old choruses closing, new ones springing up

Date: January 3, 2010

old choruses closing, new ones springing up

This news from Washington DC:

Washington, widely regarded as the choral capital of the nation, lost two of its large choruses in May. Both the Maryland Chorus, a largely non-student organization of the University of Maryland School of Music, and the Master Chorale, one of the city's four large symphonic choruses, were compelled to shut down. As audiences decline and the recession eats into budgets, the closures seemed a possible foretaste of things to come -- even, perhaps, an indication of what might happen to other large classical music organizations, such as orchestras, in the straitened economy.

But if volunteer choruses are serving as a canary in the coal mine, the air appears to be better than we thought. Because if old choruses are closing, new ones are springing up to replace them -- with far smaller budgets and more flexible organizations.

More here.

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John Howell on January 3, 2010 10:19

Hmmmm. Does anyone besides Anne Midgette acutally call D.C. "the choral capital of the nation"????? I really wonder how New Yorkers, Bostonians, Clevelanders and others feel about being left out!

She also seems somewhat geographically challenged, since the University of Maryland is in College Park, in the state of Maryland, and Fairfax is in the state of Virginia, neither in D.C. itself. If she had said "Greater Washington" she might be more believable, but that would almost be like saying "Greater Seattle" and meaning the stretch from Tacoma to Bellingham. There IS no such entity!!

But out of curiosity, exactly how many extant choral organizations actually have an independent budget of $1 million or more? I would guess very few, and of course one would expect them to suffer in a recession.

Anne's article is certainly sympathetic, and that should be applauded. I just don't see a lot of understanding of the facts in it. Like lumping together volunteer choruses (almost certainly the great majority) with "professional" choruses (whatever that actually means!).

But since volunteer organizations have never depended heavily on large budgets, and since a majority of choruses are volunteer (my impression; tell me if things have changed), I suspect that the sky is actually not falling.

In point of fact, large choral organizations have ALWAYS been volunteer, whether that is fair to professional singers or not. And on the other side of the coin, paid choruses have always tended to be small, no larger than necessary to do the job. And THAT goes back to the 15th and 16th century and forward to at least the 18th. I believe both Bach and Handel limped along with choruses of around 20, and they didn't do too badly.

The recession has definitely affected many things around here, not least state support for higher education which was already at a criminally low level, but it has NOT affected any of the several community music organizations I'm associated with, none of which has ever depended on corporate or governmental support.

Thanks for contnuing to keep things stirred up, Philip, with all these fascinating things you keep coming up with.

All the best,

John

Peter Robb on January 3, 2010 23:01

While community choruses don't have budgets the size of the local symphony, many have budgets well over $100K. And the margin between operating in the black or in the red is often the difference of corporate sponsorships, grants, donor support and concert revenue. Many organizations ARE feeling the recession in one or more of these revenue streams.

A sizeable portion of community choruses are children's and youth choirs. They are dependent on enrollment/tuition fees as well as the revenue listed above as. Many youth choirs that have been around for a long time are experiencing a rough go in this economy because families have cut back on their children's fee-based co-curricular activities due to unemployment or economic uncertainties. Lower enrollment and higher need for tuition assistance has made it difficult for some to keep their doors open.

The bright side is that necessity - being the mother of invention - has demanded that organizations reevaluate methods of operation that are now clearly not efficient. New collaborations, new perspective and new ideas create possibilities that were previously not considered.

So while the sky is not falling on everyone, it has fallen on some vulnerable community chiors and looks rather menacing to others. And it is forcing many of the rest of us to restructure and reimagine how to do our work more economically and creatively.

Joshua Nannestad on January 3, 2010 15:06

I agree, John. I hereby submit my vote for Minnesota as the choral capital of the nation.

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