Our gigs during any season tend to be divided between three different types of presenter: universities, straight-up-and-down chamber series (Dallas or Houston Friends of Chamber Music) and bigger, multi-thingy venues (Carnegie Hall, San Francisco Performances).
I love the experience of playing for straight classical subscription audiences: the halls are mostly fabulous; the often packed crowds are curious and surprisingly open-minded; and more-often-than-not, we get a nice reception with free food and drinkies. Such is the case for tonight’s concert at Indianapolis’ Ensemble Music Society, which is taking place in the warm (read: “forgiving”?) acoustics of the hall at the Indianapolis Historical Society.
Occasionally when we play at classical music halls there are tell-tale signs that we aren’t “usual fare” for these presenters. During our tech/dress/stress-fest this afternoon, the flowers were dropped off. Flowers? Well, chamber music concerts here tend to place an oversize bouquet right smack-bang in the middle of the stage.
When the delivery guy came in to discover a packed stage, with no square inch of floor uncovered, a look of shock flashed across his face:
“Don’t know where these are going to go, really.”
“How about here, stage left?”
“Sure, and the flowers can hide the trash can.”
“Ah…the trash can is an instrument.”
“Really?! What about over here, stage right?”
“My cello stand has to stay there.”
The flowers will spend this evening shoved unceremoniously to the back of the stage. As I headed back to the dressing rooms to grab something, I heard the delivery man leaving with another person:
“Damn, did you see that? A trash can.”
“I’ve seen washing boards at concerts, but nothing like a trash can.”
Nice to be reminded what curious freaks we are in the world of classical music.
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