HomeMy WebLinkAbout02. f. BravoVail2021EducationRecap-Event Recap: 2021 Bravo! Vail Education and Engagement Events
Cultural, Recreational & Community Category
November 3, 2021
Bravo! Vail 2021 Education and Engagement Events
Ronda Helton
Phone: 970.827.4304
rhelton@bravovail.org
2
Overall Event Highlights & Successes
3
•Near capacity attendance for eight free community concerts at Vail Interfaith
Chapel and Lower Bench, in addition to 10% increase in attendance for Little
Listeners concerts from 2019
•Sixteen (16) Education and Engagement events in Vail during 2021 Festival
including community concerts at Vail Interfaith Chapel, two Little Listeners @ the
Library, three community concerts at Vail Health, and more
•Extensive media coverage of Bravo’s Education and Engagement programs,
including features in Violinist.com, Symphony Magazine, and Strings Magazine
•Rebranding of Bravo! Vail’s popular after school piano and violin classes as
Bravo! Vail Music Makers Haciendo Música
COVID-19 Impacts
4
•Describe the changes made to the event due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
•Pre-Concert Talks and Instrument Petting Zoos were cancelled. Little Listeners @ the
Library series moved outside, and Music Makers Haciendo Música classes were held
virtually for 2020-21 school year. We required reservations for our free events to allow
contact tracing and closely control capacity.
•What were the biggest challenges cause by the COVID-19 pandemic.
•Keeping up with changing COVID-19 restrictions and communicating with ticketholders,
community members, and program participants.
•Include any testimonials of feedback from attendees regarding your COVID-19
response. From Music Makers Haciendo Música parent: “This year was different and could
have been challenging with virtual classes, but my daughter has thrived and continued to
accelerate her piano skills. Jenny has been fantastic and so supportive, and I applaud her
patience and willingness to do this virtually and be so successful.”
Estimated Attendance Results
5
•Estimated attendance:
•Bravo! Vail Education and Engagement Events: 1,978
•Music Makers Haciendo Música students from Vail: 20 students
•Number/percentage of people who came specifically for event:
91%
•Number/percentage of people who attended the event last year:
88%
Estimated Attendee Profile Results
6
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Local In-State Day In-State Overnight Out-of-State International
29%
2%
19%
48%
2%
Bravo! Vail Education & Engagement -Market Segment
2021 N =152
Event Strengths & Weaknesses
9
•How did the event exceed expectations?
•Free post-concert "surprise and delight" performances on the Music Box in Ford Park were a success.
These provided anyone in the park –whether they had attended the Bravo concert or not –the
opportunity to enjoy live music.
•Free concerts at Vail Interfaith Chapel and Lower Bench were well attended and consistently at
capacity for reservations.
•Attendance at Little Listeners @ the Library increased by 10% from 2019,and the introduction of a
concert-related game board encouraged repeat attendance.
•What are areas for event improvement?
•We continue to innovate and expand the utilization of the Music Box for free community programs. As
we implement technical improvements that allow for more efficient setup and breakdown, we will
have the opportunity to use the Music Box more frequently.
•Audience attendance was limited this summer at Vail Health concerts due to
COVID-19 restrictions.
Vail Brand Compatibility
The Premier International Mountain Resort Community
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•The world-class musicians that graced Bravo! Vail stages also took part
in the Festival’s Education and Engagement programs, bringing a high
level of artistic excellence to these free community performances. By
providing these free programs at such an exceptional level, Bravo! Vail
helped support Vail’s brand as “the premier international mountain
resort community.”
•Bravo! Vail’s Education and Engagement programs offered cultural
opportunities experienced nowhere else but in Vail. This included the
Vail premiere of Caroline Shaw’s Evergreen performed by the Viano
String Quartet at a free community concert at Vail Interfaith Chapel.
•Bravo! Vail's participating Piano Fellows and Chamber Musicians-in-
Residence give Vail audiences an opportunity to experience some of
best up-and-coming musicians in the world, adding to the
cultural vitality of this premier community.
Community Contribution
11
•Bravo! Vail takes an active role in music education and engagement for
both children and adults that will have a lasting impact on the Vail
community. More than half of all Festival programs are free of charge,
and lawn tickets and passes remain priced as low as possible to offer
broad access to all.
•Through Music Makers Haciendo Música, Bravo! Vail makes a year-
round impact in our community, filling a gap for inconsistent music
education and ensuring as many students as possible have
opportunities to learn a musical instrument, regardless of
socioeconomic circumstances.
Topline Marketing Efforts
12
•Implementing reservation system for many of
our free events, which allowed us to capture
contact information for those attendees so we
can track attendance and promote future
events to them.
