Fiddling in a Vortex: Have American Orchestras Squandered Their Supremacy on the American Cultural Scene?

ABSTRACT

In the past half-century, American symphony orchestras (SO) have experienced widely fluctuating fortunes. We examine this period to explain the external and internal issues that have created the fluctuations and the resultant financial difficulties for many SOs. In recent years, SO deficits have continued to increase while attendance has continued to decrease. We discuss the need for SOs to address revenue issues, introduce dynamic programming, and engage in more community engagement to improve the institution's stability.

KEYWORDS:

• Demographics
• financial
• programming
• symphony orchestra

Notes

1. See Heather MacDonald (2010), for example.

2. For example, see Kennicott's (2013) defense of the traditional SO experience.

3. Dobrin (2015) explains that, although the orchestra is out of bankruptcy it has many problems, including being undercapitalized and lacking the endowment of a top-tier SO.

4. Although Dempster (2002) disputed many of the findings, in retrospect it appears that the Wolf Report was accurate in most of its conclusions.

5. Warren Buffet has cautioned that, "Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked."

6. Gen Yers were born between 1982 and 2000; Boomers were born between 1945 and 1964.

7. The number of non-White Hispanic citizens—the core demographic for SO support—decreased from eighty-five percent in 1960 to sixty-seven percent in 2005 and is predicted to decrease to forty-seven percent in 2050 (Passel and Cohn 2008).

8. Aaron Dworkin (Dworkin 2013), founder and president of Sphinx, documented the lack of diversity in an address at Carnegie Hall on October 8, 2013: Black or Latino musicians make up four percent of orchestra musicians in the US; there are no Black music directors of major US orchestras (top twenty-five); less than one percent of the repertoire performed by US orchestras was by composers of color; and fewer than one percent of executive directors of US orchestra are Black or Latino.

9. However, a recent study of existing audience tastes (Pompe et al. 2013) suggests that performing more standards will increase audience size. This dilemma—performing popular standards or new compositions that may test audiences—creates programming challenges for management.