Is this the slow, agonizing death of art song recitals in Toronto?
I was stunned to check the Royal Conservatory of Music box office this morning to discover that there are still hundreds of tickets available for Wednesday’s art song recital by German baritone Christian Gerhaher.
He is in his early 40s — able to bring a wealth of experience and insight to music with a lyric voice that’s in its finest, full bloom.
Gerhaher’s accompanist is none other than Andras Schiff, who, alone, should be able to sell out Koerner Hall with his promise of impeccably articulated partnership.
The sad revelation that there are only 500 or so people in a city of more than 5 million interested and able to attend the concert is the culmination of a season of disappointing turnouts for the world’s best singers presenting art song at Koerner Hall, and the Telus Centre’s fully justified decision to program fewer such recitals next season.
Roy Thomson Hall has already all but given up trying to sell tickets to vocal concerts. Yes, Renée Fleming sold out the place, but Karina Gauvin, who is a veritable national treasure among Canadian sopranos, sang to half a house last season.
This season, Roy Thomson Hall tried a series of smaller-scale recitals by up-and-comers at the Glenn Gould Studio across the street, and it was no easier to sell tickets.
The Aldeburgh Connection filled Koerner Hall earlier this year, but it was a gala anniversary concert that went well beyond the usual singer-plus-pianist bill.
Opera is as popular as ever and there are fledgling opera presenters popping up every season in Toronto. So what’s up with the song recital?
Does the art song require too much attention? Is it really better suited to a salon? Does it need to be paired with video or some other visual distraction? Does art song need to be leavened with popular or operatic fare?
Please share your thoughts on this strange phenomenon.
John Terauds
I heard Gerhaher and Schiff here in Brussels this past January, doing a Brahms programme, and enjoyed it very much. He certainly has a stellar european reputation, and anyone who loves the lyric arts – or indeed anyone with a heart – should go, to see what beauty Christian and Andreas will reveal to us, especially in such a gorgeously engineered hall.
Let me kick off the comments with some off the cuff thoughts.
The art song repertoire is hard to sell because:
Unlike opera, it evolved in the context of the bourgeois home, not the stage, and amateur musicians do continue to perform this repertoire in their homes.
Unlike opera, it isn’t visually spectacular
Unlike opera, it doesn’t have subtitles for the foreign language text
Unlike opera, it isn’t loud.
How to sell it:
Use surtitles with the text.
Design an outreach program for singing teachers to bring their pupils.
Encourage performers to talk to their audiences about the songs they are performing.
A topic near and dear to my heart. It has indeed been frustrating to see the gradual decline in audience numbers at vocal recitals in Toronto over the years. Not long ago, any singer with an international repuation was more or less able to sell out RTH, or in its heyday, the recital hall at the NYPAC. Obviously, it’s got something to do with audiences aging…i.e. the kind of audience that was used to the traditions of the voice recital, perhaps grew up with that kind of thing have gotten older and largely, not been replaced. The other issue might be the sheer growth in the number and variety of classical concerts available. I know I’ve had to make choices over the past few weeks, couldn’t attend everything I wanted to and the Gerharer was one of them. I’m sad though that Koerner has all but given up on the vocal recital next season. When the hall opened it was like, “hallelujah” finally, a downtown venue where voices could be properly showcased (unlike at RTH I’m afraid). But obviously, the numbers are just not adding up. Another issue is scheduling…I actually contacted the programmers of the Canadian artist series at the Gould (and they politely replied promptly) asking why they scheduled two of their concerts on a Thursday evening. Many, many, many local singers have “church” jobs – it’s one way to make a bit of steady money as a singer, and with that come Thursday rehearsals. Music Toronto also *always* schedules their one voice recital each season on a Thursday – I’ve never been able to attend!
But despite the general gloom around this, there are many young singers who are very keen to give recitals/to dust off the cobwebs/present repertoire in new, interesting ways etc. Despite what James says above, a recital can be every bit as dramatically satisfying as any opera in the right hands. And there’s also the point that many voices (and I think Gerharer’s would be just one of many) are infinitely more suited to song repertoire vs. opera. It would be a shame if singers like this dont’ have the opportunity to share their art if the voice recital is to die a slow death. Much think about….
I don’t think art song needs to be spiced up with anything. A lieder recital is a compelling experience even if you don’t speak a word of German. The problem is not the way it’s presented but the fact that Torontonians are not exposed to enough lieder.
I am not a person who has been trained in music but I have loved classical music all of my life. Even so, I only came across lieder by chance a few years ago. I heard an opera recording on the radio by Bryn Terfel and that led me to explore his other recordings including his lieder interpretations. I became enchanted with his voice and the music. This led me to his idol, the great Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and my fate was sealed. I have become obsessed with lieder!
I have attended the lieder recitals at Koerner Hall and they were all spell-binding. To hear a recital is a transformational experience and it saddens me to think that there is not a single one scheduled for the 2012/13 season.
Perhaps if lieder were played more often on the radio more Torontonians could become familiarized with it and learn to appreciate it. Maybe little less Andrea Boccelli and more Matthias Goerne, Christian Gerhaher and so on would do the trick!