•Promoting Education and Engagement Events
through our new app.
•Offering Education and Engagement program
materials in both English and Spanish.
Potential for Growth & Sponsorships/Media Exposure
13
•How do you see the event evolving next year?
•Explore expanded uses of our Music Box for Education & Engagement programs.
•Increase teaching staff to accommodate more Music Makers students.
•Host collaborative performance opportunity with other Colorado arts
organization(s) focused on classical music for youth.
•Present an expanded Music Education night at the 2022 Festival.
•What sponsors do you plan to target next year?
•Returning: LIV Sotheby’s, Fidelity, Alpine Bank, First Bank, First Western Trust,
and Slifer, Smith, & Frampton.
•Potential: Northern Trust, other national and local businesses.
Sustainability Efforts
14
•What measures were taken at your event/program to support the
environmentally-friendly goals of the Town of Vail?
•Promoting alternative forms of transportation
•Encouraging patrons to use water bottle refilling stations
•What waste reduction methods were used during your event/program?
•Advertising and promoting programs through primarily digital channels
•Recycling program books
•How could you improve on sustainability efforts for next year’s event?
•Increased usage of our app to provide content that might otherwise
have been delivered in printed form
2021 Bravo! Vail Education & Engagement Programs
15
Event Budget
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Item $
Total Event Budget:$331,217
CSE Funds:$26,730
Cash Sponsorship (not CSE):$304,487
In-kind Sponsorship:$0
Marketing Budget:$8,000
Profit & Loss:Bravo! Vail’s FY2021
ended Sept. 30. A full
audit will be
available in late
December.
How did you use the CSE funds?
(marketing, operations, staff, venue,
etc.)
Artist fees
TOV Education Grant
Marketing Plan
Objective:
Build awareness for the Bravo! Vail Education & Engagement programs.
Foster a collaborative spirit for Bravo! Vail Education program participants and Festival musicians, local
artists and musicians, and local merchants/restaurants/bars/lodges to promote an appreciation for the
arts.
Entertain, inspire, and engage familiar and new audiences of all ages.
Year-round Audience:
Bravo! Vail after-school piano and violin program participants, their families, and networks; community
partners; music educators; local residents; local businesses; first-time visitors; returning guests; second
homeowners.
Year-round Strategy: scalable according to public health requirements
Host / co-host performance and social events in collaboration with local business and community
partners; featuring after-school program participants, local artists , and musicians.
Host / co-host enrichment events with music educators.
Host concerts and events bot h in-person and online.
Leverage print and digital advertising, direct mail, email, website, and social media channels to promote
all events.
Leverage in-village signage opportunities, posters, and point of sale messaging to promote events.
Partner with concierges to promote events.
Year-round Activations:
Co-host events in public-facing venue s to celebrate the after-school program recitals (winter and spring).
May also include recital performance s.
Timeline:
Winter recitals – week of 12/14 - 12/18/2020
Spring recitals – week of 4/12 - 4/16/2021
Recruit local merchants/restaurants/bars/lodges to host an event for after -school students and music
educators to perform and enrich the experience for their patrons and guests.
Timeline is flexible ; pending venue availability and preference; peak destination guest visits; and
other events in town.
October (not during Eagle County School District fall break)
December (early in the month, before holiday peak)
January (before or after MLK holiday peak)
Summer Audience:
First-time visitors, returning guests, second homeowners, local residents.
Summer Strategy:
Host/ co-host performance and social events in collaboration with local business and community
partners.
Host / co-host events for Festival musicians and local artists to present their talents.
Host concerts and events both in -person and online.
Leverage print and digital advertising, direct mail, email, website, and social media channels to promote
all events.
Leverage in-village signage opportunities, posters, and point of sale messaging to promote events.
Partner with concierge s to promote events.
Summer Activations: scalable according to public health requirements
Host Music Box performances in various locations throughout the town.
Co-host pre -concert events with local restaurants/bars. Potentially include small performances from
Bravo! Vail music students, Festival artists or small ensemble s, local artists and musicians, pre -concert
lecture, or social only.
Collaborate with community partners and local businesses to create pre/post-concert events for the
annual Music Education Night at GRFA.
Recruit local merchants/restaurants/bars/lodges to host an event with the Music Box.
Host a booth or Music Box performance near the Sunday Farmer’s Market.
Concert for one – musician rides gondola with guest (s) for a private concert.
Hospitality groups / group sales – perform during group events or create a special performance for the
group outside of regularly scheduled agenda. Include discounted tickets to the evening’s concert at
GRFA. Group may sit on the lawn in a designated area. Include chair rental.
Summer Timeline:
Within the months of June – August.
