Times a'changing in the Olde Countrie too

American orchestras are not the only ones feeling the need to adapt to the new millenium:

Traditional concerts with overtures, concertos and symphonies will continue to exist in years to come, according to the managing director of the German Orchestra Association, Gerald Mertens, but not at the exclusion of everything else.

“There will also be new types of concerts: commentated concerts, concerts that involve young artists, school classes, the handicapped and the elderly,” he said. “By tapping into new audiences, orchestras will open up an extraordinary potential for the future.”

Attracting young audiences is already seen as an important part of the work of most orchestras, and it is bearing fruit. But more can be done, for example in getting young people from migrant families involved, according to Mertens.

Two men look through the performance program before the start of a concertBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Orchestras are looking to diversify audiences

One way, he said, would be to incorporate more crossover projects with music from different cultures in the repertoires of the future. He would also like to see more contemporary music on concert programs.

German orchestras are already in a process of transformation, contracting by around 20 percent since 1990 as a result of closures and fusions. Financial pressures have mainly affected small and medium-size orchestras up to now.

I’d say they were about 20 years behind us, both in terms of concert modernizing and in terms of contraction.


About the author

Robert Levine
Robert Levine

Robert Levine has been the Principal Violist of the Milwaukee Symphony since September 1987. Before coming to Milwaukee Mr. Levine had been a member of the Orford String Quartet, Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Toronto, with whom he toured extensively throughout Canada, the United States, and South America. Prior to joining the Orford Quartet, Mr. Levine had served as Principal Violist of The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra for six years. He has also performed with the San Francisco Symphony, the London Symphony of Canada, and the Oklahoma City Symphony, as well as serving as guest principal with the orchestras of Indianapolis and Hong Kong.

He has performed as soloist with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Oklahoma City Symphony, the London Symphony of Canada, the Midsummer Mozart Festival (San Francisco), and numerous community orchestras in Northern California and Minnesota. He has also been featured on American Public Radio's nationally broadcast show "St. Paul Sunday Morning" on several occasions.

Mr. Levine has been an active chamber musician, having performed at the Festival Rolandseck in Germany, the Grand Teton Music Festival, the Palm Beach Festival, the "Strings in the Mountains" Festival in Colorado, and numerous concerts in the Twin Cities and Milwaukee. He has also been active in the field of new music, having commissioned and premiered works for viola and orchestra from Minnesota composers Janika Vandervelde and Libby Larsen.

Mr. Levine was chairman of the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians from 1996 to 2002 and currently serves as President of the Milwaukee Musicians Association, Local 8 of the American Federation of Musicians, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the League of American Orchestras. He has written extensively about issues concerning orchestra musicians for publications of ICSOM, the AFM, the Symphony Orchestra Institute, and the League of American Orchestras.

Mr. Levine attended Stanford University and the Institute for Advanced Musical Studies in Switzerland. His primary teachers were Aaron Sten and Pamela Goldsmith. He also studied with Paul Doctor, Walter Trampler, Bruno Giuranna, and David Abel.

He lives with his wife Emily and his son Sam in Glendale.

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