'No formula for this': Regina Symphony Orchestra battling low ticket numbers this season
It’s been a challenging season for the Regina Symphony Orchestra (RSO) as ticket sales have been about 50 per cent of what they were pre-pandemic.
The season officially started in September, marking the first normal year since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We haven’t had the size of audiences that we’d been hoping for,” Gordon Gerrard, the music director of the RSO, said.
“We kind of went in to this with maybe too much of an ambitious idea that things were open again and people would be excited to come back, and it hasn’t happened in the way that we thought.”
Some RSO events this season have seen full crowds, like the free library series.
“That is very encouraging. It tells me people want this, people want to experience live music,” he said.
However, some ticketed concerts aren’t getting the same draw.
“We’re probably at about half, give or take, of what we would have expected in pre-pandemic days. Sometimes it’s even less than that,” Gerrard said.
“We’ve seen some houses where we’re at 20 per cent capacity at Conexus Arts Centre which makes for a pretty empty hall.”
The hardest part for Gerrard is the emotional toll from playing to such small crowds after years of a pandemic.
“I think the orchestra is playing better than ever - it sounds fantastic. To look out after all of this work and see that the hall isn’t very full, that’s hard on us. It’s hard on all of us for sure,” he said.
“We just have to figure out a new way to package it and to make it accessible to folks.”
Connecting with audiences is what Christian Robinson, the concert master of the RSO, said fuels him.
“As a performer, you always want to look out and see a full hall. There’s nothing quite like a live orchestra concert,” Robinson said.
“There’s very little in modern life that’s like that where you go into a room, your phone is turned off. There are no visuals. It’s just you and the music and your emotions.”
Download the CTV News app to get local alerts sent to your device
As the RSO moves through this challenging time, Robsinson said it’s important to remind the public all that live music has to offer.
“How do you reconnect with an audience that has spent a few years being told not to come together as a large group of people?” Robinson said.
“We’re trying to find ways to reengage with our community. There’s no formula for this.”
The orchestra is taking some steps to deal with the low numbers. It cancelled three concerts in April and is instead focusing on the remaining two shows in May, while also putting together a plan for next season.
“This is not a unique situation to Regina. We’re seeing this in other communities across Canada, so now is the time for us to check in with our colleagues and see how it’s going, see what they’re noticing and we’re all making plans for the future,” Gerrard said.
“We can adjust and listen to folks, see what it is they want and the reasons they may not be coming or they may not feel comfortable and see if we can figure out a way that better suits what we all need right now.”
Gerrard said it’s not a question if the RSO will go away. Instead, they’re viewing this as an opportunity to change course and figure out what’s sustainable.
“If we can get a sense of what the trajectory will be in terms of how much people do start coming back or don’t, we have to adjust to make sure we survive,” he said.
The RSO has its final concerts of the season on May 6 and 13 at Conexus Arts Centre.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
'I was scared': Ontario man's car repossessed after missing two repair loan payments
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
First court appearance for boy and girl charged in death of Halifax 16-year-old
A girl and a boy, both 14 years old, made their first appearance today in a Halifax courtroom, where they each face a second-degree murder charge in the stabbing death of a 16-year-old high school student.