Tom Connor wrote:

>As a current resident of suburban Philadelphia, my personal concnern is
>a lack of that 'love' among the management of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
>While the financial return to book store owners, record stores, and
>orchestras may not be immediate, it is spread out over my lifetime.  How
>an orchestra management sees it's responsibility to the community does have
>a long-term impact that needs attention.

I'm afraid I don't really understand what you are saying.  Do you think the
orchestra has a responsibility to the community? Or is it the job of the
more affluent communities around Philadelphia to support the Philadelphia
Orchestra if the city is unable or unwilling to do it?

If there are empty seats at the Academy of Music should the Philadelphia
Orchestra move to the suburbs, too? What "community" are you talking about
here?

How would you change the Philadelphia Orchestra's management? What do you
think needs to be changed?

I am still outraged that they have no recording contract.  I have always
thought that orchestra was one of the top in the entire country.  I am
still enraptured by their string sound.  It was the rule by which I
measured all others.

My love for live classical music was created (in the good old golden
days) by the many free, public concerts at Convention Hall and at the
Robin Hood Dell, financed jointly by the City of Philadelphia, and
individual philanthropists, newspapers, and other private sources.  I
remember learning that those free concerts were a gift from the city to
its people, and I was very impressed by it.  We filled the entire huge
convention hall!

This was all IN ADDITION to the regular subscription season of the P.O.

What is the current state of community support for classical music in
Philadelphia? Do free concerts still exist? Is the orchestra still recorded
and broadcast on the radio?

Mimi Ezust <[log in to unmask]>