2022-2023 Orchestral Programming of Contemporary Music

This is the sixth 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, 2021-2022). COVID restrictions have ceased this season (at least at the time of writing) and with the exception of the remaining commissions of the New York Philharmonic’s Project 19 commissions project, most COVID-delayed productions have been completed.

There are no changes this season in management and leadership at any of the orchestras. There have also been no announcements yet regarding new Music Directors at the New York Philharmonic (Jaap Van Zweden will be leaving after next season, 2023-2024), the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (Susanna Mälkki leaving after this season), the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Riccardo Muti leaving after this season). The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic continued without a chief conductor this season, with American Ryan Bancroft beginning next season (2023/24).

This year’s report reflects a continued effort by most orchestras in the United States and Northern Europe to increase the amount of contemporary music programmed. As previous reports have shown, there is still variation from season-to-season as well as regional differences in both the United States and Northern Europe. Across all twelve orchestras, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Helsinki Philharmonic continue to perform the most contemporary music on average. This season, the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra performed the least contemporary music of the orchestras studied. The Cleveland Orchestra and Chicago Symphony, which have also performed significantly less contemporary music compared to their international peers, have more than doubled the percentage of symphony orchestra concerts featuring contemporary repertoire this 2022/23 season compared to the 2017/18 season analysed when these reports began.

DATA

As with previous reports, we first start with data showing the percentage of symphony orchestra concerts that featured contemporary music (excluding chamber orchestra and new music series concerts). One note: the asterisks next to 2020-2021 seasons in the US data for all graphs in this section of the report are a reminder that the data reflects planned concerts that season - none of these concerts were actually performed due to COVID restrictions. Similarly, the 2019-2020 data does not adjust for any concerts that were canceled due to COVID. Whether or not the concerts were performed or not due to COVID bears little importance on the programming data itself. All concerts where affected equally, and concert programming in the United States is often announced 6-9 months in advance.

Graph 1

Graph 2

At left, Graph 1 shows the percentage of symphony orchestra concerts with contemporary music seasonally from 2017-2023 for the six American orchestras studied (the New York Philharmonic NYP, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra CSO, the Cleveland Orchestra CLE, the Boston Symphony Orchestra BSO, the Philadelphia Orchestra PHIL and the Los Angeles Philharmonic LAP). Graph 2 at right presents the same data seasonally for the six Northern European orchestras studied (the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra FRSO, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra SRSO, the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra DRSO, the Helsinki Philharmonic HKO, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic RSP and the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra OPO).

Beginning with the data in Graph 1, we can observe that the average amount of concerts featuring contemporary repertoire in these six American orchestras has raised significantly from around 28% in the first two seasons studied (2017/18 and 2018/19) to 46% over the last two seasons (2021/22 and 2022/23). At the beginning of this study in 2017, two-thirds of the American orchestras surveyed performed contemporary music in less than 30% of their symphony orchestra concerts, and no US orchestra performed contemporary music in more than 40% of their symphony orchestra concerts. This 2022/23 season, all six orchestras featured at least one contemporary work in a third of their symphony orchestra concerts, and two orchestras - the New York Philharmonic and Boston Symphony - performed at least one contemporary work in over half their concerts. This is a significant shift nationally that reflects a widespread effort to include more contemporary music in symphony orchestra concerts.

This year's data continues to show that each of these six American orchestras has a unique approach to contemporary programming. The only discernible trend amongst coasts or regions is the continued tendency for the two midwest orchestras studied - the Chicago Symphony and Cleveland Orchestra - to program less and perform less contemporary repertoire than their peers. There is no parallel trend amongst the three east coast orchestras. For the first time in the last six seasons, the BSO had the highest percentage of symphony orchestra concerts with contemporary repertoire while the Philadelphia Orchestra fell sharply after four seasons of increased contemporary programming. The Chicago Symphony continues to program contemporary repertoire in the fewest number of symphony orchestra concerts (however, still at an increasing rate over the previous six seasons).