Budget:
Print Advertising - $12,000 (Vail Daily ad rotation, mix of ¼, ½, full-page ads)
Total Reach: 13,000
Bus Ads - $1,000 (year-round and summer versions; interior ads)
Total Reach: 2.2 million – winter; 992k summer (pre -COVID)
Digital Advertising - $21,000 (display ad campaign, social media sponsored ads, paid search media
starting three weeks before events and extending through majority of events)
Display Reach: 72K
Social Reach: 46K
Google Ad Words: 96K
Direct Mail - $5,000 (postcards distributed to highly target ed audience ; two mailings total, one for year-
round audiences and one for summer audiences )
Total Reach: up to 20K, if sending to entire Bravo! Vail database. Would ideally be more targeted
and inclusive of Town of Vail seg mented lists too.
Email - $200 (targeted emails promoting and highlighting events)
Total Reach: up to 20K, in addition to Town of Vail and partner lists too.
Signage - $6,000 for event specific; $2,000 for evergreen (posters, banners)
Total Reach:
Photography - $4,000 (capturing events , creating marketing deliverables to promote events; shareable
with participating merchants/restaurants/bars/lodges )
Total Reach: same as each channel’s reach as these assets will appear on all marketing materials
distributed on the channels
Videography - $7,000 (capturing events, creating marketing deliverables to promote events ; shareable
b-roll with participating merchants/restaurants/bars/lodges)
Total Reach: same as digital advertising
Live stream - $3,000/each (technical resourcing, cameras, camera operators)
Total Reach: same as digital advertising for Bravo! Vail, plus live stream platform audience which
was 6,500 for 2020. This content would ideally be distributed on Bravo! Vail’s channels, as well
as Town of Vail’s and all participating partners.
Event expenses (miscellaneous items, food, drinks) - $4,000
FY2021 Education and Engagement Programs
Income Budgeted Actual
Revenue from other items:
Cash Sponsorships 10,000
Donations 77,200 169,180
CSE Funding 40,000 26,730
Grants 5,000 12,895
132,200 208,805
Expenses
Education - Administration 4,000
Insurance 4,000 4,000
Sound/AV 2,000 2,000
Banner - Printing &
Signage 6,000 6,000
12,000 16,000
Marketing
Education 8,000
Advertising - Print 12,000
Graphic Design 6,000
Website 6,000
Advertising - Bus Ads 1,000
Advertising - Digital 21,000
Advertising - Email 200
Direct Mail 5,000
51,200 8,000
Photography 4,000 4,000
Videography 7,000 7,000
11,000 11,000
Food & Beverage
non-social food &
beverage 4,000 4,000
Program/Lodging
Artist Fees 32,000 34,500
Adult Education 4,000 -
After-School Program 1,000 14,550
Internship Expenses 4,300
Family Concerts 2,500
Production 2,000 2,000
Lodging 15,000 10,000
54,000 67,850
Education Salaries 184,794
Total Expenses 132,200 291,644
Video Highlight: 2021 Bravo! Vail Education and Engagement Events
High Notes- Prioritize Joy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OF4llbZvms&t=139s
High Notes- The Evergreen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y5PdDydy1A
VIOLINIST.COM - NEWS & ADVICE - TEACHING
Laurie Niles
Bravo! Vail: Starting Music Education in
Schools with No Music Programs
September 1, 2021, 5:17 PM ꞏ Music education in public schools across the United
States is wildly inconsistent, with some schools offering robust programs in
instrumental and vocal music, and others offering none at all.
So I found it fascinating to speak with Brooklynn Phillips, who as Director of
Education and Engagement for Bravo! Vail, is tasked this fall with expanding a
music instruction program in a public school district that up until recently,
has had almost no music education.
Brooklynn Phillips teaching at Bravo! Vail's Music Makers Hacienda Música
program.
This at first might sound a little strange - Bravo! Vail, isn't that a summer
music festival? And Vail, Colorado - isn't that a high-end resort town?
Yes and yes - but Vail is actually located in the rather rural Eagle County,
Colorado, where the public schools serve a student community that is more
than 50 percent Hispanic, with 32 percent being English Language Learners,
and 42 percent qualifying for free and reduced lunch.
And Bravo! Vail actually has a year-round presence in Vail - not just in the
summer. Founded in 1987, the organization has been expanding its
educational mission ever since. Of course there are the educational programs
associated with the summer festival, like audience education programs before
concerts, professional development programs for accomplished young
musicians, and internships in arts administration. But there are also a host of
free programs for the community.
