Don't Blame The Victims !
With all the orchestras and opera comapnies in America and elsewhere either folding or teetering dangerously on the edge of non-existence , many critics and commentators seem to be wondering if they are actually to blame for their predicament . Is it true that these supposedly "elitist" performing arts organizations are no longer "relevant" and have failed to make concertgoing and attending the opera worthwhile ?
So these so-called experts use loaded words in describing these troubled groups as "dinosaurs" and "museums" , as if there were anything wrong with museums in the first place . Yes, dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years , but for all their difficulties, our opera companies and orchestras are far from extinct . The vast majority of them are alive and kicking , and they still enrich the lives of countless people all over the world , not only rich white people . And even though they are extinct, why are so many people fascinated by dinosaurs ? They should also be interested in classical music and don't know what they are missing .
No, the notion that these institutions have failed to make it worthwhile to attend their performances mst be rejected firmly . The music of Beethoven,Bach, Mozart, Wagner, Verdi, Berlioz, Schubert and the other great composers of the past can never become dated . It has stood the test of time , and there will always be new generations of people to discover the greatness of what they have bequeathed to the world . There are an enormous number of talented , dedicated and hard-working musicians , conductors, solo performers, members of orchestras and singers who have devoted their lives to bringing the music of the past to life as well as giving new works a chance to be heard .
These musicians provide an extremely high quality product , and the orchestras and opera companies of which they are members deserve not only to survive but to flourish . There are a variety of factors involved in the woes of our orchestras and opera companies, but lack of excellence is not one of them . If more people could only come to discover what a treasure these organizations are , they would not sneer at them . Difficult economic times , the considerable expenses of running these organizations and lack of support , at oeast in America , have caused quite a few of them to founder and in some cases go under . But don' blame them or accuse them of deserving to vanish from the earth !