New and Improved

Well, the name is the same as it’s been the past few years: In Symphony. But that may be the only thing that seems familiar to you about the concert program you’ve just finished paging through. Nearly everything else about our programs this season falls, we hope, into that category marketing folks like to use whenever they want to get you to buy more of something. You know: “new and improved.”

Truth be told, we wouldn’t mind at all if you “bought” more of the Oregon Symphony this season. We think that the “products” we’ve got to “sell” – our performances, that is – are high-quality experiences that offer an extraordinarily good return on your investment of time and money. So, by all means, come to more of them. And invite your friends. We’ve got plenty of tickets to sell.

But enough marketing-speak, because what we do generally – those concerts, I mean – and what we’re doing here specifically by trying to improve our concert programs, are both considerably more important than that. The new-and-improved program you’re holding in your hand right now is a reflection of the firmly held belief around here that if we want the Oregon Symphony to really matter to you – and, of course, we do – then we need to communicate in much more meaningful ways than orchestras and their audiences sometimes do.

And so, this is a first step among many. As you’ve paged through this program, we hope you’ve already noticed the differences, from the in-depth feature article (this time around it’s a close-up look at our new Principal Pops Conductor, Jeff Tyzik), to new pages like “Planet Carlos” and “Inside the Orchestra” that you’ll find in every issue, to the more user-friendly program notes. 
We hope the changes you see here – some big, some small, some bold, some subtle – will offer you a clearer picture of just how large and diverse and exciting and vibrant the Oregon Symphony really is. As the season progresses, you’ll see other ways we’ll be trying for more meaningful contact with you as well: by e-mail, on our web site and elsewhere.

We hope you’ll agree about the whole new-and-improved thing. And whenever you feel like it, I hope you’ll want to get in touch with me (my email address is cherko@orsymphony.org) to let me know how you think we’re doing.

Sincerely,

Carl Herko
Editor