"Over the summer months we have more than 50 programs that are free for
the community," Phillips said. "Actually, more than a third of what we do at
Bravo is free for the community - we have our pre-concert talk series, library
concerts for toddlers. We have hospital concerts and concerts at senior
centers. And we also have chamber music series at the Vail Interfaith Chapel,
and our Music Box.
But beyond that, "for eight months out of the year, during the academic school
year, we have a program that offers weekly music classes for students grades
two through 12," Phillips said.
Bravo! Vail started offering instruction in the Eagle County School District a
dozen years ago with an after-school piano program, expanding to offer a
violin program four years ago.
Recently, though, they have re-thought the program, coming up with a three-
year plan to expand it.
"It's kind of an exciting venture we're undertaking," Phillips said. In the Eagle
County School District, "six of our nine elementary schools have no music
education, and Bravo is the only organization filling that gap. We have more
than 120 kids on the waiting list for the program, and so over the next three
years we are going to expand to be in all nine elementary schools, eliminate
the wait list and turn our program completely bi-lingual, to serve our local
population better."
They have even re-named the program, Music Makers Haciendo Música, to
reflect the largely Hispanic population of the area, offering instruction in both
Eagle and Lake County schools. (Neighboring Lake County is in Leadville,
Colo.)
"For the first time, too, we're going from a group model with our violin classes
and turning it into a curriculum that goes from grades two through 12, so no
matter what school they go to, they'll have a place in an ensemble," she said.
Violin students in Bravo! Vail's Music Makers Hacienda Musica program.
Violin students will be able to begin anywhere between grades two through
five, "and then we will provide them a place to continue their studies through
12th grade, no matter which school they attend and what that school may or
may not offer," Phillips said. "We will have benchmarks that students meet to
move on to the next level, so that students can progress at their own pace."
The first three levels, beginner, beginner-intermediate, and intermediate-
advanced, will be in groups of no more than eight students. Upon completion
of those levels, which should take three to five years on average, students will
move up to an Ensemble "so they can learning skills of following a conductor
and having a stand partner and all those things that if they want to play in a
community orchestra are crucial to know, for violin," she said. "Our most
advanced students will also form part of the advanced quartet after their
ensemble study. This quartet will have the opportunity to perform throughout
our community and integrate into our summer music festival."
The idea is to "provide a comprehensive path for students to develop technical
violin skills, learn how to read music, learn about music theory and history,
and finally experience an ensemble environment, with stand partners and
following a conductor."
If this program seems a little different from typical school programs, it might
be because it was influenced by Phillips' extensive experience teaching music
in Perú with an El Sistema-inspired program called Sinfonía por el Perú.
Brooklynn Phillips in Perú, with music students from Sinfonia por el Perú.
"Sinfonía por el Perú is an organization with more than 10,000 youth across
the country, in a very typical El Sistema-style program of intensive music
study to help combat child labor and gang violence - things that are big issues
in South America," said Phillips, who spent four years in Perú. "I came back to
the U.S. and wanted to continue working in that, but in my home country, to
be able to help progress music education in a part of this country where it's
not provided in public schools."
"The issues the youth are facing in the United States are slightly different than
in South America, but the tools that music can provide are the same: the
leadership skills, the social-emotional learning, teamwork, and finding a sense
of community through music," Phillips said.
One idea she took from her time in Perú was "getting out of this mindset that
in Year One you must achieve this, this and this, and transitioning more to the
mindset of: if we push our youth to achieve things, nine times out of 10 they
will step up to the plate, if they have the tools to do so," Phillips said.
"Incorporating that into our programs has been important."
Another idea: let go of perfectionism and perform more.
In Perú, "they would do 3,000-kid youth concerts around Christmas in the big
town square in the major cities," Phillips said. "It's about creating tons of
performance opportunities in the community so that the community knows
who you are, and so the kids get out in the community more. It's less like, 'We
have to be perfect before we can play in public,' and more about embracing the
joy of music."
symphony SPRING 202136
Last summer, most music
festivals were on hiatus
due to the coronavirus
pandemic, but this year
many festivals are gearing
up to return—for a very
different kind of summer
season. As classical
music fans head to
outdoor stages or log in
to soak up the sounds of
orchestral music, what
can they expect to see
and hear?
Festival OverturesFestival Overtures
by Jeff Lunden
The Tyler Gate at the Ravinia Festival, in Highland Park, Illinois, where the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has a summer residency.
In 2021, the CSO will return, performing in a smaller configuration, and the smaller indoor Martin Theatre will be closed.Courtesy Ravinia FestivalThe New York Philharmonic, one of Bravo! Vail’s
four resident orchestras, performs at the festival,
before the pandemic. The festival now presents
outdoor concerts from its Mobile Music Box and
smaller-scale programs at its regular outdoor
venue, the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater, with
COVID protocols in place.Zach Mahone
37americanorchestras.org
F or the past year, the COVID-19
pandemic has wreaked havoc with
live performances throughout the
classical music industry, including summer
music festivals. Most cancelled in-person
concerts in 2020, but against all odds,
some festivals did find innovative ways to
get live music to audiences last summer.
