I hope no one associated with last night's "Fallen Heroes" concert at the Mann is feeling deflated this morning. While it's true that the event drew only 1,200 to hear the Philadelphia Orchestra - a number that looks mighty small at the Mann - in many ways the effort was a good model for the future.
It raised $160,000 (plus whatever donations were collected at the concert itself) for the survivors fund of the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police. It gathered another $250,000 in in-kind donations.
It ran entirely on volunteer steam - from the ushers, to musicians, to host Tony Danza, everyone pitched in.
Where did it go wrong? Why did only 1,200 listeners show up on a clear, cool night for a free concert?
My best guess is that the weak link was the repertoire. Excerpts from Rocky and Superman, patriotic tunes and a Candide Overture weren't meaty enough to bring in the 3,000 or 4,000 pure orchestra fans who would have jumped at the chance to hear the orchestra for free in, say, a Beethoven "Eroica."
And the lure of an orchestra, no matter what it was playing, might not have been enough all by itself to draw a core group of police supporters. Many policemen and others there last night told me they had never been to the orchestra, the Mann, or both.
Don't fool yourself by thinking that now that they've been in the door once they'll come back for more. It generally doesn't work that way. The trick with these community concerts is for the orchestra to build on the large base of listeners who love the orchestra already and would come to hear it in classical repertoire or venues not being otherwise offered.
Still, it was impressive to see the orchestra, the Mann, the City and lots of other groups working in tandem to create something new. Worthy event, nice vibe.
I didn't hear about it until the end of last week via e-mail. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon and first home Eagles football game was just wrapping up, which would put huge dent in any event's attendence. The core audience would've surely filled the interior of the Mann with timing/program/advance advertising adjustments; but, it's good for the orchestra to also draw in folks who have never been to a PO concert at the Mann. Nice evening and PO perforamnce for a very worthy cause.— albrock- I didn't hear about it until the end of last week via e-mail. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon and first home Eagles football game was just wrapping up, which would put huge dent in any event's attendence. The core audience would've surely filled the interior of the Mann with timing/program/advance advertising adjustments; but, it's good for the orchestra to also draw in folks who have never been to a PO concert at the Mann. Nice evening and PO perforamnce for a very worthy cause.— albrock
- I think they would have attracted more people if held in center city (Kimmel? Academy?).— phillyccgwm
- I would have loved to attend, but never heard a thing about it. Really poor marketing of a special event, and a wasted opportunity.— cmk1019
- The repertoire is a classic Philadelphia Orchestra problem: when you program a concert for the people least interested in attending a classical concert, you end up alienating the people most interested in attending a classical concert. The Orchestra needs to accept that there are simply many people who have no interest in hearing them, no matter how much pops and movie music you program.— Thornhill
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