TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Harmonic Convergence

ADVERTISEMENT

By KURT LOFT | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 1, 2007

TAMPA Is the symphony orchestra relevant today?

Times have changed over the last few centuries, and Beethoven never had to butt heads with Blackberries and iPods, much less a society raised on sound bites.

The question might seem strange as The Florida Orchestra tunes up for its 40th anniversary season this week, but it begs consideration.

Why is this band of 80 musicians, all led by a man waving a stick, so vital to our community and culture? What does its product — orchestral music — do to enhance our lives?

"It's a big question," says Kenneth Kwo, a violist with the orchestra since 1984. "But it's a funny question, because no one asks why Shakespeare or museums are relevant. But they ask why orchestras are, because we're the ones disappearing."

Many orchestras across the country are healthy, supported by audiences who grew up listening to Mozart and Copland, people willing to open their wallets in times of need. Other groups, however, live hand-to-mouth, struggling to balance their budgets in cities that treat them more as window dressing than cores of evolving culture.

The Florida Orchestra falls somewhere in between. Last year's $676,000 deficit and the possibility of losing more than $500,000 this year in state and local support have put the group against the ropes. But numbers, Kwo says, have little to do with why the orchestra exists.

"Orchestras are relevant because they connect to the human experience, of joy and war and death and love and loss," he says. "No matter what the circumstances, these are what everyone experiences. And the power of music is immediate when you see and hear it created."

Erika Shrauger, the orchestra's assistant principal clarinetist, says orchestras act as a balm against a world of turbulence, offering "an opportunity for peace and reflection through the purity of music, a celebration of creation rather than destruction, harmony over discord, order over chaos."

Keeping order from turning into chaos is the job of Michael Pastreich, the orchestra's new president, who today replaces retiring executive director Leonard Stone. Pastreich served as the top manager of the Eglin Symphony Orchestra in Illinois and is well aware of an orchestra's role in a city.

"I think relevance is an underlying challenge for any organization today, whether it's an orchestra, airline or newspaper," he says. "But I'm not at all a believer that orchestras are at a major crossroad."

Pastreich takes over the area's largest performing arts group with high hopes that more young people will replace the old guard and fill concert halls.

"Twenty years ago I heard lot of angst about baby boomers transitioning to the symphony," he says. "What we're seeing is baby boomers are making the transition just like everybody did before them. So I think the next 20 years will be a boom for orchestras."

Stone will spend plenty of time thinking about the orchestra's relevance during his retirement. He isn't worried that orchestras will lose their meaning or impact, because they awaken profound feelings in people willing to be part of a never-ending dialogue.

"There must be something so outrightly beautiful and compelling about the orchestra that it's still here after all this time," he says. "I think the orchestra is even more relevant today because we are urged on by music. The orchestra is relevant because it continues to speak to the human spirit."

Reporter Kurt Loft can be reached at (813) 259-7570 or kloft@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT