My first ever piano concert

[knutmarius]

Hi guys. I know this may be a bit on the side, but since I don't have any friends that are into piano music (or classical music in general) I figured I could discuss this with some of you.

Yesterday me and my girlfriend decided to attend a concert in Bergen, Norway, where we live: Leif Ove Andsnes and Mahler Chamber Orchestra performing Beethoven's 5th piano concert (Emperor) and Beethovens Choral Fantasy (with a Norwegian choir). The orchestra also performed a piece by Stravinsky called Dumbarton Oaks.

We are 28 years old. This was our first ever classical concert (!), and....

We were totally blown away!

Both of us had goose bumps for the rest of the night. So incredibly talented musicians and such brilliant works of music! We were seated on row number 2 in a venue (The Grieg Hall) that takes about 1500 people. By being this close we really got to feel all the non-verbal communication between the performers. From before, we have mostly attended rock concerts, so experiencing a concert totally stripped of speakers was really refreshing. I knew that Leif Ove was a world class pianist, but experiencing it like this was something completely different!

One thing, though: I noticed that among all the people there we were some of the very few that was not having gray hair and hearing aids (a bit exaggerated, but not a lot). And they even had special priced tickets for people under 30, which meant we paid less than 1/3 of the full price. I paid the price of 2 pints of beer in a Norwegian pub, so I pretty much felt like I robbed someone! The generation gap in the audicence concerned me a bit. What will happen in 10-20 years when half of yesterdays audience are gone? Will my generation mature to the classical music and fill their seats, or will there be so few in the audicene that it will no longer be economically possible to arrange concerts like this?

I would like to hear your opinions about this. I am curious if this is the same all over the world, or if this is a phenomenon for Bergen or Norway.

I would also like to get your opinions if you would consider this a real problem, or if this is just normal, and that my generation will most likely get their eyes opened to classical music as they get older.

Lastly: If you are interested, you should check out Leif Ove Andsnes' recordings of Beethovens piano concerts no. 1-4 on Spotify. I think they are quite amazing, and I am looking forward to no 5 being released.

[toughbo]

How very interesting: I'm also 28, attended my first ever classical concert this year with my girlfriend, also the emperor with Leif Ove (although with The Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and not Mahler C.O.) :-)

At the time I didn't notice the age gaps, but I later attended Brahm's 1st and 2nd piano concerto in Trondheim and in the row where I was seated I was jammed in between elder couples, none of whom looked a day under 65. Same thing in the lounge area during the intermissions, not a single person close to my age, making me feel a bit out of place.

I certainly view it as a problem as there are very few strictly classical piano happenings around, no recitals or big names (or small names for that matter) coming to town.
For instance, there was a master class on some Chopin mazurkas, polonaises and ballade no. 1 the other day, the audience were invited to come and go as they pleased and it was completely free, yet but for the participants' friends and family I think I was the only one there. I don't see initiatives like that happening very often with that kind of attendance.

Its hard to see this trend ending anytime soon and it's frustrating; like you I don't have any friends who are into piano music (luckily some like and/or play classical on other instruments) so there are few events to attend, and there are few to attend the events with :-/

[knutmarius]

So I am not alone then! Good to hear that there are others with the same view on this, but still a bit concerning that this seems to be a trend. I also agree that it seems difficult to find piano events in Norway (at least outside of Oslo), but I may not have been keeping a sufficiently good look out for it either.

Not sure what one can do, except attending these events and spreading the word. At least I am sure that I will continue to attend classical concerts after this experience.

By the way: NRK (The Norwegian public broadcaster) filmed the concert, so it may very well be aired sometime. I can highly recommend keeping a look out for it!

If I manage to get a baby sitter I will probably attend my next Andsnes concert already in less than a week from now. He is having another concert as part of "Festspillene i Bergen": https://www.fib.no/en/Programme/?TLp=842006

[toughbo]

Sweet, hope you get a babysitter then :-)

It would be awesome if they were to air the concert on tv, I was so in awe when I attended that I missed out on a lot of the details.

There also seems to be a documentary in the making covering Andsnes complete Beethoven journey: https://www.seventh-art.com/broadcast/ and https://www.seventh-art.com/concerto-selected-for-meetmarket-2013/ 

[knutmarius]

I got a baby sitter, so now I have bought tickets for the next Andsnes concert as well Looking forward to it! 150 NOK for the tickets is such a steal!