-Chopin Piano Concerto No.2 in F Minor, Op. 21
-Rachmaninoff Symphony No.2 in E Minor, Op. 27
Concert Report/ Mini Ethnography
On October 4 2014, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra performed Chopin Piano Concerto No.2, and Rachmaninoff Symphony No.2 at the Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto. The music conductor was David Zinman, and the piano soloist was Khatia Buniatishvili. While enjoying the impressive concert performance, I made notes and participant observations regarding the concert culture of Western Art Music.
Performers
The orchestra consisted of approximately 60 performers for the first piece, and 90 performers for the second piece. All the performers were in a formal dress code colored all in black. All men wore the same tailcoat. The women had more flexibility and they wore black dresses in different cuts. Among the 40 performers in strings section, about 20% were Asian, and the rest were Caucasian. In terms of the age group, the performers ranged all the way from young mid-20s to senior 60-plus. However, most of the violin performers, especially Asians, are of younger age than other instrument performers. The piano soloist is only 27 years old. This shows that art music is not only for older people, but young generation can have passion for art music as well.
Audience
The audience consisted of people attired in semi-formal to casual dress code. Although there was audience of all ethnicity and age group, most were Caucasian adults. The socio-economic status of the audience appeared to be middle class. Most of the audience consisted of pairs or groups, couples without or with family members and friends. The teenagers in the audience were rather small numbering approximately 1%. Most of them were with parents. Everyone had pleasant manner regardless of his or her identity. During the performance, the audience were fully engrossed and concentrated on the concert. After each piece, the audience gave standing ovation for at least 3 minutes. The demeanor and actions of the audience indicate that they showed respect for the performers and the composers.
Ambience
The interior of the concert hall is warm and in a natural wood color. It had three floors accessible by stairs or escalators. The atmosphere inside the hall projected both classic and modern music. Guided by polite ushers, the audience entered the auditorium in an orderly way although more than 2000 people attended the concert. Before the concert started, people were having quite conversations with each other in the auditorium or in the hallways. As soon as the lights were dimmed, the concert hall went quite and everyone sat up straight. The concert auditorium itself has two layers of doors for each section that blocked not only outside sounds in total, but also the cell phone signals when closed. Therefore, it eliminated the possible distraction of phones ringing inadvertently. During the intermission, the bar provided a variety of wines and spirits for the audience. The overall impression of the ambience of the concert was delightful, classy, and elegant.
Conclusion
I expected this concert to be a superior and refined event, and it was. Very different from the fickle ambience of pop concerts, classical concerts are generally at a higher level. In a modern world connected by internet, people create, share, enjoy, and live on the worldwide web. Connection is a key concept in our lives. Classical concerts give people vivid experience of music by great composers. In the concert culture of Western Art Music, everyone shows great respect to each other by dressing and behaving well. Youth should be channeled more towards classical music concerts since attending such events promote self-cultivation in many ways. To achieve that, teachers and parents should help children cultivate an interest in the art music.
