Music As a Product

STYLE Music As a Product Elbphilharmonie v Hamburku. Classical music is that part of the arts which is considered high culture. Yet it can sometimes be truly unorthodox. The western world appreciates it as a highly prestigious art, and that is also how most of the lay public understands it. Wealthy citizens and enterprises commonly become the benefactors, however, often mostly centralized in Prague. In this view, Czech culture generally depends on public finance which usually is not enough to cover normal running costs. This is where commercial activities need to be taken into account. Speaking of the commercial activities of a Czech orchestra, there are two options: first, recording various kinds of music for various purposes (such as movie scores) and second, concerts for promoters in the Czech Republic and abroad. Even then the artistic integrity of the orchestra must be respected instead of following the simple principles of market economy. To make a long story short, an artist of a certain calliber must always be presented in projects of corresponding quality. The quality is in the spotlight, and the artistic impression should outweigh economic interest. The European context is very positive when it comes to the reputation of the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra of Ostrava. It ranks among the top five Czech orchestras and can easily compete against most German orchestras. The presentation of the orchestra abroad is a crucial tool in promotion from the view of the orchestra and its founder, the Statutory City Ostrava. In this sense, 2019 has been extremely successful for the Philharmonic Orchestra of Ostrava: it has gone on foreign tours in countries including Spain, South Korea, Germany, Poland, Slovakia and France. It has played at and been an important part of events at the edge of classical music: Symphony Dance Music, connecting electronic pop The name of the only symphonic orchestra in Ostrava, the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra of Ostrava, is a frequent headliner in our magazine, typically in the context of “exporting” culture from our region to other attractive destinations in the Czech Republic and worldwide. Speaking of exports generally, it is the economics that counts. Can culture be related to economics? Do they walk hand in hand? Can classical music be considered an export item? Does classical music operate on the same economic basis as any other human enterprise? music with a symphonic orchestra; Tour Klus Symphonic with the singer Tomáš Klus and the albums Klusymfonie or Deset let ve Swingu (Ten Years in Swing) with Vojtěch Dyk & the B-Side Band. Another two performances are of even greater importance, as in a relatively short time the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra of Ostrava played two very attractive destinations: in September they played in the famous concert hall of Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg, and in December in Musikverein, Vienna. The experience in Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg was particularly interesting, because JFO played in the best acoustic and most state-of-the-art concert hall. The concert hall has qualities Ostrava aims to emulate with our own new concert hall. The main acoustic supervisor of the construction in Ostrava will be the same person who designed the acoustics of the most famous concert hall: Yasuhisa Toyota and the studio Nagata Acoustics. Zdroj: text: Jan Žemla foto: Sabina Sabovic www.jfo.cz Yasuhisa Toyota (Nagata Acoustics) a ředitel JFO Jan Žemla. POSITIV 4/2019 ǀ 75