The data from Northern Europe in Graph 2 demonstrates more consistent contemporary music programming amongst the six orchestras surveyed over the last six seasons. Only the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra has significantly increased its contemporary music programming, from performing at least one contemporary work in around 31% of concerts in the 2017/18 season to around 63% of concerts this 2022/23 season. The DRSO has also slightly increased its contemporary music programming, but it is unclear if this is a long-term trend. The data in Graph 2 primarily shows consistency in contemporary music programming practices amongst these orchestras. When this study was initiated, it was clear that the Swedish and Finnish orchestras studied were programming much more contemporary music than their American, Danish and Norwegian counterparts. Now after six seasons, this remains true of the Finnish orchestras and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, as most American orchestras have now surpassed their European counterparts in percentage of concerts featuring contemporary and in number of contemporary works performed.

Graph 3

Graph 4

Graphs 3 and 4 show the number of contemporary works performed seasonally by the US (left) and Northern European (right) orchestras from 2017/18 to this 2022/23 season. This data is notable because it has demonstrated that performing contemporary music in more concerts does not necessarily correspond with performing more contemporary works and/or that the increases and decreases in both statistics are not always parallel. This is particularly the case for the American orchestras, who often perform a single program three or four times in a week, versus the Northern European orchestras who will only perform a program once or twice. One example is the Philadelphia Orchestra, who performed contemporary music in slightly fewer concerts from the 2020/21 to 2021/22 seasons, yet performed more contemporary works. This was the result of programming multiple contemporary works in the same in the same program(s). The opposite happened with the HKO in the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons - the orchestra performed contemporary music in many more concerts between these two seasons, but there was only a slight increase in the total number of contemporary works played. This was the result of the HKO performing a single program three or four times in fall 2020 to adjust to COVID restrictions on audience capacity in public events in Helsinki. Tours also affect comparisons between concert percentages and total works performed, creating situations when an orchestra might perform a single contemporary work five or more times.

In examining the American data in Graph 3, we see that for the NYP, CSO and BSO, the percentage of symphony orchestra concerts featuring contemporary music and the number of contemporary works performed per season run roughly in parallel. Rather than simply performing more or fewer contemporary works in the same proportion of concerts, increases correspond to these orchestras performing more contemporary works in more concerts. By contrast, the Los Angeles Philharmonic have consistently featured around the same (high) number of contemporary works between 2018 and this season, yet the percentage of concerts featuring a contemporary work over the last five years has ranged from 40% to nearly 60%. Despite a drop in the percentage of concerts with contemporary repertoire of nearly 10% from last season 2021/22 to this season 2022/23, the actual number of works performed by the LAP has been the same (22 works). And while the BSO performed contemporary repertoire in the highest proportion of their concerts this 2022/23 season, they did not perform as many contemporary works as the LAP and NYP.

Like the data from Graph, the Northern European data in Graph 4 shows more steady contemporary programming practices from season-to-season. Two exceptions would be the RSO and HKO, who both significantly increased the proportion of concerts featuring contemporary music and increased the number of contemporary works performed this season. Whether this simply a variable year, or whether this increase sustains or continues remains to be seen. Because the Northern European orchestras (with the exception of HKO in the fall 2020, as mentioned) play each program only once or twice, the data trend lines from Graphs 2 and Graph 4 run roughly parallel. Since the 2018/19 season, only the LAP, FRSO, and HKO have played more than 20 works per season. This season 2022/23 was the first season an orchestra (HKO) performed more than 35 contemporary works. This is particularly notable because the Finnish orchestras play roughly half the number of concerts per season as the LAP.

