The Classical Concert Experience

Classical music is a genre of music that is in brutal competition for audience dollars, therefore seeks the classical musicians that are eager to reinvent the classical concert experience. The Knights is an orchestra dedicated to transforming traditional classical music into the ultimate concert experience by portraying their passion for musical discovery, engaging their audience, and defying musical boundaries. Engaging listeners and defying boundaries with programs that showcase the player’s roots in the classical tradition and passion for artistic discovery, The Knights have “become one of Brooklyn’s sterling cultural products known far beyond the borough for their relaxed virtuous and expansive repertory” (New Yorker). Violinist Gil Shaham …show more content…
This gave me the impression that the audience were loyal supporters and were not there as first timers, while the yelling and whistling also provided the environment more casualty and informality. The performers were all dressed in black, males being in suits and females’ being in dresses or pant suits. The orchestra then bowed as a group before they performed their first piece, which was significantly different from most concerts I have attended who only bow after their last piece. I was notably surprised to see the orchestra standing for their first piece considering most orchestras sit while performing unless you are a soloist. While performing, the audience did not nod their heads to the music nor did they socialize with other members of the audience, but instead stayed significantly quiet and observed the performance with direct attention. The audience stayed seated during the performance unless rising to give a standing ovation before intermission or after the last piece. Although the audience was strictly there for the performance, the performers gave off the impression that they were there simply to have fun and enjoy the opportunity to have fun. The performers never acknowledged the audience while performing but instead exchanged smirks and one another, enhancing a sense of casualty and aestheticity. Directly before intermission, the …show more content…
These pieces were played without any pause in-between and demonstrated that The Knights could capture the classical music style and reinvent it with modern instruments. A man that sat in the audience beside me referred to this as being “hip symphonic”. It was then that I realized that this orchestra group found a way to reconstruct a traditional classical musical performance into a more artistic style in order to appeal to a wider range of audience. The next piece that was performed consisted of a soloist, Gil Shaham. Gil is a Grammy award winning violinist and a Musical America Instrumentalist of the Year. Gil Shaham performed with the orchestra for the first half of the concert as a soloist. During his solo performance, the pieces consisted of call and response, in which the surrounding performers mimicked his playing. The first half of the performance was very intense, dramatic and suspenseful. The performers moved more dramatically than a normal orchestra would to enhance that innovative technique they strive to provide. Gil Shaham and The Knights united together during the first half of the performance as a “orchestral collective”, flexible in size and eclectic repertory, shaking up a traditional classical performance in order to invite the audience in. Leshnoff’s concerto was rendered by Shaham and the orchestra, which was a very artistic approach and