[Noozhawk’s note: First in a series sponsored by the Hutton Parker Foundation.]
Convincing a new generation that chamber music is its music is no easy sell, but the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra has risen to the challenge, and the local community is responding.
Since moving to the Lobero Theatre downtown in 2014 from Hahn Hall at the Music Academy of the West in Montecito, the orchestral ensemble has seen a steady increase in ticket sales. The past year there has been a 15 percent increase in season subscribers to 213 from 191, said Margaret Holsinger, SBCO operations manager.
New programs target the musical education of families and young professionals, and musicians, once separated from the audience by that invisible wall at the edge of the stage, now mingle with the crowd.
“The conversation that hasn’t happened enough is that young people and people in general will tend to box music in, define it as archaic, the oldest piece of music ever played,” SBCO board chairman Joe Campanelli told Noozhawk.
“In reality, it is old, but it’s not like classical music is going to disappear tomorrow. It’s everywhere. It’s the baseline for everything.”
Indeed, classical music can be heard in movies, television, advertising, cartoons and children’s toys. It sells fancy cars and luxury vacations, romantic evenings and relaxing days in, or out.
“What does music mean in the context of life, and how basic is it?” Campanelli asked. “People don’t promote drums, but drums are everywhere. Everywhere you go, there’s an element of classical music.
“Putting that into people’s consciousness hasn’t happened, and that’s what classical music society in our country is struggling with.”
The Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra was established as a community orchestra in 1978. Early concerts were performed in local coffeehouses and libraries and later the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, a partnership it continues today.
The group made a major shift in 1983 with the appointment of Heiichiro Ohyama as music director and conductor. Internationally renowned soloists perform with the chamber orchestra in larger venues.
Critically acclaimed pianists, including Alessio Bax, Tong-Il Han, Wu Han, Jerome Lowenthal, Yefim Bronfman and André-Michel Schub; violinists Cho-Liang Lin, Mark Kaplan and Kyoko Takezawa; and cellists Lynn Harrell, Gary Hoffman and Carter Brey have graced the Lobero stage as guest soloists with the chamber orchestra.
In 2014, with a staid concert series and audience numbers declining, the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra redefined itself to help the community grasp its relevance.
“You have to be willing to take some risk,” Campanelli said. “You don’t have a product problem. The product of this chamber orchestra is outstanding. That’s rare in a lot of communities.
“The question is, how far are you willing to push the envelope? How far are you willing to go? Throw it out there. You’d be surprised how far we’ll go.”
The orchestra developed the Free Concert Seats for Families program, which offers students, ages 6 to 18, free admission to regular season concerts, if accompanied by a parent or guardian.
“There’s a decline in both music appreciation and music participation in the schools because it doesn’t get tested,” explained Don Lafler, the chamber orchestra’s board president. “Budgetary constraints have restricted availability.”
And classical music, well, it’s just not cool.
“When people our age were growing up in the 1960s and ’70s, the music of our time wasn’t classical, so we didn’t raise our kids on classical,” Lafler said. “We raised them on rock, folk. Our kids didn’t learn to appreciate it. They just didn’t know it. They’re not familiar with it. It wasn’t the cool, exciting thing to be into classical.
“We all know what’s cool is what appeals to them.”
Part of putting the cool back into classical may be providing more interaction, and thereby more understanding, between the audience and musicians. Just as teachers have lives away from schools, doctors away from hospitals and police officers away from patrol cars, musicians are people, too.
“Instead of just putting on a concert, printing a playbill and hoping people show up, we’ve had to reinvent how we deliver the classical music experience, to tailor it to what makes it relevant and exciting for young people,” Campanelli said.
Where the old tradition was to attend the theater to watch the production, then head home, Campanelli said young professionals, the next generation of music supporters, look for opportunities to network, socialize, hang out after performances and enjoy later evenings.
“They’re interested in making the whole evening an experience, eliciting a new kind of experience,” he said.
The chamber orchestra’s conductor, musicians and guest soloists have stepped up to the challenge, and the response, on and off stage, has been encouraging.
“The musicians have really engaged and enjoyed it,” Holsinger said. “We have a wide range of musicians, and the younger members especially understand the need to connect with the audience.
“People don’t need that space separating performers and audience. They want to interact, and it also gives everyone a place to go after the concert.”
The chamber orchestra continues to innovate, and the community is hearing it.
“Sometimes people who support you aren’t music lovers, but they see this is part of the fabric of our community and it’s worth supporting,” Campanelli observed.
One recent development has been the Allegro Group for young professionals. The program includes discounted tickets and after-performance events introducing musicians and providing more community engagement for the audience and the musicians.
“It’s designed to help reach out to young professionals in their late 20s to mid-40s who are interested, but who get sidetracked with other things,” Holsinger said.
The organization also has established Classical Connections, a community engagement program based on the positive physical and emotional effect that classical music can have on people with cognitive and neurological conditions — seniors among them.
“It really ties all the way back to the product,” Campanelli said. “I want to continue to push the envelope on quality.
“As Maestro Ohyama has made clear, quality is our baseline. Yes, we can play the pieces that are written, but we want to add dimension to that for the person to gain something unique in this experience. You have to be vigilant about that. You have to always be not satisfied.”
The SBCO’s 2016-2017 season continues with a woodwind showcase on March 21 at the Lobero Theatre and a chamber music and dialogue event featuring KUSC host Alan Chapman on April 4 at the University Club of Santa Barbara before Alessio Bax closes out the season May 16 with Robert Schumann’s “Piano Concerto in A Minor” at the Lobero.
Click here for complete season program information about the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, or call 805.966.2441. Click here to make an online donation.
— Noozhawk contributing writer Jennifer Best can be reached at news@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
