blog.

Programming and Games

Last week, Orchestra Wellington offered our initial subscription offer for the 2017 season. True to form, we have devised a thematic programme – one centred around Sergei Diaghilev and the Ballet Russes. Also true to form, we have decided to play some good-natured games with our audience! Like last season, we have only announced a few details of the programme, alongside a very special pricing offer. This approach not only gives our audience a brilliant deal, but it tests the idea of trust in the organisation and also allows us to lengthen the season launch in a manner that both amuses and also keeps the orchestra in the public’s consciousness. 

This season we have decided to only mention the dates, venue, cost and the title of each of the concerts. We have purposefully not detailed the entire programmes! The complete programmes will be launched, alongside the subscription brochure at our final concert of the year on the 3rd of December. At that time, there will be another subscription offer – one which is still a brilliant value, but one that is also slightly more expensive than the initial offer. 

Firebird

Saturday 13 May

Houstoun and Debussy

Friday 7 July

Daphnis and Chloe

Saturday 5 August

Invitation to the Dance

Saturday 9 September

Petrouchka

Saturday 4 November

Rite of Spring

Saturday 2 December

All concerts are at the

Michael Fowler Centre, 7.30pm.

As you can see, there are a number of concerts where one can easily work out what the main Diaghilev commissioned work will be, but there is no real sense of what else might be in the concert. There are also a couple of programmes that give almost no idea of the Diaghilev commission that has been programmed. Please click on the link to the initial subscription brochure pdf below the image entitled “Download Article”, and please consider purchasing a subscription!

A wonderful and unexpected benefit of programming around a strong theme has been the chance to have some fun with our audience using social media, in addition the  slow-release of our season details. 

Before we announced the season, I launched a Facebook and twitter “tease” campaign that gave both broad and focused hints about the season’s theme. This campaign really helped to raise interest in what we may have in store and the beauty of social media allowed for interaction between our audience and the orchestra. Here are a number of the tweets that alluded to the season…

https://twitter.com/marctaddei/status/785573232325734401

https://twitter.com/marctaddei/status/784522383227060224

https://twitter.com/marctaddei/status/783488042283642880

https://twitter.com/marctaddei/status/785959627036856320

Please follow these links and feel free to follow me on twitter – now that the theme for 2017 has been revealed, I am going to tweet and post hints regarding the other works in the individual concerts.

While we are having a lot of fun with our season launch, this roll-out has further strengthened my belief in the concept of telling a story and having a point of view in programming. Couple this with Orchestra Wellington’s absolute dedication to bringing the joy of orchestral music in reach of everybody and I hope you can understand my new hashtag for Orchestra Wellington - 

#BreakingDownBarriers

This is what we strive for – bringing sophisticated and focused programming to our community, sharing the joy of music in a manner that is inclusive, in a manner that breaks down perceived barriers to attendance.