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<p>The difference is that sports are governed by one administrative body for each sport. They can negotiate broadcast rights, etc. It isn’t at all the same with live theatre which involves individual playwrights, producers, theatre owners, licensing companies, etc. Not at all the same and thus it won’t happen.</p>
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<p>The problem is that I don’t see that people who haven’t gone to the symphony until the age of 65 aren’t going to suddenly start now. I think what I am seeing is the last of the symphony going generation, and as the patrons stop attending, nobody will replace them. It’s not likely a 55 year old will suddenly start attending because he hit a magical age - these 70 years olds have gone for years and years and years.</p>
<p>Something needs to dramatically change otherwise there won’t be a symphony in 20 years.</p>
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<p>Moreover, a musical performance for many is more of an auditory experience rather than a visual one whereas in sports…there’s the auditory, visual, and the presence/absence of the enthusiastic noisy crowd atmosphere to factor in. </p>
<p>The last part in the sports factor would be restricted to polite audience applause/cheers at beginnings and conclusions of a given performance/act. I can’t see anyone whooping it up in the midst of an opera at the Met.</p>
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100 years ago, concerts were actually very like this. Audiences would applaud and cheer loudly in-between movements or whatever. It was not uncommon for the orchestra to have to repeat a movement to satisfy the crowd.</p>
<p>This somehow morphed into the don’t make-a-sound-until-it-is-over paradigm, although it is still common to applaud and cheer after arias in an opera.</p>
<p>The bankruptcy of the Philadelphia, the near destruction of the Detriot in a labor dispute, along with the failures of other less prominent professional orchestras, clearly indicates a sea change in how we as a society support this art form. Hopefully the orchestra survives… I think it will, although I suspect the musicians will no longer be able to make a living at it.</p>
<p>I have a friend who plays in the Cleveland, the working conditions and benefits are incredible. It’s no wonder the major orchestras are in financial trouble.</p>
<p>I know the guy who is the Director of El Sistema USA. He’s an incredible man, very passionate about his work, he works incredibly hard at trying to get El Sistema programs up and running. But there are so many political and budget obstacles… they very nearly got kicked out of NEC, which ran the Abreu Fellowship program. If you can’t get one of the top conservatories in the country to go all in, what does that say? </p>
<p>I doubt it will ever happen it at the national level unless the Fed govt picks up the tab. And it’s not cheap, it tends to cost a couple thousand per kid per year when done on the micro (per school level). How many school systems can afford this across the entire system?</p>
<p>Where I am from in Ontario, all of our professional venues for the arts offer $11 tickets to any student through University. My D took advantage of this almost weekly. She could get 2 tickets and sometimes one of us would go with her other times a classmate would. My D loves Orchestra and Classical music. She is now studying to be proffesional percussionist. What she would like to do for a few years though is be a pit musician but unfortunately that primarily is who you know and we do not have those kinds of contacts in major US cities. The cheap tickets really helps to draw the younger crowd. My D has been sitting right at the stage, front row for STOMP, it cost her $11 while the people beside her paid $150. It is not only music that does this but also most of the theatre productions as well. The other thing our Orchestra does is play under the star 4 nights in a row and it is all free to everyone. It is huge success with all age groups.</p>
<p>My son is a newly minted public school music teacher.
He knows he is fortunate to have earned a slot in a district that is not downsizing it’s music program at all but looking to expand it.
He shares stories about his kids’ lessons and performances that make my mother’s heart sing. I would not have believed he would blossum into a music educator but I see it happening. He still performs (and probably always will) but he’s grown a teacher’s soul.</p>
<p>It saddens me that it is not so in all parts of our country.</p>
<p>Actually, engineer4life, the average age of concertgoers appeared to be about 70 back around 1990, too, in my opinion!</p>
<p>I am pleased with the chance my daughter has had to play with her middle school jazz band. She has blossomed and can improvise well. She knows all sorts of stuff about jazz that I never learned. I was the kind of kid who could play well but needed every note written out, so I’m thrilled she can play so freely. Next week, she gets to participate in a two-day honors festival with kids who auditioned from the southern part of our state. She was the only pianist chosen, so I’m proud! :)</p>
<p>We attend our city symphony and are typically the youngest audience members by a good bit…and we’re in our mid-40s.</p>
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<p>Agree with this–my kids played in symphonies, so going to the symphony is something that they enjoy doing. But the big problem for them is that the tickets cost $75 a pop (last symphony we went to in Miami)! That is a lot of money for a student or a young person just starting out her working career.</p>
<p>I don’t see the Seattle symphony with empty seats or lowering their tickets fees.
They do incorporate popular culture, by having artists like Brandi Carlile perform or by performing The Lord of the Rings soundtrack.</p>
<p>Being in my mid 50s I grew up with classical music but also rock & roll. 
I attended concerts @ Benaroya three times last year, I don’t think they have to worry about going out of business, those tickets were very hard to get.</p>
<p>Well ok, two of the nights were to see Glen Hansard & Eddie Vedder. :D</p>
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<p>Yeah, that’s what I thought before I took up birdwatching and started talking about my health all the time.</p>
<p>Made me laugh, IloveLA!</p>