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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 21, 2021)
B5 THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, AUGUST 21, 2021 Classical music adapts amid pandemic By JERAD WALKER Oregon Public Broadcasting Members of the Record- ing Academy nominated the Oregon Symphony for mul- tiple Grammy Awards late last year. For outgoing music director Carlos Kalmar, it was a fi tting swansong, and it was yet another feather in the cap of the ensemble, which is Ore- gon’s largest arts organization and one of the oldest classi- cal music organizations in the country. An event like that would normally be cause for cele- bration, but, at the time, the orchestra was concerned with a much more pressing issue: survival. “Each year about half of our revenue comes through ticket sales and the other half through annual donations,” Oregon Symphony CEO Scott Showalter said. With the orchestra on a pan- demic-enforced performance hiatus for the past 18 months, Showalter estimates that his organization has lost $15 mil- lion in expected earned reve- nue. The eff ects of that short- fall have trickled down to staff and the orchestra’s roughly 80 full-time musicians. “You know that old adage —’the show must go on’ — which is how we’re all trained and brought up to be? It was just not possible,” says tim- pani player and percussionist Sergio Carreno. While emergency govern- ment funding helped consid- erably during the pandemic, individual musicians like Car- reno faced tremendous eco- nomic pressure. During the past year and a half, they’ve weathered layoff s, furloughs and wage cuts. But Carreno believes the measures were necessary. “That’s the only way to sur- vive,” he said. “We had to take a hit on all levels. If we wanted the institution to continue.” Violinist Shanshan Zeng is a native of Chengdu, China, but she’s called the United States home for over a decade. “My great-grandma is a violin professor at our local conservatory. So I started learning with her until the year I left for high school here in the United States,” the Port- land-based musician recalls. International artists, who make up a signifi cant part of the classical music talent pool in Oregon, have had their own unique stress points. In the wake of the COVID-19 out- break, Zeng noticed a rise in anti-Asian hate across the country. The disturbing news reports deeply concerned her family in China and put Zeng and her husband on edge. “I see so many people’s stories and I think — I think some emotions just got inten- sifi ed during this year,” she said. Foreign-born musicians working in the United States have also faced travel restric- tions and concerns regard- ing their immigration status. Because of that, Zeng, who is not a U.S. citizen, elected to avoid travel abroad during the past two years. “My (immigration) law- yers suggested I don’t risk not being able to come back,” she said. “I think the immigration offi cers were also like ‘Maybe you don’t get paid enough. You don’t have enough work. Then why are you staying here?’” When musicians like Zeng can’t travel freely, it causes other problems in the classical music ecosystem. Chamber music organizations rely heav- ily on small groups of these touring artists to fi ll out their live programs. “We’re dealing with a much higher level of risk,” says Peter Bilotta, executive direc- tor of Chamber Music North- west. “In planning to bring national and international art- ists to Portland, we’re stepping out on a high wire right now and hoping that we’ll actually be able to bring them here in September and that they’ll be able to do concerts.” With uncertainty about upcoming venue capacity restrictions, Bilotta said there is also industrywide pres- sure to innovate using tech- nology. That means providing high-quality digital content. Chamber Music Northwest streamed its 2021 summer concert series online and those who bought tickets can watch the archived shows on-de- mand anytime. But that solution has a drawback. “You have to invest in recording, producing, com- pensating the artist for the recording and the future streaming of the work,” Bilotta said. “So now you have a per- formance that’s both live and online but has cost twice as much to produce.” , S E T A C I F I T R E C , S E E E R R O G E M D & , S E S S A L C ABRY UCTOR R T JULIA IE M S N I NCE & SC Y G O L BIO In my classes you learn how the natural world and the human body works. Get the science foundation you need with me at CCC. N E P O ION IS T A R T REGIS www.clatsopcc .edu Clatsop Community College is an affirmative action, equal opportunity institution. ADA accessible. For the complete Non-Discrimination and Accomodations statements, please visit www.clatsopcc.edu/ada. Clatsop Community College es una institución de igualdad de oportunidades y de discriminación positiva. 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