Our next show

[Big RR]

I'm sure it is as fun to play as it is to listen to.

[Sue U]

I'm sure it is as fun to play as it is to listen to.

Fun? I dunno. Mozart is fun to play. Shostakovich 5 is a challenge both mentally and physically. It's nearly an hour of intense concentration (it's not traditionally intuitive) and pretty strenuous bowing, with a number of very difficult technical issues in execution. In fact, one excerpt from the first movement is a notorious viola audition requirement for many orchestras (there are a number of on-line tutorials with different approaches to playing it). But it's certainly rewarding to be a part of bringing this brilliant work to life. It's how composers are made immortal.

[BoSoxGal]

Sometimes the Universe is just plain cruel - like when you Google Shostakovich + BSO and you find out you've just missed an entire month long program on the works of Shostakovich.

Pages 16/17 for the full program - I'm sick at heart to have missed it all.

https://dgpuo8cwvztoe.cloudfront.net/up ... kovich.pdf

[Big RR]

Fun? I dunno. Mozart is fun to play. Shostakovich 5 is a challenge both mentally and physically. It's nearly an hour of intense concentration (it's not traditionally intuitive) and pretty strenuous bowing, with a number of very difficult technical issues in execution. In fact, one excerpt from the first movement is a notorious viola audition requirement for many orchestras (there are a number of on-line tutorials with different approaches to playing it). But it's certainly rewarding to be a part of bringing this brilliant work to life. It's how composers are made immortal.

I guess fun might not be the best word, but I usually find it more "fun" to sing challenging pieces than easier ones (although I enjoy singing both). But maybe the correct word is "rewarding".

I know I generally have problems with heavily syncopated pieces (much as I love jazz, I just don't have the "feel" for it), but when I put the work in to learn the piece, I do find the performance "fun/rewarding".

[Sue U]

Sometimes the Universe is just plain cruel - like when you Google Shostakovich + BSO and you find out you've just missed an entire month long program on the works of Shostakovich.

Pages 16/17 for the full program - I'm sick at heart to have missed it all.

https://dgpuo8cwvztoe.cloudfront.net/up ... kovich.pdf

Wow, that's a great line-up with what looks like a really good educational component. Shostakovich's politics and relation to the Soviet state are super-interesting context for his music.

[Burning Petard]

Vivaldi Four Seasons is my most unfavorite piece of classical music. I am sure there are many pieces that are much worse, but that one seems to be on every classical music radio station's top 40 list. When it comes on I change stations. I will even listen to Rap (music?) over that one. but that is why every radio has an off switch.

snailgate

[Sue U]

So I'm back playing with the Pops after taking a couple of seasons off (for work, life, etc.) and we opened our 2025-26 season yesterday with "Music of the Small Screen: Don't Touch That Dial." Honestly, I was skeptical of the program at the beginning of the rehearsal cycle -- TV music? -- but it worked well and the audience loved it (there was some kind of accompanying video projection, but it was literally over my head so I didn't see any of it). There were some really swinging TV theme songs back when people watched TV: Bewitched, Perry Mason, Mission: Impossible, The Avengers, The Fugitive, Man from U.N.C.L.E. -- even I Love Lucy had a certain charm. And then there was all the classical music used in the Merrie Melodies/Looney Tunes cartoons.

The really good news for this community arts org is that we had 810 in attendance (theater seats ~950), so a very good showing. Paid subscriptions for the season are now up to 356 (from 298 last year and 223 the year before) so our audience is growing steadily. We will sell out the holiday show for sure and we've added an extra concert to our season in February at a new (for us) venue in the next county over to try to reach a new audience. Fingers crossed for that one.

The Philharmonic opened its season the week before with a Broadway-themed concert with Max von Essen singing classic show tunes (we also did Gershwin's American in Paris and Bernstein's Candide Overture -- that was fun). Attendance there was a little over 1,000 in our ~1300-seat theater, so not quite the sold-out crowd we usually get but also not bad -- especially since it was a gorgeous day and the Eagles were playing the Giants and that's a lot of competition.

