[Conrad2]

Came up with this thread after reading a interesting post from Rapide which I post below.

I foresee the impact of the COVID19 as having a negative impact on the real life of contemporary composers. Those composers indirectly (or directly) relying on government art subsidies will likely to be worse off as governments worldwide are running enormous deficits to alleviate the impact of COVID19 on health and on the economy, rightly so. These enormous deficits will take decades to pay off or at least manage. You and I will have to live with the consequences for many years to come and the arts will be the first place subsidies are cut. As for those composers who are actually paid privately for doing what they are supposed to do - write good music - much of such payments are also coming from cash strapped entities (businesses, institutions, private individuals). So I would say composers have hard years ahead of them, as does the performing arts suggested by Lang Lang.
Luckily we have plenty of good old music recorded to listen to. Hang onto them for good.

Here is the video of Lang Lang which he was referring to.

Since I think that the discussion will touch on government subsidies among other political and controversial topics, I decided to place this thread here, even though the discussion should not center on politics only. Also, please leave the "tin-foil" hats behind as there are other sites more suitable if you are that type of person.

Above all, let's have a civilized discussion if we are capable of it.
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With that out of the way, what you do think the ramification of the pandemic would have on classical music? Or what would a post-pandemic classical music world look like?

Here are some external articles that might be helpful in this discussion:
1) COVID-19's Impacts on Arts and Culture (United State Government Report on Covid-19 impact on the economical and social aspect on the performing arts and government and private response to these issues)
2) The Art of Reopening by the National Endowment for the Arts (study on performing arts response to Covid-19 through case studies, note have to download document)
3) David Lang on How Music Will Change Post-Pandemic (composer thoughts on how CM will adapt to the pandemic)
4) 11 classical musicians' stories of pandemic loss and hope by Los Angeles Times (11 separate articles about how these individual musicians reacted in the pandemic)
5) Classical music after the pandemic by PRS for Music (article about a musician thought on CM and its future after the pandemic)

Here are some starting questions for your consideration:
1) How would classical composer's compositions of their work will be affected by their experience during the pandemic?
2) Could we see some interesting or innovative music or endeavors resulting from this?
3) Giving the unprecedented spending on public goods across different countries, how would this affect both private and public subsidies to which musician depends on and the impact of it?
4) On the other hand, there is a trend, where individuals and groups self-published themselves via the internet and other platforms, granting themselves some degree of freedom, how do you think the pandemic will affect this trend, accelerate it or not?
5) To what extent or duration, you think classical music will be affected by the pandemic?
The above questions are not exhaustive of this topic, and my intention is for them to generate thoughts, so feel free to diverge from them.

Although it's too early to know for certain, I would think it would be interesting to hear your predictions while our view is obstructed by the fog of time. Hopefully, a congenial discussion will take place, and I will be looking forward for that hope to be actualizes. Thank you for reading this.

 

[Art Rock]

Just a reminder: politics can only be discussed in this thread if it is directly related to classical music. For instance, how governments handle the pandemic, whether there is a real pandemic, and so on, is strictly off-limits.

 

[pianozach]

Classical music, as we've become acclimated to, has burped.

It will restart like a car left idle for 18 months. It will complain, run rough, but will eventually run normally again.

 

[hammeredklavier]

Do any composers today get government funding or public subsidies for composing?

 

[Conrad2]

Do any composers today get government funding or public subsidies for composing?

This link may be some interest to you as there are news update and frq about public grants for classical music.

Here's an excerpt:

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) promotes creativity and public access to the arts in communities across the country through direct grants to arts organizations, state funding partnerships, and national initiatives. NEA funding increases the capacity of orchestras to provide public access to performances, preserve great classical works, support arts education for children and adults, and nurture the creative endeavors of contemporary classical musicians, composers, and conductors.

However from reading it, it seems that public subsidies, at least in the US, has been cut or reduced.

I would like to musicians or those involved in the music world to share their experience and perspective on this matter, to get an "insider" view on the extent of government support for their endeavors and how the pandemic has affected their funding, and their prediction for the future.

