we do have, where our interest can do some good, rather than waiting until another institution shutters to let the field know how very much we profess to care about it.”
Posted July 22, 2019
