The New York Times > Magazine > Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark The CSO (Colorado Symphony Orchestra) concert conducted a few weeks ago by Jeffrey Kahane, our new Music Director, started with an inspiring talk by him about the importance of the symphony and good music to a community. This NYT article is interesting, but misses the spirit that Kahane articulated so well.
As he began the concert, Kahane told us from the podium that Beethoven, the great German composer keep a little plaque on his desk as he wrote: "The stars above, the moral law in my heart". Music reviewers (and marketing people, administrators, and board memebers, too, I'd say) who don't understand this are killing the arts with temporary fixes, like the SCFD, rather than engaging in the evangalism that is necessary for healthy, long-term growth. This NYT article today again misses it entirely. Good music is more than mere entertainment.
While I was Director of Marketing for the Denver Symphony Orchestra, Helen Black told me that when she presented the idea of building a venue for the DSO at Red Rocks to the mayor, she started by asking, "how would you like to do something to help the spiritual life of Denver and Colorado?"
Based on Helen's advice, and that of Gene Amole and many others who understood the real value of good music, we used evangalism to create more DSO sell outs than ever before or since.
That's why I was against the SCFD when it was first brought to the voters, and why I'm still against it today. Not because I'm against the arts, but because I'm for the arts. What do you think?
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