 

[Conrad2]

4) On the other hand, there is a trend, where individuals and groups self-published themselves via the internet and other platforms, granting themselves some degree of freedom, how do you think the pandemic

... will affect this trend, accelerate it or not?

For some reason I didn't complete that sentence or it was lost.

My bad.

 

[Art Rock]

I've edited it in for you.

 

[arpeggio]

I predict that none of my predictions will come true, except for those that do.

 

[Enthusiast]

I feel that the arts have the capacity to energise societies and even to make them more productive. So I do support government actions to get the arts moving again. In Britain many orchestra players received government payments instead of pay packets to ensure that they and their orchestras remained in business. It is likely that much of our musical life will be able to restart. The bigger threat in this case is that since we left the EU our musicians will find it much more expensive and complicated to tour in Europe - something that was an important part of their business models. London has a lot of highly competent orchestras but may end up losing some.

 

[pianozach]

I feel that the arts have the capacity to energise societies and even to make them more productive. So I do support government actions to get the arts moving again. In Britain many orchestra players received government payments instead of pay packets to ensure that they and their orchestras remained in business. It is likely that much of our musical life will be able to restart. The bigger threat in this case is that since we left the EU our musicians will find it much more expensive and complicated to tour in Europe - something that was an important part of their business models. London has a lot of highly competent orchestras but may end up losing some.

The music "business" is harsh. We used to have two local orchestras, until some "suit" got a hold of both of them over two decades ago and merged them. They kept the best players in each, and the others were put on permanent standby, meaning they never played with their orchestra again.

Well, they didn't exactly "merge" them . . . they actually "dissolved" both orchestras in the Spring of 1995, and premiered the "new" orchestra in the Winter of 1995.

The old orchestras (Conejo Symphony and Ventura County Symphony) played to packed houses for their last few years, with an average 97% attendance. The new orchestra premiered to a 60% attendance in their first season.

"Veteran concert-goers in Ventura County attribute the low turnout to the well-publicized rancor between management and the musicians. Players from both symphonies bitterly opposed the merger and then waged a months-long battle over who should play in the new orchestra.

"Some residents say the treatment of the musicians, many of whom weren't invited to join the new orchestra, has turned them off of New West.

"The backlash has been particularly strong among music lovers in the Conejo Valley, where some loyal fans of the former community orchestra have vowed never to attend a single "New West Symphony" performance."

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-12-26-me-17922-story.html

As I recall, BOTH conductors got the shaft as well.
.
.
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And there's been only ONE orchestra since then, unless you count the local private university orchestra.

 

[FrankinUsa]

I am actually quite positive. I think there will be a return to normalcy. Beyond that I think that organizations and individual have been forced to think outside the box and create new avenues (social media etc) that they may not have needed to look at prior to the Covid pandemic.

 

[Neo Romanza]

While I don’t think COVID is going anywhere for many years, I think more and more people, especially ones that have been vaccinated will feel a lot more comfortable traveling again and a part this also means going to concerts, theaters, cafes, jazz clubs and restaurants. I’ll be honest in that don’t think the classical music scene here in the States will get much better. I’ve noticed considerable downsizing even before COVID happened, so this doesn’t exactly give me a good feeling, it’s a lot better than an entire orchestra closing up shop completely. The local orchestra that’s near me, the Atlanta SO, is quite fortunate to still be standing. It has had a rocky last 8-9 years, especially since the orchestra musicians went on strike and so forth. Anyway, I’m optimistic about the international scene and all I hope is that things can get back on track, but, most of all, that people are well and can continue to perform this music that we all hold so dear to our hearts.

 

[starthrower]

I'm going to do whatever I can to keep things afloat in my area as far as live performances are concerned. I've got three tickets for the Dover Quartet tomorrow night, and I'll be buying more for upcoming chamber music concerts this fall. It'll be interesting to see what size the audience is Thursday night. The venue seats 565 people but I doubt it will be full. They may have picked this larger venue to keep some space between the audience members.