The future (financially) isn’t rosy, but the ideas and the execution of them in a post-lockdown world is exciting, and the RLPO are first out of the traps
I joined the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra’s pre-2020 season Zoom call earlier this evening (there’s a thing I never imagined I’d ever feel compelled to write about or even say in a sentence). And, if you weren’t there, I have to tell there were one or two things which left me feeling a little bit excited about the next few months.
As ensembles emerge tentatively from the post-lockdown darkness, the people who stage the events they play in are leading the way with new ways of doing things. They are the live event pioneers, eager to communicate directly with their core audience about the changes customers will experience. And, for someone like me, when I hear of those logistical changes there’s a frisson of excitement to experience too.
Tickets purchased online for a socially-distanced concert will give clear directions as to which car park car-owning patrons should park their vehicles in. On arrival at the Philharmonic Hall in Liverpool, there’s the option of the bar (for up to 50 people an hour before the concert). Savvy ticket-holders will have already pre-ordered their drinks with their ticket. Those clever types will arrive at their seats (masks mandatory for all except for those who are exempt), and find a bag containing their drinks order. Beverages can be consumed at leisure inside the auditorium. “We’re assuming,” said Executive Director Millicent Jones from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, “that drinks will be consumed before the concert,”
But what if they’re not? Will front of house staff police the event? What’s the protocol once the music has started? What’s more important? The safety of front of house staff, the safety of socially-distanced (bubbled) audience members, or the live performance.
Later Millicent explained how each concert would be filmed and released in premieres on the the RLPO website ‘as live’, preceeded by pre-concert Zoom talks and post-concert Q&As. All this for a tenner a concert. That’s at least half what you’d pay to go to the cinema. And cinemas are open.
So, basically, I can have my cake (and almost eat it whole) without leaving my house. Sure, I know its not like being there. But this is the next best thing. And if I was there I like the idea of having my drinks delivered to my seat like I was on an aeroplane.
“Necessity is the mother of invention,” concluded Chief Exec Michael Eakin at the end of the presentation, itself a piece of direct communication with audience members existing and potential of the kind I’ve not experienced before now.
It feels, just maybe, as though change is afoot. And I’m rubbing my hands together at the thought of what the experience might turn out to be like. Because the thought of being able to watch on-demand a whole series of UK orchestras concert performances on my TV? So long as I’ve got the money, I’m MORE than happy to spend it to get my fix.
