Welcome to a new round of Beyond Tradition! Last term, Elizabeth looked at museum gift shops and how they can be extensions of the collection (or not). This term, I’m going to be exploring institutions we don’t often think of as museums. First stop: the symphony orchestra.
On a recent visit to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO), I began to ask myself: how is visiting the symphony orchestra similar to visiting a museum? Can we even really compare the two? After a bit of jet-lagged contemplation I’ve decided that the two are more similar than we may initially believe.
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| An evening out to hear the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at Roy Thomson Hall. Photo courtesy of Joanna Wreakes. |
Tony Bennett, a well-known academic in the field of museum studies, has written extensively on museums as a social tool - a place where you go to “see and be seen.” The same can be said for visits to the symphony. In the age of Instagram, this takes on another meaning - how many times have you seen “date night at the symphony” posts on your Instagram feed? In Toronto, the large mirrored walls at Roy Thomson Hall are practically screaming for you to take selfies in them (I would know, as a good friend and I did just that!). Similarly, taking and posting selfies in museums has been on the rise. Does this selfie culture link back to Bennett’s idea of seeing and being seen in the age of social media?
Another parallel we can draw between museums and orchestras are the buildings themselves. Forgetting about the exhibitions and concerts, these places can be seen as sites of iconic architecture, both inside and out. Visiting them can be a twofold experience, where you can enjoy the building itself as well as the exhibits or concerts.
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| View from the stage of the beautiful Konserthuset in Stockholm, Sweden. Photo courtesy of Molly Wreakes. |
Museums and symphony orchestras share a common issue: remaining relevant to younger visitors. Universally, these institutions are putting programs in place to attract younger audiences. One example is TSO TSoundcheck. This allows young people, ages 15 to 35, to buy discounted tickets to concerts. As well, movie concerts have become popular. A movie is shown on a screen in the concert hall while the symphony plays the accompanying soundtrack. In my eyes, this is definitely the symphony version of blockbuster exhibitions (no pun intended 😉).
Orchestras, like museums, can be used to make a stand on social issues. One great example of this is the work being done by Daniel Barenboim. Using his platform as a conductor, Barenboim recently spoke out at a concert in Australia about the country’s treatment of Indigenous Australians by dedicating the concert to "the first creative inhabitants of this continent.” Barenboim also is a co-founder of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, a group that brings together Israeli, Palestinian, and other Arab musicians under the mandate “EQUAL IN MUSIC”. These types of social movements are not things that many people may relate to symphony orchestras, but they are nevertheless prevalent.
On the same TSO trip I mentioned above, I was surprised by how many of my museum studies colleagues had never been to a symphony concert. So for all you museum people, this is my recommendation - go check out a concert! You may be surprised how similar you find it to visiting a museum.
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