A symphony of fresh ideas
Toronto’s classical music institutions must stay relevant. That means getting creative
When Peter Simon took charge of the Royal Conservatory of Music in 1991 as its president, Toronto’s classical music sector was far different than it is today.
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s home of Roy Thomson Hall was less than a decade old. Koerner Hall, meanwhile, was still years from becoming a reality. Even the conservatory, now one of the most important institutions on the continent for music education, was reestablishing itself as a fully independent entity after separating from the University of Toronto.
In many ways, the music industry of three decades ago was in a state of flux. The same could be said about where it stands today.
Key organizations in the sector are striking out on new paths in a bid to energize audiences and solidify their cultural relevancy. Arts leaders who’ve shepherded their organizations into the 21st century, like Simon, are now ceding control to fresh faces. And young upstarts are shaking up the scene by challenging and redefining preconceived notions of what classical music is and how it can be presented.
Simon himself is set to retire from the Royal Conservatory at the end of August after a tenure spanning 33 years, during which time he helped conceive and open Koerner Hall in 2009, and established the Glenn Gould School for professional music training.
But looking ahead, he believes there’s still much room for growth for the organization.
“The potential of this institution is extraordinary because we’ve created so many programs that have global applications,” he said, speaking to the Star in his office overlooking Bloor Street. “Our objective is to make music in everybody’s life, a society where every person feels empowered to make music and to participate in music.”
Simon will be succeeded by Alexander Brose, the former executive director and CEO of the Tianjin Juilliard School, who began his one-year transition at the conservatory late last summer as president and CEO designate.
He steps into the organization as the music school is looking to expand after a period of instability due to COVID-19. Despite audience attendance down 10 to 15 per cent in the months following the pandemic shutdown, ticket sales for the conservatory’’s concert programming have returned to pre-pandemic levels.
As well, one of Brose’s first major projects will be rolling out the conservatory’s Smart Start program across North America. The early childhood music education program, developed at the conservatory and geared toward infants and young children, looks at the connections between music learning and cognitive development. It’s been running in Toronto for nearly a decade, but the hope now, said Brose, “is to bring this to the greater population outside of the walls of Bloor West.”
Brose, a trained vocalist, added that a key part of his new role is to ensure that the Royal Conservatory’s programming, both in terms of education and performance, remains relevant to the community. And that means reflecting the diversity of the city and the country.
“I take the TTC to work every day and that’s just incredible how diverse the city is. And I think we, especially Mervon Mehta (executive director of the performing arts at the conservatory), are trying to reflect that,” said Brose.
It’s not merely the conservatory that’s in the midst of a renewal. At the TSO, CEO Mark Williams acknowledged that the orchestra has yet to find its footing since the pandemic shutdown as it heads into its 102nd season.
“One of the things that excites me about living and working here is that I think both this city and this orchestra have not yet become what they’re going to be, that they’re still very much in transition,” he said.
The TSO, in some ways, is starting with a blank slate, having recently erased an accumulated deficit that it carried for more than four decades. In its 2022-23 season, the organization recorded a 3.5 per cent increase in total ticket sales compared to the 2018-19 season.
But Williams said that, despite the TSO no longer holding onto a deficit, the organization isn’t out of the woods yet. “It’s incredibly fragile,” he noted, reflecting on the current state of the classical music sector.
Across North America, many orchestras and classical music institutions have struggled to recover from the pandemic and falling attendance. Perhaps the most glaring example is the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, which filed for bankruptcy last year and abruptly cancelled its upcoming season, sending shock waves across the sector.
Still, Williams, who joined the TSO in 2022, maintains he’s not a “classical music fatalist” even amid the headwinds: “This music has survived for hundreds and hundreds of years, through wars and way more social upheaval than we’ve seen. There’s something eternal about this music.”
However, he stressed that for the TSO to be successful, it must be willing to adapt and especially focus on attracting younger audiences.
“Any classical music organization which is not thinking about how it’s engaging with younger audiences and building the audience for the future really does not have its eye on the ball,” he said. “The TSO needs to go in a direction of, frankly, being ever more focused on serving the community.”
There’s certainly an appetite for classical music among young audiences. Research by the U.K.’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, which surveyed some 2,000 British adults in 2022, found that classical music is experiencing a widespread surge in popularity, especially among those under 35, who were more likely to report listening to orchestral music on a regular basis compared to those over 55.
While no comparable study has been conducted recently in Canada, the trend is certainly evident.
Emerging entertainment companies such as Fever have shaken up the sector, producing classical music events targeted to young audiences.
Their candlelight concert series, which features small ensembles or soloists performing in intimate venues basking in the glow of candlelight, premiered in Madrid in 2019 before debuting in Canada three years later. It’s now running in more than 100 cities worldwide.
Combining the auditory with the visual, the offering may not be entirely novel, but it’s vastly different from much of the traditional classical music fare on offer. It’s also willing to break norms: concerts are only around 60 minutes, programs include a mix of classics and adaptations of pop hits, like those by Taylor Swift and Coldplay, and attendees are encouraged to film or photograph the final piece of the concert.
“The main objective is to democratize access to classical music and bring it closer to new audiences,” said Amanda Boucault, a spokesperson for Fever.
But do Toronto’s established institutions feel threatened by upstarts like Fever, which promise to continue shaking up the classical music landscape?
Neither Williams nor Brose are concerned. In fact, they believe the emergence of new companies, challenging established norms, could benefit the art form, creating a pipeline that brings in new audiences who might not otherwise attend an orchestral concert.
Ultimately, for an organization like the TSO, which is more than a century old, it’s important they don’t “hold on too tightly” to tradition, said Williams.
Despite working with an art form that has existed for centuries, he said, “what we think of as classical music is always shifting.”