When the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra launches into Bartok’s “Dance Suite” at Mechanics Hall on Oct. 17, the 149th Worcester Music Festival will be under way.
For Stasia B. Hovenesian, executive director of Music Worcester Inc., which oversees the festival, it will be her 36th season in charge.
Rest assured, she’s already been thinking about the 150th (her 37th).
One of the highlights of this season will be when the Russian National Ballet Theatre of Moscow stages Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” at the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts on March 18. The performance will be the first time Music Worcester has presented ballet in many years, and will also be the first time the festival has used the Hanover Theatre.
“The Hanover Theatre will continue to be in our future program planning. As a matter of fact, I have two performances of ‘Porgy & Bess’ scheduled there for our 150th anniversary season in 2009-10, as well as another ballet performance,” Hovenesian said.
The longevity of both institutions (as she herself has noted, Hovenesian is the longest serving figure in Worcester’s music history) can be explained to a good degree by a willingness to look ahead and to embrace programming that reflects changing times. By the same token, the festival has stayed true to the musical pillars of big orchestras and chamber ensembles.
Besides the Worcester Music Festival, Music Worcester also oversees the International Artists Series and the Mass Jazz Festival.
Many comparable organizations across the country have been struggling. For Music Worcester, 2007-08 season attendance was slightly higher than the preceding year, Hovenesian said. This was “due in great part to the capacity crowd that filled Mechanics Hall for the Scots pageantry of the Pipes, Drums, Dancers and Band of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. Also for the Stepcrew that brought step dancing and fiddling to a new high.
“These types of performances attract a new audience and it is important that we broaden the mix each season without reducing the number of symphony orchestras, chamber music or choral masterworks, which are the traditional backbone of our programming. It is important to the future of Music Worcester that we are aware of and sensitive to the tastes of changing audiences without compromising its commitment to the presentation of classical music with its lineup of artists and orchestras that reaches around the world.”
Other highlights of the 2008-09 season are highly acclaimed international orchestras such as the Czech Symphony Orchestra and the National Philharmonic of Russia; renowned chamber groups (L’Orchestra de Chambre Francais; Concertante); diverse world music and entertainment (Compania Flamenco Jose Porcel; National Acrobats of China); the longstanding choral tradition of the Worcester Chorus, and jazz.
What are the early indicators for how the season will go?
“We are encouraged, one, by the increased number of new series subscription we have received to date, particularly from Metrowest, and two, by the brisk single ticket sales, especially for ‘Swan Lake,’ ” Hovenesian said.
“Although we would like to be cautiously optimistic that this trend will continue, we realize in these uncertain economic times it would be difficult to predict how it will affect us once the concert season begins, a sentiment that is shared by several colleagues from the New England area with whom I have spoken. We all feel a continuing troubled economy will have a seriously negative impact on arts organizations, particularly in fundraising. Although we had a slight decline in membership contributions last season, our concert sponsorships were not affected and continue not to be this season as well.”
Are there easy sells? Hard sells? Is chamber music a hard sell?
“The easy sells are presentations such as the Scots pageantry, step dancing/fiddling, Chinese acrobats, ethnic dance — all of which, as mentioned before, bring in a new audience, and we also have our loyal audience for the large orchestras and soloists,” Hovenesian said.
“As for hard sells, I really can’t say that we usually have any. At one time it was chamber music in a large venue, but when we switched to the perfect venue for the intimacy of chamber music performances (Tuckerman Hall), we developed and have maintained a loyal audience which attends all the concerts — definitely an easy sell because we provide an opportunity for them to hear instrumental virtuosity from around the world,” she said.
“This season we decided to broaden the mix again by presenting dynamic flamenco from Spain, amazing acrobats from China, more fiddling and step dancing, jazz legends and an extraordinary ‘Swan Lake’ by the Russian National Ballet that has already created quite a buzz. When you add all that to outstanding performances of the magnificent works of Beethoven, Brahms, Dvorak and Tchaikovsky by orchestras and chamber ensembles of world renown, and the Worcester Chorus performance of Bach’s ‘St. Matthew Passion,’ an epic masterwork which promises to be a major highlight of the concert season, it will by any definition be a memorable year of music.”
As for bringing in new audience members, “We are making a strategic outreach to increase our audience by concentrating on young professionals, college faculty and students, as well as expanding our geographical coverage and identifying how demographics in our market area are changing and the implication this has for us,” Hovenesian said.
“What makes our programming strategy exciting are the three exquisitely restored historical venues — Mechanics Hall, Tuckerman Hall, the Hanover Theatre — each of which enhances the city’s cultural life by providing a rich resource for the performing arts in general and for Music Worcester in particular.”
• Performances begin at 8 p.m. in Mechanics Hall, unless another location is indicated. For more information, call (508) 754-3231 or visit
www.musicworcester.org.
The schedule is as follows:
Oct. 17: Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, with guest pianist 12-year-old prodigy George Li.
Oct. 25: The Arcadia Players at Tuckerman Hall. Playing on period instruments, the ensemble will present an all-Beethoven program.
Oct. 28: Compania Flamenco Jose Porcel. Porcel leads his Spanish flamenco troupe.
Nov. 7: Hungarian Virtuosi Orchestra at Tuckerman Hall.
Dec. 6: Handel’s “Messiah.” The Worcester Chorus continues a 109-year tradition.
Jan. 17: L’Orchestra de Chambre Francais at Tuckerman Hall.
Jan. 24: Concertante at Tuckerman Hall.
Feb. 5: Czech Symphony Orchestra with violinist Jennifer Frautschi.
Feb. 18: Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra with pianist Peter Tuite.
Feb. 27: Irving Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra.
March 4: National Acrobats of China.
March 7: The Worcester Chorus performs Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion.”
March 16: Natalie MacMaster and Band. The Celtic musician leads by example for an evening of fiddling and step dancing.
March 18: “Swan Lake” at Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts.
April 1: Blue Note Records 70th Anniversary — On Tour. Among the jazz musicians celebrating the record label’s 70th anniversary are Bill Charlap, Ravi Coltrane and Pat Martino.
April 21: National Philharmonic of Russia. Dazzling pianist Des Matsuev returns in a concert that includes Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1.
May 2: Worcester Chorus at United Congregational Church. The program includes the Massachusetts premiere of Dominick Argento’s “Jonah and the Whale.”
