National Symphony Orchestra Lowers Orchestral Level Ticket Prices In Attempt To Reach Audiences And Avoid Waste Of Scarce National Cultural Resources

National Symphony Orchestra, Washington, D.C.

Nov 20 - 22, 2008

DVORÁK - Carnival Overture, Op. 92

MOZART - Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466

SCHMIDT - Symphony No. 4 in C major

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The National Symphony, starting this morning, is offering the huge inventory of remaining, unsold orchestra level seats to the above - generally excellent - program for $20.08 (for Thursday and Friday only); and this appears to have led to increased sales of the normally $78 premium orchestra seats. At noon Thursday, 44% of the premium tickets to Friday’s 8 PM concert remained unsold, but only 11% of the premium tickets to Thursday's 7 PM concert remained unsold. [The required promotion code is 35282.]

Despite the outstanding guest conductor and pianist, Yakov Kreizberg and Lars Vogt (left and right, above, respectively), I wonder whether many more seats might sell at the discounted prices if the concert had opened with, say, CRUMB’s A Haunted Landscape, DUSAPIN’s Apex, ADÈS’s - Overture, Waltz, and Finale from Powder Her Face, KELLOGG’s - New Commissioned Work to be announced, THOMAS’s - Helios Choros I, or ANDERSON’s - Imagin'd Corners – all very exciting contemporary classical works slated by the NSO for later in the winter and spring (as the U.S. and world economy hopefully begins to come out of its deep recession).

Photo credits: (c) Copyright controlled via the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Website. All rights reserved.

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Program Notes by Peter Laki to the above NSO concert.