Classical performances benefit from flexible schedules
Hong Kong has been slow to change concert times to suit audience needs, writes Sam Olluver
The stuffy image of classical music concerts - "sit up, shut up and put up with what we think is good for you" - is becoming a thing of the past. Although Hong Kong may be lagging behind in thinking innovatively to service audience needs, recent developments in concert arrangements reveal, at least, an awakening to new possibilities.
One of the most recent examples was the Hong Kong Philharmonic's Swire Denim Series in April and May. Held on Fridays and Saturdays at 9pm at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, and lasting about 75 minutes, this series replaced the usual format of longer concerts starting at 8pm that feature an interval.
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Attendance was healthy, although the programme content was motley, comprising a baroque-to-Beatles bran tub, a performance of Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony at the behest of the audience who voted for it on Facebook, and sell-out jazz programmes featuring James Morrison.
"It is actually a bit crazy to schedule a concert starting at 8pm, the same time that most people would sit down to dinner," says Michael MacLeod, the Hong Kong Philharmonic's chief executive.
He has experience of the issue dating back to his time running the City of London Festival. Once, he filled a rush hour series by programming a different Beethoven string quartet at 6.15pm on each of the festival's 16 weekdays.
"People could miss the rush hour, go to a church or a hall to listen to a Beethoven string quartet and then go home feeling elated," he says.