How do you bring classical music to a younger generation unlikely to meet it on its own terms? Combine it with something they already love – something like, oh, maybe… high fashion runway shows? “Our purpose is to expose these top-class artists to a new group of people who are more downtown — trendsetters, fashion people… Classical music is not stuffy. [I]t just needs a different setting.”
Tag: 05.05.07
Ordway Taps Former LA Phil COO
St. Paul’s Ordway Center for the Performing Arts has tapped a native Californian with longstanding ties to Minnesota to be its new chief executive. “Patricia Mitchell’s first job out of college was at the [Minneapolis-based] Guthrie Theater,” and she went on to head opera companies in LA and San Francisco, and to serve as COO of the LA Philharmonic. In St. Paul, she will take over a venue with a long history of difficult relations with its resident companies.
SPAC Sales Jump 40%
It’s been a rough few years for upstate New York’s Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC), which has seen attendance drop off at its featured series with the Philadelphia Orchestra and New York City Ballet. But now comes news that preseason sales for this summer’s classical and dance programming at SPAC are up a whopping 40%!