2021-2022 Orchestral Programming of Contemporary Music

This is the fifth year of the orchestral programming reports, where I track contemporary music programming in twelve large American and Northern European orchestras. The background, method, etc., remains the same from previous reports, which can be found on this site (2017-2018, 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2020-2021). This season, orchestras continue to operate under changing COVID restrictions. Orchestras that launched streaming platforms last season, like the Philadelphia Orchestra, continue to use those platforms even as live concertising began this past fall. The Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Helsinki Philharmonic announced their concert schedules in two parts, where the spring 2022 schedule was released after the fall 2021 season had begun. The Swedish Radio Orchestra also returned to live and streamed content this season after offering very reduced online content last season.

Last season, the Philadelphia Orchestra was the only American ensemble in from this survey to quickly adapt their entire season to online streaming. The data reported from 2020-2021 for the rest of the American orchestra (New York, Chicago, Cleveland, Boston and Los Angeles) was planned but not performed, as all five orchestras essentially canceled their entire symphonic orchestra season. In Northern Europe, the Finnish, Danish and Norwegian orchestras had fairly ‘normal’ 2020-2021 seasons; streaming of live performances was used when audience attendance was prohibited. The Swedish orchestras were able to perform fewer live concerts in 2020-2021 than their European counterparts, but they also changed to live video-streamed concerts. This season, 2021-2022, all orchestras were able to return to live concerts. The data presented in this report is only concerts that occurred (in person and live-streamed), canceled concerts were not counted. As in previous seasons, concerts for children, holiday concerts, and ‘movie concerts’ were also excluded.

In addition to COVID, other changes in leadership were announced this season. Jaap Van Zweden will end his tenure of the New York Philharmonic after the 2023-2024 season (link). The Chicago Symphony extended music director Riccardo Muti’s contract through the 2022-2023 season, after the disruptions of the 2019-2020 season. The Boston Symphony Orchestra appointed a new President and CEO, Gail Samuel (link), the first woman to lead the BSO in its 140-year history. British conductor Nicholas Collon began his position as Chief Conductor of the Finnish Radio Orchestra, the first non-Finn to be appointed (link). It was announced that Susanna Mälkki will conclude her position as Chief Conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic after the 2022-2023 season, becoming Chief Conductor Emeritus of the orchestra (link). Recent press has posited that she is a top candidate for the New York Philharmonic directorship. Sakari Oramo finished his term as Chief Conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra at the end of last season; the orchestra is without a Chief Conductor until American conductor Ryan Bancroft begins as the new Chief Conductor in 2023. Bancroft will become the second youngest chief conductor in this programming study behind Klaus Mäkelä, who is now in his second year as Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra.

Programming reports since 2017 have showed a trend of increased contemporary music programming among the six large American orchestras - the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Increases in both the number of contemporary works performed and the percentage of symphony and total orchestra concerts that feature at least one contemporary music work have been reported. The Northern European orchestras surveyed - the Finnish, Swedish and Danish Radio Symphony Orchestras, the Helsinki Philharmonic, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and the Oslo Philharmonic - have maintained a consistent and high level of contemporary programming since this study began. There are fluctuations season-to-season in number of contemporary works and percentage of concerts with at least one contemporary work, but the overall level of contemporary programming in each European orchestra remains constant.

DATA

Figure 1: Percentage of Symphony Orchestra Concerts featuring at least 1 contemporary work 2017-2022 - US Orchestras

Figure 1 charts the percentage of symphony orchestra concerts featuring at least one contemporary work across the five seasons of this study. Despite the disruptions of COVID-19, all orchestras continue to increase contemporary music programming.

Figure 2: Percentage of Symphony Orchestra Concerts featuring at least 1 contemporary work 2017-2022 - Northern European Orchestras

The graph of symphony orchestra programming data in Figure 2 above also demonstrate the continuing consistency of contemporary music programming amongst the Northern European orchestras. The data also shows that the Danish Radio (DRSO) and Oslo Philharmonic (OPO) program contemporary music in fewer of their symphony orchestra concerts, on average, than the orchestras of Helsinki and Stockholm. The Helsinki Philharmonic (HKO) has been performing contemporary music in more symphony orchestra concerts, on average, over the last five seasons, while the Finnish Radio (FRSO) performs contemporary music in around 47% of concerts.

Figure 3: Number of contemporary works performed per season by six American orchestras 2017-2022

Running parallel to Figure 1, the graph above shows that the number of contemporary works performed by these six American orchestras has increased in the last 5 seasons. While the Los Angeles Philharmonic (LAP) and Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) continue to perform contemporary works on more of their symphony orchestra concerts each season, the number of works performed each season has been around the same over the past four seasons (since 2018-2019). The New York Philharmonic (NYP) and Philadelphia Orchestra (PHIL), meanwhile, have been both performing more works and on more symphony orchestra concerts. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) performs the fewest number of contemporary works, and on the least number of symphony orchestra concerts, compared to the other five American orchestras surveyed.

