After Hours: Thursday Edition
I don't know what it is about our Thursday crowds, but you guys always have the most incredible energy! Thanks so much for coming out, and now here's your chance to weigh in. Did you like the video component? Was the balance between interview and our usual format successful on the first half? What did you think of the symphony itself? (Remember, we really do use your feedback to shape future shows.)
Most importantly, we're interested in knowing how you feel about our occasionally programming new music on this series. It's something we'd like to do more of in the future if our audience shows an interest, but we also want to hear if you'd prefer that we just stick to the core orchestral repertoire. Chime in below in the comments, and be as detailed as you'd like...
Most importantly, we're interested in knowing how you feel about our occasionally programming new music on this series. It's something we'd like to do more of in the future if our audience shows an interest, but we also want to hear if you'd prefer that we just stick to the core orchestral repertoire. Chime in below in the comments, and be as detailed as you'd like...
Labels: after hours, audience feedback
posted by Sam at
9:30 PM
13 Comments:
The concert tonight was a real treat, as was the Q&A after. I actually was a huge fan of the ending of the third movement: the ascending major scales in the basses and the thin light violin harmonics (major, flat-VI and minor transitions) sounded very relaxed and calming to me, a little like the end of the first movement of the Gorecki Symphony No. 3. I felt it was very peaceful, not spooky really. Thanks Sam for leading the interview and posing some great questions. Jay is awesome and I was glad he was so willing to share with us! Please also share this feedback with him.
Thank you, Sarah, Sam, and Jay for a very enjoyable concert! First of all, the big screen is a BIG plus to the concert experience, especially for severely short-sighted people like me. It is very exciting to be able to see close-ups of soloists and the conductor at real time when the music is playing on stage. So please, please continue to do this in future concerts! It'd be even better if I can buy DVD's of these live recordings later!
Secondly, as many have said, the conversation with a young composer on stage is very refreshing (although Jay himself seems a bit shy ^_^). Not only is this a rare encounter for the audience, it must have been a memorable experience in the composer's (still very early) music career. Being some of the younger audience tonight, I have to say, handling such complex ideas and big achievements at such a young age is not easy. (Of course I myself am no where close to Jay's talent, yet I still remember how miserable, self-conscious, and isolated I sometimes felt when I was 17, not terribly long ago!) Being precocious is never easy. I sincerely hope that Jay is enjoying every moment he spends on writing music. I also hope that he allows himself time to do what other typical 17-year-old's do, be it videogames, Facebook, thinking about girls, and what not. (I personally feel that my whole 17-year-old life was dedicated to calculus exericse and that I never lived the life of a teenager. I am still waiting for the 17-year-old me to emerge somehow.) Jay, best of luck to all your endeavors in the future!
Thirdly, on the music theory part, I thought a little bit more time could have been dedicated to explaining the characteristics or structure of a fugue. I personally have heard of the word from Bach's famous "Toccata and Fugue," but other than that I really don't know much about the musical form. Also, I was hoping to hear more of the masterworks from which Jay's ideas come, e.g. Bartok, as you guys mentioned in the video on this blog. Of course, I understand that this concert is a bit more special in that more time is dedicated to talking with Jay.
Lastly, a reviewer from Wednesday's concert mentioned expanding the Inside the Classics series into the summer, and I think it's a fantastic idea. We LOVE Sarah, Sam, this blog, and this series! Please give this idea some serious consideration!
Thanks again, Sarah and Sam, for three great concerts this season. I've enjoyed every bit of it. Can't wait till next season!
P.S. Sarah, I hope your wrist a speedy recovery! Best of luck to a crazy, busy week! Hope to see you again on stage some time in the summer!
Thanks guys for a great show. I like the BIG video, it was well directed on the fly. Keep up the good work. Its not easy to interview a genius. Sarah has cool shoes!
Thank you for this concert.
I think the best part of it was that Jay was allowed just be who he is. Jay was not polished, overly rehearsed, or "marketed." He's a talented 17-year-old who is clearly not used to the spotlight. Although I empathized with his nervousness, I found that refreshing, because what you see is exactly what you get. Jay answered the questions frankly, even if it wasn't what we wanted to hear or what we were expecting. ("The ending sounds like that not because I was thinking about death, or girls, or was angry, but to tell the listener that it's the end of the movement.")
As an interested observer of people and their mannerisms, I thought the video component was a great addition. And I gleaned some flute technique wisdom from Adam, Wendy, and Roma just by being able to watch them from that vantage point.
Sarah, did you find the video screen distracting, especially when a larger-than-life shot of yourself comes up there?
Please continue to explore new music in this series, and expand the series into the summer. Congratulations on a great season!
I have to say, that was one of the most memorable nights of music I have experienced. For me, it was akin to listening to Beethoven's 9the live for the first time. I was completely engaged in the music.
On a side note, the camera loves the bassoon. It is good to get the bassoon a little "air time".
Sam, Sarah,
I was the best ITC you've put on yet. The video component is GREAT. Sitting in the audience, even in the relatively close 11th row, it's very hard to see the players farther back, so the video is great contribution to appreciating what the orchestra's doing. You can see how hard some of the players are working instead of just assuming it. Keep doing it.
