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Hitchin' Up the Violins
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra gets freaky
When's the last time you shelled out to pay a visit to your local symphony orchestra? Chances are, if you're under the age of 60, it's been awhile. Don't ask me how I know that, I just do.
The DSO (Detroit Symphony Orchestra) must know it too. Like orchestras around the country, the venerated institution has been gradually modifying its production schedule in hopes of attracting a younger audience. And on Saturday night it worked — on me, at least.
The program that brought me through the doors was a live performance of the soundtracks to some of the most gripping scenes from the films of Alfred Hitchcock. While this is not, by any means, a new idea (The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Oregon Symphony of Portland are among those who've performed similar programs), it's a great one. Scenes from films like Dial M for Murder and North By Northwest were shown over the orchestra pit as the DSO performed the works of composers Dimitri Tiomkin and Bernard Herrmann (respectively), and others, below.
Watching rows of violinists and cellists alternate between sawing the air wildly and plucking the strings violently had all the appeal of a punk show without the stink. And the swell of the timpani as the drama built onscreen was every bit as mesmerizing as the Flaming Lips show I saw the weekend before. Maybe these old people are onto something.
The DSO has expanded its traditional format to not only attract a younger, more esoteric audience (as with its production of Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale blended with spoken word taken from writer Kurt Vonnegut's radio opera A Soldier's Story, performed last June), but also to integrate itself more fully with the surrounding community. Orchestra Hall and its related venues are now hosting everything from poetry slams to jazz and rock shows to get young people through the doors. It's a formula born of necessity.
The DSO (Detroit Symphony Orchestra) must know it too. Like orchestras around the country, the venerated institution has been gradually modifying its production schedule in hopes of attracting a younger audience. And on Saturday night it worked — on me, at least.
The program that brought me through the doors was a live performance of the soundtracks to some of the most gripping scenes from the films of Alfred Hitchcock. While this is not, by any means, a new idea (The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Oregon Symphony of Portland are among those who've performed similar programs), it's a great one. Scenes from films like Dial M for Murder and North By Northwest were shown over the orchestra pit as the DSO performed the works of composers Dimitri Tiomkin and Bernard Herrmann (respectively), and others, below.
Watching rows of violinists and cellists alternate between sawing the air wildly and plucking the strings violently had all the appeal of a punk show without the stink. And the swell of the timpani as the drama built onscreen was every bit as mesmerizing as the Flaming Lips show I saw the weekend before. Maybe these old people are onto something.
The DSO has expanded its traditional format to not only attract a younger, more esoteric audience (as with its production of Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale blended with spoken word taken from writer Kurt Vonnegut's radio opera A Soldier's Story, performed last June), but also to integrate itself more fully with the surrounding community. Orchestra Hall and its related venues are now hosting everything from poetry slams to jazz and rock shows to get young people through the doors. It's a formula born of necessity.
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22:31 EDT, 09.Oct.07
20:05 EDT, 08.Oct.07