Figure 4: Number of contemporary works performed per season by six Northern European Orchestras 2017-2022

The number of contemporary works performed each season by the Northern European orchestras shows divergence from the patterns of the American orchestras. In Figure 4, one can see that the number of contemporary works performed each season by the Swedish Radio Symphony (SRSO) and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic (RSP) have decreased over the last five seasons, while the number of concerts featuring at least one contemporary work has stayed consistent with slight increases or decreases from season to season (see Figure 2). In Finland, HKO has increased the number of contemporary works per season and performed at least one contemporary work in more symphony orchestra concerts since this study began.

Figure 5: Number of contemporary works commissioned by six American Orchestras 2017-2022

The LAP has commissioned the most new works of the six American orchestras surveyed and has increased the number of commissions over the last five seasons. Figure 4 shows increased commission activity from the PHIL and BSO. The NYP and Cleveland Orchestra (CLE) have increased their commissions slightly (the CLE commissioned four works in the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 seasons). The CSO has commissioned around the same number of works every season for the last five seasons.

Figure 6: Number of contemporary works commissioned by six Northern European Orchestras 2017-2022

Like the other metrics studied so far, there is also consistency in the commissioning practices of the Northern European orchestras. The FRSO and HKO have commissioned the most works over the last five seasons, while the DRSO has decreased its commissioning activity. The OPO consistently commissions fewer than two works per season on average, while the SRSO commissions an average of three (2020-2021 being considered an anomaly, as the SRSO season was severely affected by COVID-19.

Figure 7: Total number of works commissioned by twelve large symphony orchestras 2017-2022

Despite the large amount of contemporary works performed, and in a large amount of symphony orchestra concerts, the Northern European orchestras commission have commissioned fewer works in the span of this study than the American orchestras, as can be seen in Figure 7.

Figures 6 and 7 show what percentage of contemporary works and commissions performed by the US orchestras in this study were by an American composer. Most of the American orchestras have increased the amount they have performed works by American composers. The most significant increase has been by the PHIL, followed by the NYP. The CSO has slightly decreased their performance of contemporary works by American composers, while the CLE has increased slight. Still, half of the orchestras surveyed perform contemporary American composers less than 50% of the time. Commissioning patterns are less stable in this study. The PHIL commissions American composers the most of these six orchestras, and consistently for the past five seasons. The NYP has increased its commissioning of American composers, while the remaining five orchestras have either decreased national commissioning, or exhibited no pattern. Only the PHIL and CSO have commissioned American composers at least 50% of the time in the last five seasons.

Performance and commissioning of national contemporary composers for the Northern European orchestras for the last five seasons are shown above in Figures 8 and 9. At left, one can observe large changes from season to season. The only trend discernible are decreases in the amount of programming of contemporary composers by both the SRSO and DRSO. The other four orchestras have kept a level average. Figure 9 shows clearly the FRSO is the only Northern European orchestra of those in this survey that consistently commissions Finnish composers at least 80% of the time. The RSP has commissioned Swedish composers at least 50% of the time over the last five seasons, while the remaining orchestras vary national commissioning from season-to.-season.

DISCUSSION

One difference between this year’s report and the four previous additions was focus only on contemporary programming in full symphony orchestra concerts. In previous seasons, I had two metrics - percentage of ‘symphony orchestra concerts’ featuring at least one contemporary work (POSO) and percentage of ‘total concerts’ featuring at least one contemporary work (TOSO). The ‘total concert’ metric included chamber and new music concerts, as applicable. Both metrics excluded film, holiday, and children’s concerts. New music concerts are part of the performance practices of the NYP, CSO and LAP. For the NYP, in particular, the addition of new music concerts in the ‘total concert’ percentage resulted in a 4% increase in contemporary programming from the symphony orchestra percentage in the 2019-2020 season. The inclusion of chamber music concerts affects most of the orchestras (NYP, BSO, PHIL, LAP, FRSO, SRSO, HKO, RSP, and OPO). In the 2018-2019 season, the ‘total concert’ percentage was 10% higher for the FRSO when chamber music concerts were included. In most cases, however, the inclusion of chamber music and new music concerts changes the percentage by only 2-3%. This season, only the CSO, BSO, LAP, FRSO, and HKO included chamber or new music concerts in their seasonal performances. For both reasons, the total concert metric has been excluded from the report this year.

