Saturday, April 22, 2023

Classical music woes in San Antonio

Actually, per a very good piece by the Texas Observer, and previously unknown to me, it's ultimately "woe" in the singular — and that's union busting.

The Observer names names, and links at least one of them to the Alamo City now having dueling symphonic-focused classical music organizations, the second one started after the start of COVID, that of course hit the classical music live performance world hard, around the globe.

I had no idea that San Antonio had the state's first symphony orchestra and other things. White flight from the city of San Antonio itself is figured as one problem in its decline. OTOH, that didn't hurt Dallas or Houston, so it seems the problems are deeper, probably encompassing the union-busting but not limited to that. (I have no idea of how well San Antonio does on other fine arts.)

That said, contra an insinuated part of the Observer's framing, rich folks in other larger, newer cities, also view things like this as a "recruitment amenity." Just like pro sports teams.

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