“We’re in the lemonade business now,”
says Caitlin Murray, executive director of
the Bravo! Vail music festival. “We’re going
to just make lemonade wherever we can.”
When it became clear that Bravo! Vail’s
resident orchestras—the Dallas Sympho-
ny Orchestra, New York Philharmonic,
Philadelphia Orchestra, and Academy of
St. Martin in the Fields—couldn’t come
to the Colorado resort last summer, pianist
Anne-Marie McDermott, the festival’s
artistic director, along with some fam-
ily members and friends—including sister
Kerry McDermott (violin), brother-in-law
Paul Neubauer (viola), and the festival’s
founder, Ida Kavafian (violin/viola)—
formed a small pod and gave free 30-min-
ute chamber music concerts around the
Vail Valley from the Music Box, a brand-
new, custom-built trailer/stage. “It’s prob-
ably been the most meaningful experience Courtesy Ravinia FestivalA pre-pandemic photo of an outdoor concert at Wyoming’s Grand Teton Music Festival, with the
spectacular backdrop of the snow-capped Grand Teton mountain range.Ashley WilkersonMarin Alsop, the Ravinia Festival’s chief conductor and curator, conducts the Chicago Symphony in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 (“Symphony of a
Thousand”) in 2019, before the pandemic. Performances will be scaled down in size this summer.Courtesy Ravinia Festival
symphony SPRING 202138
of my career,” says Murray. “We did 41
concerts with it. The smallest was for one
couple and their children in their driveway,
and the largest was probably close to 175,
which was the maximum that we could
have.” They went to donors’ homes, assisted
living facilities, the fire department, and a
local day camp, where they performed for
the children of essential workers. And the
festival presented eight socially distanced
concerts, for free, in their regular outdoor
venue, the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater,
with COVID protocols in place, including
a reduced-capacity audience.
In San Diego, Mainly Mozart came up
with a stereotypically Southern California
solution: drive-in chamber music concerts,
in an overflow dirt parking lot at the Del
Mar Fairgrounds. The festival tested the
concept with two concerts on July 11, each
with 70 cars whose occupants listened
on FM radios, with their windows down.
Those concerts, which featured the Men-
delssohn Octet, were said to be the first
presented by a major arts organization in
the United States, since the COVID pan-
demic began. “It was the most emotional
concert I have ever attended,” says Nancy
Laturno, Mainly Mozart’s chief executive
officer, of the first performance. “There
were a lot of tears on the stage. There
were a lot of tears in the audience.” And,
instead of applause, the audience showed
its appreciation by honking car horns. By
summer’s end, the drive-in concerts were
no longer an experiment—a local caterer
sold charcuterie, vendors hawked T-shirts
showing Mozart in a red convertible, and
there were banners and large LED screens
Programming
free chamber
music concerts
last summer
from the Music
Box, a custom-
built trailer/stage, was “the
most meaningful experience
of my career,” says Bravo!
Vail Executive Director Caitlin
Murray.
Audience members stroll outside the pavilion at the Ravinia Festival. This summer, there will be
seating of pods of two, four, or six people in the pavilion and on the lawn.Courtesy Ravinia FestivalTomas Cohen PhotographyLast summer, the Bravo! Vail music festival presented 30-minute concerts around Vail Valley
from its new Mobile Music Box trailer/stage. The festival plans to continue to give free concerts
throughout the community from the Music Box, even after the pandemic is over.
39americanorchestras.org
onstage. Once festival organizers realized
the concept could work, they opened the
concerts up to 300 cars in the parking lot.
Laturno explains that the experience was
so emotional “because we feel like we’re
doing something undoable, something im-
possible, something that makes us really
proud and reminds us how important art
is to unifying us and healing us.”
While some summer festivals managed
to give in-person concerts in one form or
other last summer, many festivals weren’t
so lucky. “It was absolutely wrenching,”
says Nigel Redden, the Spoleto Festival
USA’s general director, of the summer of
2020. The Charleston, South Carolina
organization cancelled its entire season,
postponing chamber music, theater, and
dance offerings, plus the highly anticipat-
ed world premiere of Omar, a new opera
by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels.
Instead, archived chamber music concerts
were broadcast on South Carolina Public
Radio and made available as podcasts.
