ART MUSIC GETS LESS CLASSICAL (SLIGHTLY) from "The Decade in Arts & Culture"

Dec 31, 2009

Author: Michael Bowen

Source: The Inlander

Don’t they just play elevator music for blue-haired ladies? Be dismissive all you want, but the fact remains that the Spokane Symphony Orchestra, by every measure, is the best and biggest arts organization in town. (Has been for half a century.) Sure, they were reduced to passing the hat — they but responded with responsible belt-tightening. And they’ve got the rock star music director. Their most laudable tendency has been their glacial evolution toward a more casual, more contemporary art music scene: Casual Classics, Symphony on the Edge, remarks from the podium, educational Web features, increased programming of works (Piazzolla, Takemitsu) from the last 30 years instead of just the previous 300.