Kudos to the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra for stepping up to the plate and releasing their digital ticket sales figures for their Autumn 2020 season: a useful benchmark which can help producers get a sense of what defines success in the digital realm.
The near-16,000 digital tickets sold for twelve concerts is impressive because it has surprised me. There are assumptions held (we all do it) about the age of an audience, their tech-savvy-ness, and/or their willingness to convert to the digital experience. Given that the capacity of the Poole Lighthouse is 1500, selling 16,000 tickets is an impressive win.
A lot of that depends on what those tickets were – season or individual events – of course. But the bottom line is, its an impressive start. And by sharing it with the wider world, an important strategic point is made: there is still an audience for this, this still matters to communities, and we need to get the concert halls open.
The BSO announced today a new season of concerts for the new year.
Highlights include the UK premiere of American composer and DJ Mason Bates’ Auditorium and the continuation of the Orchestra’s Voices from the East series, with performances of Nurymov’s Symphony No.2 (UK premiere), Rimsky-Korsakov’s rarely performed Symphonic Suite ‘Antar’ (Symphony No.2) and Penderecki’s Prelude for Peace.
Sir John Eliot Gardiner will conduct Brahms and Schumann, and there are welcome returns for Marta Gardolinska, David Hill, Karl-Heinz Steffens and Mark Wigglesworth.
Pianist Benjamin Grosvenor returns as Artist-in-Residence in a recital programme with duo partner violinist Hyeyoon Park. Horn player Felix Klieser makes his UK concerto debut, and there are performances from mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnston and pianists Stephen Hough and Sunwook Kim.
Listings below. For boooking and more information visit the BSO website.
6 January (Lighthouse, Poole)
Kirill Karabits conductor
Ravel — Le tombeau de Couperin
Couperin — Suite from L’Apothéose de Lully
R Strauss — Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme Suite
[*pre-recorded performance]
13 January (Lighthouse, Poole)
David Hill conductor
Jennifer Johnston mezzo soprano
R Strauss — Träumerei am Kamin
Mahler — Songs of a Wayfarer
Brahms — Symphony No.2
20 January (Lighthouse, Poole)
Karl-Heinz Steffans conductor
Fauré — Pelléas et Mélisande Suite
Beethoven — Symphony No.3 ‘Eroica’
27 January (Lighthouse, Poole)
Mark Wigglesworth conductor
Wagner — Die Meistersinger Suite
Vaughan Williams — Symphony No.5
3 February (Lighthouse, Poole)
Kirill Karabits conductor
Copland — Fanfare for the Common Man
Mason Bates — Auditorium (UK premiere)
Gershwin — Catfish Row: Suite from Porgy and Bess
10 February (Lighthouse, Poole)
Kirill Karabits conductor
Borodin — In the Steppes of Central Asia
Nurymov — Symphony No.2
Rimsky-Korsakov — Symphonic Suite No.2 ‘Antar’
17 February (Lighthouse, Poole)
Kirill Karabits conductor
Felix Klieser horn
Mozart — Horn Concerto No.4
Bruckner — Symphony No.0 ‘Nullte’
24 February (Lighthouse, Poole)
Sir John Eliot Gardiner conductor
Stephen Hough piano
Schumann — Genoveva Overture
Brahms — Piano Concerto No.1
3 March (Lighthouse, Poole)
Marta Gardolińska conductor
Schubert — Symphony No.3
Liadov — The Enchanted Lake
Shostakovich — Symphony No.9
10 March (Lighthouse, Poole)
Benjamin Grosvenor piano*
Hyeyoon Park violin
Schumann — Kreisleriana
Clara Schumann — Romances
Cesar Franck — Sonata in A
[*Benjamin Grosvenor appears courtesy of Decca Classics]
17 March (Lighthouse, Poole)
Kirill Karabits conductor
Sunwook Kim piano
Beethoven — Piano Concerto No.4
Schumann — Symphony No.4 (original version)
24 March (Lighthouse, Poole)
Kirill Karabits conductor
Penderecki — Prelude for Peace
Haydn — The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross
