What a difference a year makes

This morning was one of those rare occasions when I was grateful for the clocks going back. Normally this signals the start of at least a week's lugubriously mood as I come to terms with the prospect of four months of long nights. However, as I had to get up at 6.45pm on a Sunday to go down to the Royal Concert Hall to let in the piano technician in advance of the first Sunday Morning Piano Series of 2011-2012, I was relieved to get an extra hour in bed.

And it turned out to be one of those days where I felt really pleased by the outcome. We launched the Piano Series as a pilot, hoping we'd get big enough audiences for the series to break even, but by the end of last season it was clear that we'd done substantially better and would be able to continue the series if we could maintain the box office performance.

So this season I've been scanning the sales figures and hoping that the marketing has done its job and that the momentum from last season has carried through into this one. You can never tell with something like the Sunday Piano Series because quite a large percentage of the sales are taken on the door, rather than through advance sales. Now this morning, as I was 'walking the floors' it felt really busy and it looked like the walk up had been big. When I checked the sales report afterwards I discovered that we'd sold 120 tickets on the door alone, with a total audience of 438.

This is a really significant figure. Not only is it our largest paying audience so far in the series - getting on for nearly 50 more than in the previous season, but an audience that size means that the concerts, far from costing us anything, actually contribute positively to the overall Nottingham Classics income. And at a time when Nottingham Classics no longer receives any direct subsidy, finding alternative income streams is hugely important.

So, that's a really good piece of news at the start of this season. And the signs from the orchestral series are also very encouraging. This time last year I was actually feeling quite deflated by the slow start we'd made, and it took until January for things to turn around. From discussions I've had with other arts marketers it seems this wasn't confined to us. This season, however, we've had two really good houses and we are firmly in the black...

...so far. I'm not going to tempt fate by making any predictions but the next two concerts - 9 and 24 November - are performing well, even though in some respects they represent something of a risk. For Nottingham Classics, being able to take some risks with repertoire is vital if we're going to keep the season fresh and to offer the opportunity for discovery, particularly amongst the regular subscribers upon whose loyalty the season depends. For a venue like the Royal Concert Hall, without its own professional symphony orchestra, a piece like Shostakovich's Leningrad Symphony on 9 November is a difficult one to call. Yes, it has a great story behind it and, yes, it is an epic piece that will sound fantastic in the RCH's famous acoustic, but that's no guarantee of success. Similarly, the Halle concert on 24 November is something of a wildcard because although three of the pieces are familiar, the central piece - Joseph Jongen's Symphonie Concertante for Organ and Orchestra - is almost unknown and lack of familiarity can prove an insurmountable obstacle when trying to persuade a potential audience to buy tickets.

As it's turning out, though, it looks like many of the Nottingham Classics audience are going to give Jongen's piece a go, which I'm delighted by because it's a truly amazing piece. It was a highly unusual commission, written especially for the Wanamaker Organ in the Philadelphia Department Store of the same name. These days it's barely conceivable to think that anyone would want to build the largest pipe organ in the world in a department store, but that's exactly what the Wanamaker family did. And it's still the biggest in the world, and a mighty impressive instrument, too. My wife, Deb, has just been to a conference in Philadelphia and she made special trip to Macy's (as it now is) to hear the organ being played. And here's the proof:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MixP8cCi9Q&feature=youtube_gdata_player

We don't, of course, have a pipe organ like that in the RCH; indeed, there aren't any pipes at all, but I'm confident that Jonathan Scott can work similar magic on our electronic organ as he did with the Saint-Saens in June last year. It's one of his favourite pieces but he doesn't get that many chances to perform it because, almost inexplicably to me, Jongen's piece rarely gets programmed. But if you've never heard it then you're in for a treat. It's one of those pieces I listen to very often because its blend of rich Romanticism, exotic impressionism and sheer, virtuosic brilliance never fails to generate a tingle.

Anyway, if we do as well at the box office as I think we might, then we will have enjoyed a significantly stronger start in 2011-2012 and, knowing how valuable good news is in times like these, that's something worth getting up for at 6.45/7.45am on a dreary Sunday morning.

Bye for now,

Neil