Many major symphony orchestras remain shuttered at this time, of course, and the price to their societies and foundations grows by the day, with questions in some cases about whether they'll ever reopen again.
That said, here in the DFW Metroplex, the Richardson orchestra was advertising a live concert on WRR last month, so smaller groups are taking the plunge in at least one case. (Since smaller, and especially smaller and newer, groups have less of a reserve in foundation dollars, a place like Richardson may have no choice, per the first paragraph.)
So, I started wondering recently if a group like the Dallas Symphony Orchestra couldn't reopen after all. And, by reopen, I mean, along the lines of Richardson, live concerts.
I say a cautious yes, with restrictions on what music gets played.
1. Choral music is out, obviously.
2. You want to try to have as few winds as general, so, no post-Brahmsian music, by date AND by style. (That's you, Wagner.) As Brahms only used trombones in one movement of the First Symphony, that's my cutoff. No boners.
So, we're talking about an actual Beethoven-Schubert-Schumann-Brahms orchestra at max. On winds, that means two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two horns, two trumpets. Concer seating? A large horseshoe of sorts around the back edge of the stage. The normal "sound shields" in front of brass instruments now become coronavirus shields for ALL winds.
OK, then what? Say 10 first and second violins. Eight violas. Four cellos, two basses. That's 34 strings plus 10 winds. If it's 12/12 on the violins, OK, 38. One timpanist. That's likely it on percussion. So, 49 players.
Even pre-Mahler music often has 60 or more on the floor, so, orchestra staffing takes a hit. Whether by seniority, or some strings players rotating in and out on a half-time basis, or what, I don't know. Obviously, unions and symphony organizations/guilds would discuss this. Maybe fight over it.
3. Attendance seating is like this, in a mock-up of a section of three rows, with X being patrons and O being empty seats:
O X O X O X O X O X O
X O X O X O X O X O X
O X O X O X O X O X O
That's 50 percent seating. Is that enough distancing if everybody wears masks? I think. If not, cut to 33 percent. The aisle rows give you some extra space, so you seat a person every third seat with a three-row stagger on the arrangement.
3A. Masks are mandatory. You're booted if you don't wear them or take them off. Period. No disability exceptions. If you're a season-ticket holder, you lose your season ticket.
4. No wine bar, desserts, etc. No "concessions," if the classical music world allows such a gauche term!
5. Intermission is shorter, because of this. No more than, say, 12 minutes. If you keep it to 10, maybe you do two internissions?
6. Ventilation. Besides installing UV lights on the HVAC air returns? Lobby doors open during intermissions for fresh air circulation. (That would be an advantage of two shorter intermissions.) Now, if it's 0°F in Minneapolis for the Minnesota Orchestra, then ... doors open halfway? But, you still open them. Yeah, this is going to jack heating bills.
7. With the 50 percent seating, a flip side. If you're an orchestra that just does three days of concerts on your programming, guess what? Add Thursdays to the Friday-Sunday. Unions may gripe, but they'll accept if it's getting paid something vs. not playing. If you're a larger orchestra that already does 4x, do you consider 5x? A matinee plus night on selected Saturdays?
In actuality, the DSO is doing an even more scaled down version of my ideas. Unless they're charging a LOT for the streamed version of their concerts, they can't be making money with 50-75 people in attendance. Question is, how much are they losing and do they consider this a worthwhile "loss leader" for the long term future?
And, actually, it's NOT scaled down in other ways. "Big Brassy Christmas"? Mahler (4th, non-choral) and Shostakovich on the regular fare? Nope. Not smart, IMO.
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