[Sue U]

The holiday concerts are behind us now and the season is shaping up quite nicely in terms of audience growth. The Philharmonic did two shows, one at our "home" venue (sold out, 1300 tix) and one at our expansion site where we are 6 months into cultivating a whole new audience base (about 650 showed up). Broadway soloist and Nashville recording artist (and former Disney Princess) Rachel Potter was our guest performer and was terrific.

The Pops Orchestra show scheduled this past Sunday afternoon had been sold out for weeks, but a snowstorm overnight Saturday into Sunday morning led the school district to close down the high school where we perform, so we had to quickly pivot and reschedule the show for Monday evening. We thought we'd lose somewhere between a third and half the audience due to the change. But despite the challenges, about 80% of the audience made the switch, and we had about 750 or so in the auditorium at showtime. Our featured singer (who is also an orchestra member and assistant conductor) rocked the house with her swinging rendition of Put One Foot In Front Of The Other, from the stop-motion animation movie Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (1970). After the show, the conductor told me, "I didn't know whether we were going to be playing to 80 people or 800, but it felt like there were 3,000 out there."

Of course, both orchestras played Leroy Anderson's Christmas Festival and Sleigh Ride.

Next up: for the Pops, A Century of Cinema (Feb. 1), a tribute to great music of the movies at a new venue for us, slightly larger and in more urbanized Camden County. Fingers crossed for this one as it's a test to see whether we can develop an expanded audience base for this organization as well. For the Philharmonic, it's Sibelius's Finlandia, the Vaughan Williams Oboe Concerto and Shostakovich Symphony #5 (Feb. 22). I'm so looking forward to that.

[Sue U]

Next up: for the Pops, A Century of Cinema (Feb. 1), a tribute to great music of the movies at a new venue for us, slightly larger and in more urbanized Camden County. Fingers crossed for this one as it's a test to see whether we can develop an expanded audience base for this organization as well. For the Philharmonic, it's Sibelius's Finlandia, the Vaughan Williams Oboe Concerto and Shostakovich Symphony #5 (Feb. 22). I'm so looking forward to that.

So the winter shows for both orchestras got postponed due to weather issues, and while the Philharmonic program is being added on to next season's schedule, we were able to reschedule the Pops Century of Cinema performance to this past Sunday, at a really splendid venue, the Scottish Rite Auditorium:



It was a special "extra" concert at a higher ticket price and the Pops' first foray into Camden County, so we were concerned about whether we could draw an audience. Well. Despite the stunningly beautiful weather that should have kept everyone outside, we sold a bit over 900 of the 1,050 seats available, about a third to first-time Pops attendees. (We needed to sell 600 to break even.) The acoustics both on-stage and in the hall were outstanding, and we never sounded so good. On Monday morning a couple stopped me at the gym to say they had gone to the show and how much they enjoyed it, especially the lighting effects. Until that moment, I didn't even know we *had* lighting effects! I knew we were showing movie scenes on the giant screen behind us, but the additional effects were apparently something the music director had worked out with the house and our own tech guys the morning before the show! At rehearsal last night everyone was still jazzed about the success of the show/venue and talking about how we could work another one into next season. So it looks likely we'll make a concert at this hall a permanent part of our schedule. (Which is great for me since it's only like 10 minutes from my house.)

[Big RR]

900 is a great turnout; if we get more than 200 we're delirious; usually around 100 - 150, 200 + with an orchestra (but that raises the break even point which is what we aim for). Sounds like you guys are getting a good following; congratulations.

[BoSoxGal]

Next up: for the Pops, A Century of Cinema (Feb. 1), a tribute to great music of the movies at a new venue for us, slightly larger and in more urbanized Camden County. Fingers crossed for this one as it's a test to see whether we can develop an expanded audience base for this organization as well. For the Philharmonic, it's Sibelius's Finlandia, the Vaughan Williams Oboe Concerto and Shostakovich Symphony #5 (Feb. 22). I'm so looking forward to that.

