My initial plan was to write a simple review of last night’s Cleveland Orchestra concert at Severance Hall, but a litany of issues which have recurred with the concert planning and concertgoing experience over the last several months have led me to conclude that there are issues with the organization which must be addressed.
First, the concert: Daniel and I attended last night’s Summers at Severance concert with a special guest, Daniel’s younger sibling Asareel. This was Asareel’s first experience with a Classical music concert and it's always a thrill for me to introduce a young person to a more elevated cultural experience. The concert featured guest conductor Petr Popelka and solo violinist James Ehnes. The proceedings began about 15 minutes late due to a medical issue with a patron on the main floor. Of course, such unfortunate events take place and once the EMT’s arrived, the patron was brought out on a stretcher and the concert began. For an unknown reason, the EMT’s did not take the patron into the main foyer, but remained in the area behind the main floor where their work and chatter were plainly audible. As a result, I was unable to gain much from Cesar Franck’s Le Chasseur maudit (The Accursed Hunstman) – a symphonic poem which was unfamiliar to me.
After a quick stage change, the concert continued with Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Violin Concerto, Op. 35. I only know this work through the Heifetz recording. Although it incorporates several themes that Korngold used in his film scores, it deserves to be heard more often. There are fewer violin concertos in the active repertoire than there are of, say, piano concertos. So why not include a 20th century concerto with such memorable tunes and virtuosic writing? Ehnes’s performance was resplendent with soaring lyricism and musical virtuosity, receiving a deserved standing ovation. Ehnes generously performed two encores, including a slow movement from a Bach Sonata.
Following intermission, the concert concluded with the Symphony No. 6 in D major, Op. 69 by Antonín Dvorak – and here is where the real trouble began. There were three unruly audience members in the center section of the last row on the main floor – right near our party. (I did not see them during the opening half of the program.) During the opening movement, they were chatting and giggling as they looked at videos on one person’s cell phone. At one point, an usher intervened, whereupon they got up and went to the standing area behind the seats. By the second movement, they were back in their seats and up to their hijinks again. Once more, an usher appeared and they left – this time for good, I thought. Then I saw one member of their party making her way to another seat in the far left near the front. I was only able to marginally enjoy the remainder of the Symphony, including the Scherzo which is one of Dvořák’s most memorable movements. As we left the concert, an astonished Asareel asked “what was up with those people? How rude!” There you have it: an 18-year-old who had never been to a Classical music concert knew more about appropriate behavior than the offending parties, who appeared to be in their 30s.
Most of the ushers seen last night were unfamiliar to me. Perhaps the regular ushers were on summer break. I could plainly hear two of the ushers conversing during the Korngold Concerto. Certainly, they should be advised by whoever trains them that sounds carry at Severance.
Further, there is the orchestra's website. It’s slow. It times out – so that pages do not load or payments are not processed. This happens about half the time I try to buy tickets online. When it occurs, I receive a popup advising me to call the box office, during which I navigate through their 1990s style phone tree, and am invariably routed to a voicemail. Eventually, I am called back and, if I’m not busy doing something else, can finally get my tickets. Otherwise, we end up playing phone tag. Cleveland is hardly short on IT resources who would be happy to assist the orchestra in improving the website performance (which is probably a question of server capacity) in exchange for some free tickets.
The orchestra received a $50 million dollar donation from the Mandel family a few years ago. Has it occurred to them to use some of that money to, say, fix the website, train the ushers (or replace them if necessary), and reopen the restaurant – which has been closed since COVID?
It is incidents such as those above which leave me giving serious consideration to cancelling my Cleveland Orchestra subscription. Anyone who knows me can affirm that one of the main reasons I stay in Ohio is due to the cultural amenities Cleveland has to offer – our orchestra is first among those amenities. I certainly don’t stay in Ohio for the weather or the state’s backward politics. I happen to work from home and could relocate to anywhere within the United States. Daniel’s job means he is in great demand (he’s constantly being contacted by recruiters) and there are states where we be paid to move due to the demand for Daniel's skill set. Over the last season, incidents such as those described above have led me to reevaluate whether it’s worth the time and expense to see live concerts or if I should just content myself with broadcasts and recordings – the latter of which I have plenty. We still plan on attending numerous concerts in the upcoming season – but if the concertgoing experience does not improve, it may well be our last season doing so.
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