Graph 5

Graph 6

The number of commissions made by each orchestra seasonally is shown for the US and Northern European orchestras in Graphs 5 and 6. Data over the previous six seasons has demonstrated that most of the American orchestras surveyed commission more works yearly than their Northern European counterparts. Even in Finland where, on average, the most contemporary music has been performed. There are two possible factors. The first is the existence of a ‘composer-in-residence’ position in all the American orchestras except the Boston Symphony. This composer-in-residence position often guarantees a certain number of commissions from a particular composer or composers, in addition to other commissions the orchestra might undertake. While the NYP does not currently have a composer-in-residence, their ambitious Project 19 will generate and premiere nineteen new works by female composers. Similarly, the Pan American Music Initiative launched by the LAP in the 2021/22 season aims to commission at least thirty new works through five seasons. In Northern Europe, on the other hand, there are no composer-in-residence positions. The types of composer festivals that exist at the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and the Finnish Radio Orchestra are unique and very short-term. The second contributing factor to commissioning in Northern Europe is that these orchestras are publicly as opposed to privately funded, which means the orchestra budgets are much smaller. Additionally, there is much more extensive public and private foundational support for supporting composers in Northern Europe than there is in the United States. While a large orchestra commission from any of these twelve orchestras would be hugely important professionally for any composer, there is less reliance on the orchestras themselves for the creation of new repertoire in Northern European compared to the United States.

Featured Composer and Commission Projects 2022/23 Season

NYP: Project 19 (launched February 2020, ongoing)

CSO: Jessie Montgomery, Composer-In-Residence

CLE: Bernd Richard Deutsch, Composer fellow

PHIL: Gabriela Lena Frank, Composer-In-Residence

LAP: Pan-American Music Initiative (launched 2021/22), John Adams “Creative Chair” since 2009

FRSO: Brett Dean composer festival, Musica Nova - March 2023

HKO: Musica Nova Festival - March 2023

RSP: Stockholm International Composer Festival - Olga Neuwirth, Stockholm Composer Weekend - Tobias Broström

Graph 7

Graph 8

In the course of these reports, one distinction between American and Northern European commissioning practices has been the tendency for Northern European orchestras to consistently commission from national composers. While they tend to commission fewer works overall, the Northern European orchestra’s prefer to commission composers from their home country for at least 50% of all commissions on average. The Finnish orchestras in particular commission Finnish composers at least 75% of the time. Of the Northern European orchestras, the SRSO, DRSO and OPO commission the least from national composers. The American orchestras in this survey have more varied approaches. For example, the LAP has commissioned the most new works of all twelve orchestras in this study, however they have commissioned American composers for only around 40% of them. The Philadelphia Orchestra is the only American orchestra surveyed that has commissioned American composers for over 60% of commissions over the last six seasons. And though the CSO plays the least amount contemporary music of these six American orchestras, they commission American composers at least 50% of the time every season. The NYP has increased its focus on American composition in commissioning since 2017 (though it fell slightly this 2022/23 season), while the BSO and CLE have varied widely from season-to-season.

This trend is also reflected in the composer-in-residence and composer spotlight projects of some of these orchestras. Amongst the six American orchestras, the LAP has the oldest composer-in-residence program started in 1981. The LAP has had five composers-in-residence who have all been American (and male). John Adams was the most recent composer-in-residence (appointed in 2009) and he now serves as Creative Chair of the orchestra . The CSO started their composer-in-residence program in 1987 with eight out of eleven composers being American. The Philadelphia Orchestra began its composer-in-residence program in 1989, but there are no historical records with a comprehensive list of their past composer fellows (the most recent two, Gabriela Lena Frank and Hannibal Lokumbe, have been American). The Cleveland Orchestra’s composer-in-residence program was started in 1999 and only three composers of the ten chosen have been American. And the most recent composer-in-residence program was initiated at the NYP in 2009 by Alan Gilbert. The NYP has only had three composers-in-residence - Magnus Lindberg (FIN), Christopher Rouse (US) and Esa-Pekka Salonen (FIN). In Europe, the only similar composer-centric and commission-centric projects are the Stockholm International Composer Festival and the Stockholm Composer’s Weekend at the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. The Composer Festival started in 1986 has tended to feature more non-Swedish composers, with its focus on the international contemporary music scene. The Composer’s Weekend launched in 2006 and has focused entirely on Swedish composers, or composer who work in Sweden. In Finland, the FRSO has a composer festival every year that usually focuses on an international composer. And there are usually concerts by both the FRSO and HKO in the spring of every season that correspond with the composers featured in the Musica Nova Festival.