So the winter shows for both orchestras got postponed due to weather issues, and while the Philharmonic program is being added on to next season's schedule, we were able to reschedule the Pops Century of Cinema performance to this past Sunday, at a really splendid venue, the Scottish Rite Auditorium:



It was a special "extra" concert at a higher ticket price and the Pops' first foray into Camden County, so we were concerned about whether we could draw an audience. Well. Despite the stunningly beautiful weather that should have kept everyone outside, we sold a bit over 900 of the 1,050 seats available, about a third to first-time Pops attendees. (We needed to sell 600 to break even.) The acoustics both on-stage and in the hall were outstanding, and we never sounded so good. On Monday morning a couple stopped me at the gym to say they had gone to the show and how much they enjoyed it, especially the lighting effects. Until that moment, I didn't even know we *had* lighting effects! I knew we were showing movie scenes on the giant screen behind us, but the additional effects were apparently something the music director had worked out with the house and our own tech guys the morning before the show! At rehearsal last night everyone was still jazzed about the success of the show/venue and talking about how we could work another one into next season. So it looks likely we'll make a concert at this hall a permanent part of our schedule. (Which is great for me since it's only like 10 minutes from my house.)

Will you please provide as much possible advance notice of the rescheduled date of the Shostakovich #5? My niece lives not too far away from your stomping grounds and I'd like to try to make your concert part of a long overdue visit with her if I can. No point in having new wheels with great gas mileage if I don't occasionally take a road trip.

[Sue U]

900 is a great turnout; if we get more than 200 we're delirious; usually around 100 - 150, 200 + with an orchestra (but that raises the break even point which is what we aim for). Sounds like you guys are getting a good following; congratulations.

It's funny, the South Jersey Pops has been around for 50 years and for most of that time was a dinky little no-audition community orchestra just playing for family and friends. They started in a local rec center, then moved to a middle school cafeteria. When I joined about 8 or 9 years ago they had just hired a new music director (the current one) who had some big ideas, and started contracting with the school district and the county to use various high school auditoriums. At that time, if we got more than 400 in the audience for a show it was considered a success. Then we elected a new board president who is super-committed to making this the best and most popular community orchestra it can be.

Since I joined I have seen the quality of musicianship and level of skill really ramp up across all sections, but especially brass and strings, and the programming become much more coherent and really oriented toward putting on high-quality performances. Additionally, the marketing and outreach has gotten a lot more savvy and professional. It's still a very warm-and-fuzzy "family" organization with lots of personal bonds among the players even extending outside the orchestra proper, which honestly seems to go a long way to bring in new and very good players. And suddenly (not so suddenly) we are consistently drawing audiences of 800-900 or more -- and always selling out the Christmas shows. So now we're expanding to venues in Camden County (from our base in Burlington Co.) and it looks like we're building even bigger audiences. This year we've created a new Executive Director position that will help us qualify for more and bigger arts & education grants as well as provide more consistent day-to-day operations (our term-limited president will fill the role at least for the first year). Our biggest problem right now is finding a venue large enough for us to grow into, since we're pretty much at capacity for every hall in the area, although there is one nearby high school that has a 1500-seat auditorium. So I expect we'll be looking at that (and any other options) over the next year.

Will you please provide as much possible advance notice of the rescheduled date of the Shostakovich #5? My niece lives not too far away from your stomping grounds and I'd like to try to make your concert part of a long overdue visit with her if I can. No point in having new wheels with great gas mileage if I don't occasionally take a road trip.

I'll certainly let you know; Philharmonic management is currently trying to figure out how and where to squeeze this additional concert into our schedule, especially since we generally need a 7-week cycle for each performance except Christmas, and we have to work around the high school's theater productions.

[BoSoxGal]

Will you please provide as much possible advance notice of the rescheduled date of the Shostakovich #5? My niece lives not too far away from your stomping grounds and I'd like to try to make your concert part of a long overdue visit with her if I can. No point in having new wheels with great gas mileage if I don't occasionally take a road trip.

I'll certainly let you know; Philharmonic management is currently trying to figure out how and where to squeeze this additional concert into our schedule, especially since we generally need a 7-week cycle for each performance except Christmas, and we have to work around the high school's theater productions.

Thanks! I would really love to hear the #5 performed live at least once in my life - bucket list and all.