Some festivals went all-virtual. Usually,
200 musicians from the United States and
abroad come to Wyoming’s Grand Teton
Music Festival, but not last summer. In-
stead, a handful of performers who live
in adjoining states drove to Jackson Hole
to perform chamber music in the empty
Walk Festival Hall for a digital festival
of seven concerts. The Ravinia Festival, in
suburban Chicago, is normally home to a
summer series of concerts by the Chicago
Symphony Orchestra, as well as pop and
jazz performances. Last summer Ravinia
cancelled the entire 2020 season and cre-
ated Ravinia TV, a series of fourteen mini-
documentaries on YouTube, with different
guests talking and performing.
Meanwhile, in San Diego, “The day
when I realized we were going to lose the
summer was not a good day last year,” re-
calls Martha Gilmer, chief executive of-
ficer of the San Diego Symphony. In July
2020, the orchestra was gearing up to open
The Shell, a new 10,000-seat open-air
venue on the San Diego Bay, with a series
of gala concerts. The eagerly anticipated
opening was postponed until this summer.
In the interim, the San Diego Symphony
has been streaming concerts with its musi-
cians during its regular season.
So, what will summer music festivals
look like in 2021? In a word: different.
Tickets will be on smartphones, program
booklets will be digital. Audiences will be
Concerts at this summer’s Grand Teton Music Festival will look different than one from 2018
in Walk Festival Hall, led by Music Director Donald Runnicles. This summer, indoor concerts
at the 700-seat theater will take place with a top capacity of 200.Robert KuselEmma Kail is
executive director
of the Grand Teton
Music Festival, which
is constructing an
outdoor stage for
two weeks of socially
distanced orchestra
concerts this summer.
Musicians will also
perform indoor
concerts in their 700-seat theater, with a top
capacity of 200.
A Mainly Mozart Festival performance at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, where the Mainly Mozart festival
began performing in July 2020. Audience members listen from their cars on FM radios.J Kat Photography“Our team
here has been
spending a lot
of time looking
at what the
sports leagues,
amusement parks, other
orchestras, and our
counterparts in Europe are
doing,” says Jeffrey Haydon,
president and CEO of the
Ravinia Festival, where the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
is in residence.Gabe Palacio
symphony SPRING 202140
smaller, as will orchestra sizes. Of course,
there will be strict safety protocols for
performers and audiences, with the latter
masked and socially distanced, whether in
seats or lawn areas. And concerts will be
shorter—many presenters are eliminating
intermissions altogether. Because of the
uncertainty of the timing of the vaccine
rollout and the continued spread of the
disease, announcements of programs and
performers were not yet finalized at press
time. With scientists consistently pointing
to the outdoors as one of the safer places
to be during these times, one big advan-
tage of summer festivals is their open-air
aspect. Many in the classical industry are
feeling cautiously hopeful about the return
of in-person music festivals this summer,
in whatever form they are offered.
Parks, Pavilions, and Pods
The Cleveland Orchestra, which has been
giving online concerts from Severance
Hall during the 2020-21 main season,
plans to present ten in-person concerts
at its summer home, the Blossom Music
Center in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, “with
a Classical-size orchestra on stage,” says
President and CEO André Gremillet. On
the advice of the Cleveland Clinic, the or-
chestra will be spread out onstage, requir-
ing a smaller ensemble. “We’re not going
to play Mahler,” says Gremillet. “It’s going
to be mostly Classical and early Romantic
repertoire. You can have some 20th-cen-
tury works, but you’re much more limited.
So it’s going to be a little more main-
stream repertoire than we would normally
have.” The orchestra is projecting a consid-
erably reduced audience capacity—30 per-The Mainly
Mozart festival’s
first drive-in
chamber concert
in a parking lot
at the Del Mar
Fairgrounds last summer
“was the most emotional
concert I have ever attended,”
says Nancy Laturno, Mainly
Mozart’s chief executive
officer.Courtesy Mainly MozartPatrons at one of the Mainly Mozart festival’s Valentine’s Day concerts at Del Mar Fairgrounds
in Del Mar, California. MET Orchestra Concertmaster David Chan served as conductor for the
February 13 and 14 concerts.J Kat PhotographyJ Kat PhotographyMusic Director
Michael Francis
conducts
the Mainly
Mozart Festival
Orchestra,
which since
last summer
has been
performing at
the Del Mar
Fairgrounds.
In San Diego, finishing touches are being put on the San Diego Symphony’s new performance
venue, The Shell, a permanent structure at Embarcadero Marina Park South. The venue offers
panoramic views and state-of-the-art sound and light systems and is now set to open in July
2021.Courtesy San Diego Symphony
41americanorchestras.org
cent inside the pavilion and 20 percent on
the lawn, for a maximum of 4,000 people
per concert—pending approval from state,
county, and local government. “To be hon-
est, I don’t know how the demand is going
to be,” says Gremillet. He thinks the return
of audiences—most of whom come from
northern Ohio—is “going to be gradual,
especially this summer. You know, a lot of
people will not be vaccinated. That’s the
simple math right now.”
