Posted by Bryan on October 24, 2000 at 08:46:22:
In Reply to: Are orchestras dying? posted by Scott Roeder on October 24, 2000 at 07:15:43:
Scott,
I assume (and we know what that means) you are talking about last week's Cleveland concert featuring Shostakovich 5. I was there with my wife (34 and 33 respectively), both well under the "senior" citizen title. I actually have the same general feeling as you do about the age of the average concert-goer, but I was amazed at what I saw around me. In front of me was a female doctor (I'm guessing around my age) - the row behind us held a family of five and the kids were probably around 10-15 years old. I also saw several apparent high school kids a few rows over. I would guess the average age of the patron in my immediate vicinity was around 28-30 years old. I bet if we had access to the ASOL's demographic studies, they would show the average age of a subscriber (season ticket buyer) to be much older. In other words, I think younger people are more likely to pick and choose the concerts they go to and older people are more likely to buy a series. I don't know if this is due strictly to financial reasons or not, but I do seem to notice a lot of people are there just as much for the social aspect (to see and be seen) as they are for the music.
Or, maybe you (and the old folks) just had a lot better seats than I did....
Bryan