A Special Concert Invitation for Music Lovers

Take a look at the numbers and it’s easy to conclude that classical music is dying.

It makes up less than 3% of annual industry sales. Radio and television programming are off sharply in recent years. Ticket sales are down. And at least 17 orchestras have closed in the last 20 years.

Yet it is too early to sing a requiem.

The American Symphony Orchestra League observes that there are approximately 1,800 orchestras in the United States giving roughly 36,000 concerts a year, 30% more than in 1994.

Many cities have built – or are building – state-of-the-art performing arts centers. Internet deep-catalog shops like arkivmusic.com offer virtually any CD in print. And classical music now makes up 12% of sales on iTunes, four times its share of the CD market.

Today we have a breadth and ease of access to classical music far greater than our parents had, let alone earlier generations. (Bear in mind, music was not recorded until about a hundred years ago or even accurately notated until a few hundred years before that.)

Yet many remain uninterested. Why? Some will lay the blame on the disappearance of music education from public schools. Others will point to a decline in popular tastes. But millions are still drawn to this music.

I’m one of them.

The immortal works of history’s greatest composers are among humanity’s crowning achievements, transcending geographical boundaries, language barriers, and differences of politics and religion.

Music is intelligible but untranslatable, the most abstract and sublime of all the arts. It is the universal language of emotion, bypassing the intellect and tackling the heart directly.

Making music is one of the fundamental activities of mankind, as characteristically human as language or drawing. It has existed everywhere in all cultures. (Even Paleolithic cave paintings depict people singing and playing music.)

Music goes further than pictures, deeper than words. It can move us, lift our spirits, change our mood, get us dancing. Our auditory systems, our nervous systems, are exquisitely tuned for music.

Even listeners who can’t read musical notation and who have never attempted to learn an instrument are deeply affected by it.

Yet classical music confounds many. Raised on the verse-chorus-verse simplicity of pop music, they aren’t sure what to think… or feel.

Fortunately, appreciating classical music is a skill that can be cultivated. All it requires is your attention and a bit of imagination.

Some, of course, will insist they have no time for this music. They are so busy getting and spending – so caught up in the pursuit of conventional success – that fine art and great music are completely absent in their lives.

That’s unfortunate, because greater material wealth doesn’t necessarily make life more worth living. And classical music can provide a welcome escape from the stress and frustrations of everyday life.

Psychologists tell us this music affects our brain chemistry. Much of the music of Haydn, Mozart and Vivaldi, for example, can dispel irritation, banish a mood of depression and deepen your appreciation of life.

Recognizing this doesn’t make you a music snob, incidentally. I grew up listening to rock and pop music. I still enjoy them.

But an encounter with mankind’s greatest musical minds allows us to experience transcendent beauty.

That’s one of the reasons I attend the Staunton Music Festival each year. And now I encourage you to join me – even if just for part of it.

The Festival begins Friday and is held in Staunton, Virginia, a beautiful town in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley, recently named "One of the Ten Best Small Towns in America" by Smithsonian magazine.

The Festival will present more than 60 of the world’s finest musicians and singers, playing over 20 concerts – nearly half of them free – and performing more than 80 of the most glorious pieces ever written.

The concerts run for 10 days, from August 15-24. To learn more and see the complete schedule, please click here.

This year’s festival will give you the opportunity to hear Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture, Haydn’s Symphony No. 83 ("The Hen"), Prokofiev’s musical fable Peter and the Wolf, Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance, Vivaldi’s Concerto in A for Two Violins and Orchestra, Brahms’ Symphony No. 4, and excerpts from Mozart’s The Magic Flute, to name just a few.

And for a grand finale? One of the most powerful musical works of all time, the St. Matthew Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed on period instruments by world-class musicians and chorus.

I know it will not be possible for many of you to attend. But for those who live nearby or have the freedom to travel, it is an experience not to be missed.

I hope to see you there.

Carpe Diem,

Alex

P.S. If you’re coming from out of town, the historic Stonewall Jackson Hotel is offering concertgoers a special rate of $99 per night. (Just call 540.885.4848 and mention The Staunton Music Festival.)