Does Identity Have To Come With A Demographic?

Don Lee, formerly a producer over at the 800-pound gorilla of public radio, was at our first Inside the Classics concert a couple of weeks back, and he was intrigued enough to call me up and ask if we could sit down and discuss the series, the web site, and more broadly, the need for new approaches to concert music in general. Don and I wound up talking for more than an hour, during which time I believe I uttered approximately four coherent sentences, and babbled aimlessly about God knows what for the rest of the time.

Several times during our talk, Don tried to pin me down on the subject of just who Sarah and I are hoping to ensnare with our somewhat unconventional approach at the ItC concerts. In other words, what demographic are we aiming for that isn't already being served? This wasn't the first time I'd heard the question (in fact, Steve Staruch asked it almost word for word when Sarah and I were guests of his on MPR Classical a few days earlier,) but I've found that I still don't have a good, concise answer. I suspect that what Don was driving at was the idea that orchestras are forever looking for ways to attract a younger crowd, and live in fear of some mysterious bogeyman called "the graying of the audience." But here in Minnesota, where the arts are a far more ingrained part of the broader culture than they are in much of the U.S., I'm honestly not terribly preoccupied with how many under-35s we draw, since we tend to see a lot of them at our regular subscription concerts already. (This is most emphatically not the case for many American orchestras, particularly in the high-profile cities of the Northeast.) If it were to turn out that what Sarah and I are doing is of interest only to lefthanded accountants between the ages of 48 and 51, I think we'd both be fine with that (if a bit perplexed,) so long as they were passionate about the music and represented a large enough group to fill the hall.

Basically, Sarah and I are taking the only approach we reasonably can as we write, plan, and rehearse our concerts. We're creating a show that we find entertaining, and banking on the idea that the two of us are typical enough of the average 21st-century music fan that what makes us laugh or cry or think will do the same for a lot of other people as well.

Anyway, Don's take on the series, and our conversation, is now up at MinnPost, the Twin Cities' much-discussed new online daily paper. I'll be interested to hear what others think...