The Philadelphia Orchestra has offered an explanation as to why they sat idle while a recording of another orchestra was used during an opera selection performed by Aretha Franklin this past summer. From today’s Philadelphia Inquirer :
“unbeknownst to orchestra and Mann officials until intermission, Franklin chose to be backed by a recorded orchestra during her opera arias, while Philadelphia Orchestra musicians sat with their instruments in their laps.”
Although I feel that any performer should be happy to be able to use the resources of a world class orchestra, I understand now why this happened. As a musician, I understand the disappointment but also understand the simple fact that “the show must go on”. Any disruption would surely anger the over 7,000 patrons waiting to hear the second half of the concert. Net outcome, the concert raised over a quarter of a million dollars for arts education.
Recently, the Philadelphia Orchestra performed with Aretha Franklin and Condoleeza Rice to a packed house at the Mann Music Center in Philadelphia. The performance raised money for art education. However, it has been very rare for the orchestra to almost sell out tickets to a regular concert, they average 65% of capacity. Due to the decline in attendance and philanthropy, the orchestra has been operating in the red and, in my opinion, will probably need to reorganize.
Peter Dobrin wrote an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer about the fiscal problems here:
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/entertainment/20100803_Red_ink_may_alter_future_of_orchestra.html
In it, towards the end he wrote, “Among the evening’s curiosities: players sitting idle as Franklin sang to a recorded classical track by another orchestra”. I can’t believe I read this. Is the Philadelphia Orchestra not good enough to play the music? It’s a live concert, with one of the best orchestras in the world, and they sat on stage while a recording of another orchestra was played. This is not the way to build an audience, but a way to show how ineffectual and unnecessary the orchestra is.
bring music to life ®
It’s our motto and our trademark.
Some news from the Broadway scene that has disrupted my day:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/11/opinion/11woodiel.html?_r=1
Here at Gvox, we have all worked as professional musicians and understand the need for live performance. Our products, Encore, MusicTime Deluxe and MasterTracks pro are software that help musicians create great music for musicians to play. Not keep them from playing.
Over the past few years, due to customer demand and industry standard, we added a VSTi host to Encore so our customers could use sample libraries. There were many discussions among our staff and customers about adding a sample library to Encore, but we could not agree on which library to use and I was uncomfortable with the ramifications.
Music is part of the human psyche, we sing before we can talk, we perform to connect to others in a way that is intangible, yet remembered. To take the human out of music, is to take the music out of music.
let’s bring music to life with live musicians.