Figure 10: Total number of contemporary works played by 12 large orchestras 2017-2022

Even with COVID-19 disruptions and calculations, the American orchestras of this study play almost twice as many concerts as their Northern European counterparts. This is mainly because each program is performed three or four times in one week, whereas the Northern European orchestras most often play a program only once or twice. (Live-streamed concerts count as one concert, for lack of a better method). Both the POSO calculation and the number of contemporary works played should therefore be considered in understanding an orchestra’s contemporary music practice. For the American orchestras surveyed, the POSO and number of contemporary works have increased for all orchestras over the last five seasons. For the Northern European orchestras, the POSO has remained more level, while the number of contemporary works has changed for some orchestras (Figure 4). Only the FRSO has performed over 20 contemporary works per season since this study began, with HKO and LAP joining that level since 2018-2019. In this peak 2021-2022 season, only the PHIL performed as many contemporary works as the Helsinki orchestras. And in total, the Helsinki orchestras have performed the most contemporary works, followed by the LAP and RSP.

When considering the amount of premieres, particularly national and world premieres, and commissions an orchestra plays in a season, it is important to look at what percentage of contemporary works played were premieres and commissions. This can demonstrate whether an orchestra that performs contemporary symphonic works is focused more on the newest, unheard compositions, or in adding more performances of existing works. In general, commissions and premieres constitute a great percentage of contemporary works performed by the American orchestras in this study than the Northern European Orchestras.

As Figures 11 and 12 show, for most of the European orchestras, less than 40% of contemporary works played per season are premieres. The percentage of premiere performances for American orchestras is much higher. This becomes more pronounced when comparing the percentage of contemporary works performed that were commissioned.

Nearly every season for the past five seasons, commissions were less than 30% of the contemporary works performed by the Northern European orchestras. By contrast, more than 30% of contemporary works performed each season by the American orchestras were commissioned.

CONCLUSION

To my surprise, the COVID-19 pandemic did not disrupt the trend of increased contemporary music programming amongst these six American orchestras. It might have been expected that the financial strain of the last two years would have prompted orchestras to take a more conservative approach to programming. It is a positive sign for proponents and fans of contemporary music that the genre is no longer considered as economically risky as it once was.

That being said, data from the last three seasons could show that contemporary programming in the CSO, CLE, and BSO is levelling off. The LAP and NYP continue to perform contemporary music in more concerts each season, but the number of contemporary works performed in each seasons seems to be remaining level in most of the American orchestras. In Northern European, both the POSO and number of contemporary works played per season fluctuates year-to-year but has changed little over the course of five seasons. One exception is the HKO, which has nearly doubled both its POSO and number of contemporary works performed per season from 2017-2018 to the present.

Data from the last five seasons has indicated that commissions and premieres are a greater percentage of contemporary works performed by American orchestras than Northern European ones. This is important to consider when reminded that most of the American orchestras perform fewer than twenty contemporary works per seasons. The CSO and BSO, for example, have performed less than fifteen works per season (in 2017-2018, they performed five and six contemporary works) but commissions have accounted for no less than a third of works performed, premieres about 40%. The only Northern European Orchestra that exhibits the same practice of focusing on premieres is the DRSO. In general, it can be said that American contemporary music programming in the orchestras in this survey places a greater emphasis on the presenting new contemporary works, while the Northern European orchestras focus on strengthening the contemporary cannon through performances of existing works.

For now, there are no obvious continental trends when it comes to performing and commissioning works by national composers (Figures 6-9). American orchestras have tended to be more consistent in the amount they program national contemporary composers, whereas there is more fluctuation season-to-season amongst the Northern European orchestras. In the US, the NYP, CSO and PHIL program the highest percentage of works by American composers. While the LAP has played the most contemporary music of all the American orchestras over the last five seasons, less than 50% of works have been by American composers for the last three seasons. In Northern Europe, the FRSO consistently programs the highest percentage of national contemporary works, while the DRSO and SRSO have decreased their programming of national contemporary works over the past four and five seasons. The FRSO also commissions, consistently, the highest amount of works by national composers, which is unsurprisingly considering the traditional role of radio orchestras in promoting national composers in Europe. Both the FRSO and HKO operate in Helsinki, out of the same concert hall, so it might be expected, for example, that the FRSO focuses on Finnish commissions while the HKO can support both national and international composers. It is difficult to say at this point whether the same is true of the SRSO and RSP, as data is missing from the past seasons due to COVID (and COVID had a greater impact on concertising in Sweden than it did in Finland, Denmark or Norway). More data will be needed to continue tracking the programming trends and commissioning of national composers.

Finally, though not included in this report, I am continuing to study closely which composers are being performed by which orchestras. Particularly in the US, focus on composers of a certain style or regional versus nationally recognised composers would be an interesting indication of whether contemporary programming practices are remaining individual to a particular orchestra or whether orchestras across the US are focusing on the same styles of music or same set of composers. It would also be interesting to see which American composers are being performed by Northern European orchestras, and vice versa. Finnish conductors, in particular, are becoming frequent guest conductors amongst these large six American orchestras. More often then not these conductors include contemporary works, and contemporary Finnish works, on their programs. Finally, changes in chief conductors on both sides of the Atlantic over the next two to three seasons might bring changes to contemporary programming practices, as could a prolonged pandemic.