Jay's spontaneity was very rewarding. I feel like some of the Austrian nobles must have felt at court when they first heard the teenaged Mozart conducting his early works.
One question: How did you cue the video cameras and director? The timing was virtually perfect. Did they have scores? Did you cue by time? It was very impressively professional.
I know you're both busier than you are paid to be, but I, too, would love the addition of a fourth, summer ITC.
Also, you asked about new music. As long as it's more like Bach than Berg, I'm all for it. (I hate to be antediluvian, but anything with significantly more atonal music than, say, Stravinski, I find hard to listen to for very long
Don, the video cues were the result of an incredible amount of teamwork. We had six cameras, only one of which (the conductor cam) was unmanned, a director, a producer, and additional tech people all squirreled away under a backstage stairwell coordinating what you saw on the screen.
Of those people, one had a copy of the Greenberg score and our script for the evening - that was our orchestra's artistic administrator, Kari Marshall. This sort of task is in no way part of her job description, and she's ridiculously overworked as it is (among other things, she oversees the entire ItC series from start to finish every year,) yet she volunteered to step into the breach and essentially call every camera shot as the orchestra was playing. I can't overemphasize what a difficult job this is - not only do you have to spend hours preparing the score so that you know what's coming up, but you must let the director know what the next shot should be at least five seconds before it'll need to be on the screen. Throw in the wrinkle that not everyone in the world will know what terms like "lower strings" or "double reeds" mean, and Kari should get some sort of medal for her work this week...
Anonymous wrote: On a side note, the camera loves the bassoon.
Yes, it does. And I would never for a minute suggest that the reason for the camera loving the bassoon quite so much is that Kari is married to one of our bassoonists...
i second sam's comment; thanks, kari (and yes, i'm typing one-handed, very slowly!)
I want to heartily agree with those complimenting the video screen and the wonderful camera work. It made the concert even more enjoyable than they always are. It is wonderful to see the looks of concentration by the orchestra members, and watch their fingers fly over the keys of their instruments. I hope the big screen will be back for future ITC concerts. Keep up the wonderful work.
First, we LOVE inside the classics concerts. We have come the past 2 years to all the Thursday concerts. We come on Saturday nights too (6 concerts/season) but inside the classics are BY FAR our favorite. We would come to ALL inside the classics if we had the choice. As someone who doesn't know a lot about orchestra music, I enjoy the music much more after I've been briefed about it in the first half. Sam and Sarah, you guys also are very good public speakers and do a great job facilitating.
Second, unlike other posters, I (and my husband too) did NOT like the video screen. I found it very distracting. It took me away from experiencing the music as a whole. I was unable to look at the whole orchestra and try to take in what was happening as a whole because the screen kept vying for my attention.
Thirdly, I enjoyed having Jay there as something different than usual. It was a fun change of pace and it was neat to meet a composer. For a 17 year old, he did great job up on stage communicating and answering questions. However, this was probably my least favorite concert of the past 2 years because it lacked some of the spunk and depth that are usually present (due partly to Sam in particular being an excellent public speaker).
Fourthly, I really enjoy the music theory aspects of the concerts as well as when a particular musician gets to talk about what it's like to prepare to play a piece of music or play his/her instrument.
Fifthly, some questions I have about orchestras that I would enjoying hearing answers to are the following:
How much time on average (I'm sure it varies a lot) does a musician have to spend to prepare for each concert?
Does an orchestra score list how many of each instrument to use?
Not every violin for instance plays in every piece, how are musicians paid? Are they paid per piece they play in? By some other method?
What exactly does the concertmaster do (besides play the note at the beginning that everyone tunes to)?
How competitive are the musicians within the MN orchestra? Are people constantly trying to move up in position in their section or is there more of a team mentality?
That's all for now. Thanks for all your hard work. We really enjoy these concerts. And please consider not using that big screen!
Sincerely,
Kerra
Sam and Sarah-
Thanks so much for last night's concert. I loved the Greenberg symphony and especially enjoyed hearing directly from the composer. He did a great job, despite his obvious nervousness, and Sam, you did a nice job getting answers out of him! The music, as always, was fantastic--this is a piece I would love to hear again. Any chance it will be broadcast on MPR...?
The screen was a wonderful addition to the experience--it was a treat to be able to see you all up close for both halves of the concert. I found myself switching my gaze from the screen to the stage and did not find it distracting at all.
Knowing how many concerts you all had on Weds & Thurs, I thank you all for your energetic performance last night.
Another great night for Inside the Classics. Looking forward to next season!
My wife and I have been coming to this series for the past two seasons and I really enjoy them. I am not an expert on classical music so it is nice to get perspective on the music. I like the theory section and my wife and I joked about hearing or not hearing something you tell us to listen for. Most of the time we can not hear it. oh well...
I have never heard Geenberg's music before but while I was listening to it I kept finding myself thinking it sounded like a movie soundtrack. I kept seeing spiderman swinging from building to building or some sea captain fighting monster waves. I hope this does not sound insulting. It was fun for me to visualize my movie moments. Thanks again and see you next season.
p.s. I like the video screen
Dave
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