“Our team here has been spending a lot
of time looking at what the sports leagues
are doing,” says Jeffrey Haydon, the new
president and CEO of the Ravinia Fes-
tival, “what the amusement parks are do-
ing, what are our counterparts are doing
in Europe and frankly, other orchestras
in the country.” Ravinia leaders are also
consulting with local hospitals and health
departments to make sure there’s a safe
environment for audiences and musicians
this summer. The Chicago Symphony Or-
chestra, which has an annual summer resi-
dency at Ravinia, will perform in a smaller
configuration. As in past years, Ravinia
will also present jazz and rock acts, though
many of the bigger names aren’t touring
until 2022. The smaller indoor Martin
Theatre will be closed, and the festival is
consulting with a civil engineer to work
out plots for seating of pods of two, four,
or six people in the pavilion and on the
lawn. Performances will start later than
usual this summer, beginning in early July
and ending in mid-September. Haydon
says, “First, that gives us a little more time
to plan, selfishly. Secondly, it gives us more
time for the world to kind of figure itself
out with the vaccine.”
After last summer’s season of chamber
music, Bravo! Vail hopes to bring back its
four resident orchestras this year. “That
will look different than it normally would,”
says Bravo! Vail’s Murray. “We’re fully an-
ticipating that the orchestras will need to
be socially distanced on stage.” Perform-
ing with smaller ensemble sizes, she says,
“opens up an entirely new world of reper-
toire for us.” As for audiences, she says the
festival expects to have capacity restric-
tions again this summer, though “that re-
mains a moving target.”
Ravinia, Blossom, and Bravo! Vail have
outdoor performance venues and the in-
frastructure that goes with them, but other
The San Diego Symphony performs at its former outdoor venue at Embarcadero Marina Park
South, which had to be set up and torn down each summer; it will be replaced by the permanent
Shell this year.
Cleveland Orchestra violinist Katherine Bormann, bassist Charles Carleton, and violist Lembi
Veskimets perform at Cleveland’s UH Seidman Cancer Center in 2020, when the Blossom Festival
was cancelled due to the pandemic. This summer, the festival plans to return to the Blossom
Music Center, the orchestra’s summer home, to present ten in-person concerts.Courtesy San Diego SymphonyDenzel Washington“The day when I
realized we were
going to lose
the summer was
not a good day
last year,” says
Martha Gilmer, chief executive
officer of the San Diego
Symphony. The opening of
The Shell, the orchestra’s new
10,000-seat open-air venue on
the San Diego Bay, has been
postponed to this summer.Lauren Radack
symphony SPRING 202142
festivals will need to build new outdoor
stages. For the Grand Teton Music Fes-
tival, that means constructing an outdoor
stage, where the organization will present
two weeks of orchestra concerts for so-
cially distanced audiences; the festival will
also present indoor concerts in its 700-
seat theater, with a top capacity of 200.
The Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston
will construct two outdoor stages, for a
pared-down offering this year. (As with
most festivals, details of Spoleto’s 20201
programming had not been announced
at press time.) One stage will be built
on the banks of the Ashley River, “where
some of the beauty of Charleston will be
on view,” says Spoleto’s Nigel Redden. “I
want the festival this year to be remem-
bered for beautiful moments; that we are
doing things in the face of complex adver-
sity. And, obviously, our audience is going
to be much, much more limited than we’ve
been used to in the past. But I think that if
they come, when they come, those people
who come should have an experience that
they remember.”
Parking Lots, Contactless
Ticketing, Few Intermissions
In San Diego, finishing touches are being
put on the San Diego Symphony’s new
performance venue, The Shell. Surround-
ed by water, the space offers panoramic
views— a marina, the city of San Diego,
the Bay, and the resort city of Coronado—
plus state-of-the-art sound and light sys-
tems and a tiered lawn/concession area.
But when it opens in July, audience capac-
ity will be limited, food concessions will
be closed, tickets will be contactless, and
program booklets will be digital. At the
moment, it looks like most concerts will be
When the 2020 Blossom Festival was
cancelled due to the pandemic, small
ensembles from the Cleveland Orchestra
performed at a variety of locations, such
as this park concert by second-chair
brass players Jack Sutte (trumpet), Jesse
McCormick (horn), and Richard Stout
(trombone). This summer, the orchestra
plans to return to the Blossom Music Center,
its summer home, to present ten in-person
concerts.
