DEFECTOR

posted by James Reel

In the latest Tucson Weekly, I announce my retirement from the Tucson Symphony Orchestra audience:

For the first time in 30 years, I'm not renewing my Tucson Symphony Orchestra season subscription. I made that decision when I realized that I'd skipped a few concerts last season because of travel or illness, and I didn't care. If I don't regret missing concerts I'm having to pay more and more money for, why should I spend that money in the first place? It isn't that the TSO is a bad orchestra; far from it. You won't confuse it with the Boston Symphony, but it's a perfectly able professional ensemble from front to back, much better than the band it was back in the 1970s, when it boasted some fine individual players (especially the principal woodwinds), but spotty work across larger sections. Even so, the programming becomes less and less inspired every year. Most concerts are dominated by thrice-familiar pieces; anything new or unusual occupies only about five minutes of any program. (The big exception next season is Daniel Asia's Symphony No. 5, but that is a rare occurrence.) Like every arts organization, the TSO earns its tax-exempt status as an educational rather than an artistic endeavor, and education shouldn't be limited to kiddie concerts. Adults need to be introduced to new things, too. But when I read the schedule for next season, there are only a couple of things that look more attractive to me than staying home and watching a video.

There’s much more to it, which you can read here.