{"id":243,"date":"2007-03-14T14:30:26","date_gmt":"2007-03-14T22:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/03\/14\/not-just-butts-in-seats\/"},"modified":"2013-02-07T18:03:30","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T02:03:30","slug":"not-just-butts-in-seats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/03\/14\/not-just-butts-in-seats\/","title":{"rendered":"not just butts in seats"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Utah Symphony is trying a new tactic to eliminate huge swaths of empty seats in their hall: they’re blacking out seats in the back and upper tiers to pack concertgoers closer together to give the impression of a larger audience.\u00c2\u00a0 Read the complete story from the Salt Lake Tribune here<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 Here’s the opening:<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span>A recent letter to Utah Symphony season subscribers announcing “new and improved” seating options didn’t mention one fact: Some popular seats are being blacked out.
\n“I think it’s an extremely stupid decision. They’re antagonizing the very people that they want,” said Lynne Finney or Park City, a symphony regular for 10 years who prefers seats on Abravanel Hall’s fourth-floor third tier.
\nBut those seats and others in the downtown Salt Lake City hall – 1,100 in all, or 40 percent of the hall’s 2,800-seat capacity – are not being offered because orchestra officials say unfilled seats aren’t good for business. The idea, says Utah Symphony & Opera marketing director Sean Toomey, is to concentrate patrons at concerts so empty seats are less visible. A partially filled hall, Toomey says, contributes to a “psychological phenomenon” that the organization is faltering.
\n“All of the reviewers seem to care, all of the donors seem to care and all of the patrons seem to care,” he said.
\n“On the day folllowing the [‘Elijah’] concert, there was a headline in The Salt Lake Tribune<\/em>, ‘Sparse crowd for grand Elijah,’ which is fair . . . but you know how people are,” Toomey says. “They want to go to something that is successful. Someone reading that on a Saturday is saying ‘Well, that’s not where I want to be.’ “<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is something that I’ve thought about for Portland from time to time. I haven’t spent much time as an audience member, but I think I’d feel a bit strange if I were up in the back of the balcony (which is very large here in Portland) and had rows and rows of empty seats between me and the next audience member.\u00c2\u00a0 I can relate to how it feels to see the new hot summer blockbuster in a packed theater: the audience really becomes part of the viewing experience, rather than if you wait until a week or so and go during the day when you’ve go the theater to yourself.<\/p>\n

What do you think? Is this a practice that you’d like to see here? How do you feel when you go to a performance with lots of empty seats? The critics don’t seem to make an issue of attendance unless it’s a packed house (yet), but would it dissuade you from coming if you knew the concert didn’t sell well?<\/p>\n

Let me know what you think – you can now use the contact tab<\/a> at the top of the page to send me an email.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Utah Symphony is trying a new tactic to eliminate huge swaths of empty seats in their hall: they’re blacking out seats in the back and upper tiers to pack concertgoers closer together to give the impression of a larger audience.\u00c2\u00a0 Read the complete story from the Salt Lake Tribune here.\u00c2\u00a0 Here’s the opening: \u00c2\u00a0A […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[117,55,3662,62,3656,3660],"class_list":["post-243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-critic","tag-orchestra","tag-portland","tag-symphony","tag-the-orchestra-world","tag-viola"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-3V","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":258,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/04\/02\/abravanel-seats-iraq-invasion\/","url_meta":{"origin":243,"position":0},"title":"Abravanel seats = Iraq Invasion?","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 2, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The uproar over the changes in seating at the Utah Symphony's Abravanel Hall continues, with some irate patrons going to the media and describing the arbitrary repricing and roping off of seating sections as the equivalent of the US invasion of Iraq. The orchestra decided that their attempt to close\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":728,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/02\/01\/cheap-seats-the-oso\/","url_meta":{"origin":243,"position":1},"title":"cheap seats @ the oso","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 1, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Thanks for generous support from Symphony sponsor Wells Fargo, now through February 8th, the Oregon Symphony will be offering all seats for the remainder of the season at either $20 or $50 each (except for the Eartha Kitt concert). There's lots of great stuff to grab tickets for, here are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "music"","block_context":{"text":"music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6888,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/09\/13\/dawn-upshaw-cancels-concert-revamped\/","url_meta":{"origin":243,"position":2},"title":"dawn upshaw cancels – concert revamped","author":"Charles Noble","date":"September 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Acclaimed soprano and breast cancer survivor Dawn Upshaw has cancelled her upcoming appearances with both the Oregon Symphony and the Eugene Symphony later this month. While no reason was given for the cancellation, given that Ms. Upshaw is a high-profile breast cancer survivor, one must wonder if her health plays\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "soloists & recitals"","block_context":{"text":"soloists & recitals","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/soloists-recitals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Dawn_Upshaw-250x257.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":729,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/02\/01\/acoustic-phenomenon\/","url_meta":{"origin":243,"position":3},"title":"acoustic phenomenon","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 1, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Photo credit: Charles Noble It's amazing, how different things can sound just by moving a few feet in any direction. I was up in the balcony this morning as the Adams Chamber Symphony was being rehearsed. I started in the Dress Circle. Ok sound, nothing super, couldn't hear the keyboard,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "music"","block_context":{"text":"music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"arlene schnitzer concert hall","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/5397030_e656dc7e35_m.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2938,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/08\/04\/video-screens-symphony-concerts-good-or-bad\/","url_meta":{"origin":243,"position":4},"title":"video screens @ symphony concerts – good or bad?","author":"Charles Noble","date":"August 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I came across an article from today's Chicago Sun-Times which asserts the success of the jumbotron-style video screens at the Ravinia Festival, summer home of the Chicago Symphony.\u00a0 As usual, this has engendered the tired arguments between the crusty old salts and the fresh-faced ingenues as to what a travesty\/triumph\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":282,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/04\/19\/oso-ticket-sale-act-now\/","url_meta":{"origin":243,"position":5},"title":"OSO ticket sale – act now!","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 19, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I was just alerted to this new offer from the Oregon Symphony's marketing department - I think it's a great way to get more butts in seats: If you join the OSO's Symphony in E-mail program, you can get specially priced tickets beginning Thursday, April 19th (one day before the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}