Environmental Sustainability and the Classical Music Industry
[Applause]
today
i will outline some of the ways in which
the classical music industry can
restructure itself
to become more environmentally
sustainable
some of the attitude shifts that will be
required to make this transition
and ultimately how this change can lead
to a more prosperous
and creatively inspired industry
in a way it’s not surprising that
there’s very little discussion within
the classical music industry regarding
climate change
and the role that we may have to play in
it we are a small industry
and there’s probably a pervading sense
that a change in our actions will do
very little to mitigate
the global climate crisis however
one thing that the covet 19 pandemic has
proven about our society
is that a sense of responsibility for
everyday individual behaviors and
actions can make a big collective
difference
all of us ensuring that we wear masks in
public keep two meters apart
and avoiding social gatherings has
resulted in our health system staying
afloat
through a situation in which it very
possibly could have been overwhelmed
i think that the same thinking needs to
be applied to industries
when it comes to fighting climate change
every industry no matter how small
has to adapt and make fundamental
changes to its ways of business
in order to contribute to the collective
project of saving our planet
within the classical music business
concert presenting organizations have a
crucial role to play
as they are the ones booking artists
paying them for their work
and playing host to audiences while
there are many good practices that
contribute to reducing waste and carbon
emissions in small ways
such as banning single-use plastics at
venues using led lighting
and getting rid of paper tickets and
programs
the single largest contributor to global
carbon emissions in the concert business
is transportation in particular the use
of air transit
just to give you an idea a return flight
from new york
to london england creates 986 kilograms
of carbon dioxide
per passenger that’s the equivalent of
heating a house in a cold climate
or driving a car for a whole year
so if a concert hall adopts all of those
in-house policies relating to energy use
and waste reduction
but still flies many of its performers
in from across an ocean
or even on a short-haul flight it is
still
contributing significantly and harmfully
to carbon pollution
of course if this was an easy problem to
fix we wouldn’t be talking about it
right now
there are many economically and
artistically legitimate reasons for why
concert venues hire artists
that need to travel great distances to
perform there
certain artists names like lang lang
yoyo ma
are sure fire box office hits and their
concerts will sell out
while many venues are still likely to
lose money on those concerts
due to the astronomic fees and expenses
incurred by hiring musicians of that
standing
they undeniably raise the profile of the
organization and add a sense of prestige
to the series
more widely being part of the worldwide
touring
circuit and bringing artists who make
their livings by playing all over the
world
gives any venue or series a feeling of
cosmopolitanism
bringing the best in the world to your
doorstep
having an internationally focused
concert venue has become one of the
hallmarks of a culturally relevant city
however strong these reasons are we we
need to return to the central question
here
is it worth contributing substantially
to the demise of our planet in order
to hear world famous artists play in the
flesh
i would argue probably not
that’s not to say however that people
would be in any way prevented from
hearing world famous artists play
live since the kova 19 crisis began
and public events have been disrupted or
postponed until further notice
live streaming technologies have come to
the fore as a viable way
to produce and consume performance art
not unlike what we’re doing tonight
of course this medium is not perfect yet
and presents many challenges of its own
but at its very best it arguably has the
potential to provide an even more
immersive live concert experience than
attending a concert in person
especially if you’re on any kind of
budget sure
you can pay hundreds of dollars months
in advance to book a ticket
right in the center of the first row to
see let’s say yo-yo ma
play dvorak’s cello concerto you will
see the beads of sweat
falling from his forehead you will hear
him breathe with the music
and you’ll notice the subtle gestural
interactions that he has with the
conductor
of the orchestra in order to make sure
that the music stays together
these things are the gritty essence of
live performance that recordings can’t
provide
and are the reasons that we value live
performances so highly
but if you are somebody who’s not
willing to spend hundreds of dollars
and plan months in advance you will
likely be seated
near the back of the hall where you will
be squinting just to catch a glimpse
of yo-yo ma’s cello probably having to
lean to your left to see around the
rather tall person sitting in front of
you
apart from being able to say i was there
afterwards
you haven’t really had a comparable
experience to the person sitting in the
front row
live streaming has the potential to
completely remove that boundary
and give every viewer the same up close
gritty experience
without the financial discrimination and
requiring very little advanced planning
other technologies are on the way that
will enhance distance consumption even
more
such as steinway’s sphereocast which
essentially allows computerized
acoustic pianos to livestream through
each other
with this technology let’s say langlang
could be playing
a piano recital on a spherio piano in
carnegie hall
which is then live broadcasting to every
other spherio piano in the world
each of these satellite pianos is
acoustically reproducing his performance
in real time i think the industry and
consumers
need to embrace the many technological
possibilities presented
support their development and help the
whole world become more connected and
more cosmopolitan
while also eliminating our unnecessary
carbon footprints but
make no mistake by saying that we should
