Made To Last

There’s much to cheer audiences wanting more than the superficial,

- Geoffrey Smith

EACH new year promotes new expectations, especially in today’s restless cultural scene. audiences are consumers, accustomed to novelty on demand, bringing a ‘click and collect’ mentality even to the grand traditions of classical music. hence it’s a constant challenge for performers and institutions to fuse society’s craving for the latest, unmissable thing with the enduring value of great art, to combine the cutting edge delight in what’s happening now with an experience that’s (perhaps) not merely ephemeral.

Happily, surveying the impending schedules for concert and opera productions reveals a resilient determination to address the widest possible clientele while maintaining the qualities that make classical music unique.

London’s Barbican, for instance, has inspired a wave of media interest with the impending arrival of Sir Simon Rattle as Music Director of the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO). Trailing clouds of glory from his illustrious tenure with the Berlin Philharmonic, Sir Simon promises to bring the same high profile effect to the LSO. 

Although he doesn’t officially assume his duties until the autumn, he’s already overseen such starry occasions as last year’s semi-staged production of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, featuring his wife, mezzo Magdalena Kozena, and baritone christian Gerhaher, with Peter Sellars directing. The excitement was palpable in the hall throughout and crowned by a huge ovation—just the kind of heady atmosphere the Barbican would love to have audiences associate with its programmes (www.barbican.org.uk; 020– 7638 8891).