A pre-pandemic photo of the Blossom Music Center, the summer home of the Cleveland
Orchestra. The festival plans to return for ten concerts in 2021.Roger MastroianniA Spoleto Festival USA chamber concert at the College of Charleston Cistern Yard, one of several
outdoor spaces where the festival will present concerts this summer, including one being built on
the banks of the Ashley River.Julia Lynn“The biggest
mistake that
anyone can
make is to think
that the world is
going back to the
way it was before,” says André
Gremillet, president and CEO
of the Cleveland Orchestra,
which plans to return to the
Blossom Festival this summer
with health protocols in place.Roger Mastroianni
43americanorchestras.org
presented without an intermission. Fortu-
nately, San Diego’s warmer weather allows
for concerts past the summer. “We are re-
ally gearing up that September, October,
November, even some of our Christmas
holiday programing would still be at the
Shell because, as you know, we do have
nice weather all year long,” says Chief Ex-
ecutive Officer Martha Gilmer.
Mainly Mozart, also in San Diego,
plans to present a series of all-star orches-
tra concerts in June, draw-
ing players from symphony
orchestras all around the
U.S. and abroad, pandemic-
permitting. But the festival
will have to find another
venue—the parking lot at
the Del Mar Fairgrounds is
being converted into a CO-
VID super vaccination site.
And Chief Executive Di-
rector Nancy Laturno hopes
that each concert can be
repeated at an as yet-to-be
announced site in Orange
County.
Logistics, which are al-
ways a concern for summer
festivals, have become ex-
ponentially more complex
during the pandemic. These
days, when musicians ar-
rive in San Diego, “they go
straight to their hotel,” says Laturno. “We
have a nurse and testing station at the ho-
tel. So, they are tested immediately upon
arrival. They are socially distanced onstage,
which means we need a stage about three
times larger than we would need, which is
also a big expense. They all play in masks
and the wind players have extra spacing.”
At Bravo! Vail, Caitlin Murray says “back-
stage is going to look a lot different this
year. There won’t be hospitality buffets, and
musicians are going to probably be asked
to come to the concerts dressed.” Ravinia’s
Haydon says, “Basically it’s essential per-
sonnel only backstage. It may be that the
orchestra members come dressed, ready to
play, and they have a tent outside and just
sort of pass through—an ‘in’ door and ‘out’
door for the stage. So, you don’t get that
natural bunching that takes place back-
stage with the stagehands and the orches-
tra musicians.”
What’s it like being an arts administra-
tor in the middle of a global pandemic?
André Gremillet, of the Cleveland Or-
chestra, is blunt. “Listen. I mean, it’s been
hell. But I choose to focus on the op-
portunities.” In addition to keeping his
103-year-old orchestra afloat, he’s think-
ing about what lessons the music industry
has learned during the pandemic that can
be applied after it’s over. “For example, are
we going to have more concerts without
intermission? You know, that might be a
good thing. Are we going to have a digital
world that’s going to be very different? It
was part of our vision before the pandem-
ic, which is why we were relatively quick
in getting this set up. We just accelerated
the implementation. The biggest mistake
that anyone can make in my role is to just
think that the world is going to be back
to the way it was before. And to plan for
that—I think that would be a big mistake
and a lost opportunity.”
Bravo! Vail’s Caitlin Murray says even
when the pandemic’s over, the festival’s
mobile Music Box will continue to give
free concerts throughout the community.
“It’s been one of the one of the most in-
credible experiences of my life to get to
do this—living through this horrible,
challenging, difficult time. And getting
to do work that gives people 30 minutes
to block it all out and find joy. I’ve never
believed in what we do more.” But, in the
meantime, she adds: “I truly believe it’s
our responsibility to keep music playing
right now, as long as we can do so safely
and responsibly. That’s the key if you have
to find that balance. And I think we are
fighting that path forward through this.
And it’s completely inspiring and incred-
ible to be a part of.”
JEFF LUNDEN is a freelance arts reporter
whose work is frequently heard on NPR and
other public radio outlets.
The string quartet Brooklyn Rider records a concert at the Linde Center for Music and Learning
at Tanglewood in July 2020, when the Tanglewood Festival was closed to the public due to the
pandemic. The Boston Symphony Orchestra anticipates a return this year to the Tanglewood
Festival, its summer home.Hilary ScottViolinist Amy Sims and pianist Christi Zuniga perform in a
Peninsula Music Festival chamber music concert in February
2021 at Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor, Wisconsin. The Peninsula
Music Festival's annual summer concerts were cancelled last
summer but are expected to return this summer.PMF Facebook page