Pretty darn empty in the third tier

Last night was our first symphony concert of the season.

The program was excellent. Two favorites: Stravinsky's Pulcinella Suite and Schumann's Symphony No. 2. And one work I was not familiar with but greatly enjoyed: Bartok's Violin Concerto No. 1.

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But, as I suspected, the third tier was nearly empty. Just a handful of people in each row. It was weird. For years we've sat up there and it was always nearly full. Now, everyone is just... gone. I recapped the pricing snafu here and here. And provided a "helpful" suggestion to the symphony here.

It's hard to tell how many of those took the automatic re-seating to the main floor, how many moved to the now-cheaper second tier, and how many just didn't re-subscribe. We decided to keep our seats, but we subscribed this year to a 12-concert series rather than the full 18-concert series. And this year we got a price "break"-- current subscribers won't feel the full 3-fold price increase until next year. As one of our fellow third-tier subscribers noted, if that increase does indeed go forward nobody will be up there next year. I doubt we will.

Then there is this article about the Liverpool Philharmonic, which (current SSO music director) Gerard Schwarz previously lead with an unhappy, contentious tenure. Under a new, young music director, the orchestra is absolutely thriving. The same thing pretty much happened after Jerry left New York's Mostly Mozart festival. I know a number of subscribers feel Jerry's been here too long.

So, it will be interesting to see how the re-pricing all pans out for the SSO this season--and next.