'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.”

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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.