embrace these technologies that offer
high-end distance to viewing experiences
i’m not at all advocating for the demise
of live performances with in-person
audiences
i’ve played a number of livestream
concerts during this pandemic and even a
set of outdoor in-person concerts in the
summertime
the overwhelming feedback that i’ve had
for my audiences
is that they miss attending regular live
performances and they can’t wait to get
back to doing so
again when it is safe hopefully
one positive takeaway from this pandemic
is that we never again
take for granted the joys of
congregating for shared artistic
experiences
however there’s no reason that
congregating for a live concert or event
needs to generate a substantial and
harmful carbon footprint
if concert presenting organizations take
this to heart and reconsider their
artist booking practices
they can greatly reduce their
environmental impact by presenting
artists who live
locally perhaps the most
egregious aspect of artists traveling
the world
to perform in important concert halls is
that there are typically
many musicians in these destination
cities who can play the same repertoire
to a comparable standard sure there’s an
aspect of celebrity that might be lost
but in terms of the artistic product
hearing an excellent performance of
say rachmaninoff’s third piano concerto
that product can almost
always be sourced locally
if consumers are not happy with the
local product they can then turn to live
streamed concerts
and watch their favorite artist play
from the concert hall in his or her
home city this competitive aspect is
also important
as it provides an incentive for
organizations to ensure
that their in-person products are of the
highest possible quality
i acknowledge that this requires a major
shift in attitude from both concert
presenting organizations
and from consumers however it’s
important to return to the fundamental
question here
is it worth contributing to the demise
of our planet’s ecosystem
in order to see famous musicians play in
the flesh
again i would argue no
aside from the environmental aspect of
this shift towards presenting locally
based artists
there are also economic and artistic
benefits
a good comparable here is the food
industry when you go to a shop
and buy let’s say a bushel of locally
grown apples
you’re not only making a good
environmental choice because the apples
have only been transported from the
orchard to the store
rather than by air from their country of
origin to a central warehouse
and then finally to the store you’re
also putting money back
into your local economy and helping
local producers develop a better product
some of the money from your purchase
will go back to the farmer
who will then be able to invest in his
or her farming infrastructure
and be able to grow a bigger or higher
quality crop in the future
thus improving the product that is
available to you
there’s been a marked shift in the past
few decades towards supporting local
food growers in canada
and the result is a thriving local food
economy that provides sustainable
high quality products to consumers and
creates job opportunities
for farmers if we were to adopt a
similar approach
in the music industry a musician
supported by their many local concert
venues would then be able to reinvest
their earnings
into their local economy be supported
and encouraged to develop better
artistic products
and would be able to contribute to other
aspects of musical life in the region
like teaching outreach programs and
helping startup venues get off the
ground
from a purely financial perspective this
would also mean that concert presenters
could spend less money on travel and
accommodation for artists
and more on actual take-home fees
from the artistic perspective i think
there’s a great amount of value to be
found in performers
building a relationship with a specific
audience over time
rather than constantly performing for
new audiences or performing for an
audience with such infrequency
say once every two or three years that
there’s very little sense of continuity
i like to compare this to dating on a
first date
it’s very easy to appear as a curated
version of yourself
the person doesn’t know anything about
you and all they have to go on is their
first impression
over a series of dates or through the
course of a relationship
it becomes much more difficult to curate
your image you really have to be the
person that you are projecting
and it will become obvious to your
partner if you are hiding something
a musician’s relationship with an
audience is much the same
performing for the same audience
frequently builds a bond between the two
parties
that makes the musician artistically
accountable to his or her listeners
when the sheen of novelty is removed
every concert has to be well thought out
and engaging
or the audience will start to lose
interest
many classical musicians are able to
travel the world playing essentially the
same
sets of pieces for different audiences
for years on end
this approach simply would not hold
water with a local audience
people might want to come and hear the
same program twice but interest would
certainly fade by the third
fourth and fifth times having to
constantly develop artistically and
build new ideas
keeps a musician fresh and it keeps
their audience interested
one of the most frequent discussions in
the classical music industry
is the issue of relevance how is playing
music written by dead white european men
relevant to today’s world if the
industry continues to ask the critical
questions i mentioned at the beginning
with regards to gender and pluralism
if it becomes a leader in environmental
sustainability if it embraces new
technologies
and challenges itself to build a more
accountable artistic product
we will be well on our way to answering
that question
this change needs to start with
organizations and i would like to finish
this talk by challenging all concert
presenters
to turn the dark days of this pandemic
into an opportunity to rethink
and remodel the work that we do so that
when we come out the other side of this
crisis
we are more prepared to play our role in
the future of our planet
than we were before thank you for
listening today