Since I help out Via Salzburg with some of their written material – this blog, programme notes, etc. – I’ve been privy to some of the planning required to create the programme for next season. Some of you might think that creating an entire season of music for a chamber orchestra is based mostly on what the musicians want to play. “Surely,” you might say, “Mayumi just decides what she wants to play and then plays it.” Well, yes and no. Here’s how much of it works.
Yes, it does begin with Mayumi deciding which pieces to play. However, these “wants” are mediated by a number of factors. Which musicians are going to be available? If we need a pianist or other instrumentalist, which one do we use? Do we just use someone who doesn’t have a scheduling conflict? Do we have enough resources to play the music we want? Via Salzburg’s musicians have multiple commitments, and our scheduling always takes place in conjunction with the scheduling of all of the other ensembles to which our musicians are committed. For new commissions, are we going to be able to get funding for the composer? If that newly-commissioned work requires additional funding such as animation or electronic instruments, are we able to get funding to support the extra costs involved in that? Then we have to decide which pieces go in which concert and make a unified programme, because we put a lot of thought into each concert instead of simply throwing pieces together willy-nilly. In the end, all of this can be derailed at any moment by the availability of the musicians and their aforementioned scheduling difficulties.
So, once a basic programme has been decided, Mayumi, the manager, and the marketing firm toss about ideas for over-arching themes for the year so that we can have a unified image for the concert year. This involves photography shoots for the new brochure, brainstorming sessions, and a great deal of writing and back-and-forth editing so that we can get the brochure ready for the final concert of the preceding season. Eventually, after all of that, a programme is finally created and made to look as though that were the only possible combination of pieces for the year and that it took no effort on the part of anyone whatsoever.
And that is where we are right now. We are putting the final touches on the little bits like creating titles for the concerts and writing little blurbs to go into the brochure; little things that add up and take up rather a lot of time and energy. The end result, however, is a season of music that we are excited to talk about, present to you, market to the general public, and, most importantly, to play. By the time the music gets to the ears of our wonderful audience, almost as much time and energy has gone into deciding what to play as it has learning to play it. So, you see, Via Salzburg is a labour of love for everyone involved throughout the entire year, even when our instruments are silent and the Glenn Gould hall is empty. Please make sure you come to our final concert so that you can be among the first to see the presentation of our concert season for 2010/11.
March 9th, 2010 by graham
Although I usually try to write something about the music that we hear at the Via Salzburg concerts, I want to write a little bit about Via Salzburg itself. Not so much the group as a whole, but about the people who make up that group. Not long ago I attended the annual Via Salzburg fundraiser at Grano’s restaurant here in Toronto (for those of you who weren’t there, you really ought to have been. Plan now for next year). In addition to some fabulous food, drink, and music, I think the most enjoyable aspect of the evening was the conversation. I was fortunate enough to be sat at a table with two of the Via Salzburg musicians who had come to perform that evening. Over the course of the evening I learned a great deal about them and what interesting people they are. We often look at orchestra members and see them as individual units that constitute a whole, but those individuals themselves lead very interesting lives, though like many musicians, some of them struggle to balance enough work to sustain themselves. Most of them, like many musicians, have multiple musical commitments both here and abroad, and although they get to perform great music all over the world, most of them do it for a fraction of the money that many receive from work outside of the music field. They do it, of course, because they love it, but that doesn’t make it an easy life.
I say all this because I think that it is important to realize that when we buy subscriptions or donate to Via Salzburg, we are not just funding a great organization that plays beautiful music, but we are also contributing to the livelihood of some very hard-working and admirable people. Yes, they love what they do, and perhaps many of us don’t, but these musicians work just as hard or harder than many people in the workforce, and they do it with the sort of discipline and rigour that we should hold up as an example for others. Perhaps the next time your kids come home with a CD by the latest minimally-talented but oh-so-attractive pop star, you might consider supplementing that with a subscription for Via Salzburg’s concert season, so that they might see what sort of artistic goals can be accomplished through hard work, dedication, and discipline. If that opportunity should not happen to arise, please give generously to Via Salzburg and help these extraordinary young people continue to provide for us both wonderful music and admirable examples to follow.