By extension, we can also examine the percentage of total contemporary works performed by each orchestra that have been composed by national composers.

Graph 9

Graph 10

The data in Graphs 9 shows similar trends to the Graph 7, but on a larger scale. When we zoom out of just commissions to total contemporary works played, we see that the preference for American or international composers is usually reflected in total contemporary programming practice. This is more exaggerated for the orchestras who play fewer contemporary works overall, like the CSO and CLE. As the NYP has commissioned more American composers since 2018, they have also programmed more existing works by American composers. The PHIL has consistently sought American composers for a high percentage of its commissions, and has increased its overall programming of contemporary American works since the start of this study. And the LAP has commissioned from and performed fewer contemporary works by American composers overall than its American peers during the course of this study.

Commissioning and general contemporary programming approaches differ for the Northern European orchestras. While the FRSO, HKO and RSP perform a large amount of contemporary repertoire, the amount they perform by national composers varies greatly from season-to-season. On average, the FRSO and DRSO play the most amount of contemporary works by national composers, while the OPO and SRSO play the least. However, the amount of variation from season-to-season makes overall conclusions difficult to make.

MOST FREQUENTLY PERFORMED COMPOSERS

The data presented here can also be analysed to calculate the most frequently performed contemporary composers. Overall, the most frequently performed contemporary composers during the 2022/23 season across all twelve orchestras were:

  1. Thomas Adès (10 works, 7 orchestras)

  2. John Adams (7 works, 6 orchestras)

  3. Esa-Pekka Salonen (7 works, 6 orchestras)

  4. Anna Thorvaldsdottir (5 works, 5 orchestras)

  5. Jimmy Lopez Peru (4 works, 4 orchestras)

  6. Anna Clyne (4 works, 4 orchestras)

  7. Unsuk Chin (4 works, 4 orchestras)

In the United States, the most frequently performed American composers were:

  1. John Adams (5 works, 4 orchestras)

  2. John Williams (6 works, 2 orchestras)

  3. Jessie Montgomery (4 works, 2 orchestras)

  4. Julia Wolfe (3 works, 3 orchestras)

  5. Caroline Shaw (2 works, 2 orchestras)

  6. John Luther Adams (2 works, 2 orchestras)

And the most frequently performed international composers by the American orchestras were:

  1. Thomas Adès (8 works, 5 orchestras)

  2. Esa-Pekka Salonen (3 works, 3 orchestras)

  3. Andrea Tarrodi (3 works, 3 orchestras)

  4. Felipe Lara (2 works, 2 orchestras)

  5. Unsuk Chin (2 works, 2 orchestras)

  6. Anna Clyne (2 works, 2 orchestras)

  7. Jimmy Lopez (2 works, 2 orchestras)

Finally, the most frequently performed (international) composers by the Northern European orchestras were:

  1. Anna Thorvaldsdottir (3 works, 3 orchestras)

  2. Unsuk Chin (3 works, 3 orchestras)

  3. Brett Dean (5 works, 2 orchestras)

  4. Anna Clyne (2 works, 2 orchestras)

  5. Jimmy Lopez (2 works, 2 orchestras)

  6. John Adams (2 works, 2 orchestras)

Amongst the American orchestras, there was not a lot of crossovers between contemporary composers performed by different orchestras. Nor were there similarities to be found regionally. The NYP, BSO and PHIL are all east coast orchestras in close proximity to each other, however they performed works by different composers. The NYP and BSO both performed compositions by Wolfe, Shaw, and Adès, while the NYP and PHIL both performed John Adams and Adès. But this is hardly indicative in any shared aesthetic programming practice or taste. Between the two midwest orchestras - the CSO and CLE - there was no crossover whatsoever. In Finland, the FRSO and HKO performed works by seventeen different composers with no overlap between orchestras. Both orchestras did, however, perform works by Chin, John Adams, and Adès.

Finally, the overwhelming presence of Finnish conductors in American orchestras this season and their role in performing a large amount of contemporary repertoire could not go unnoticed. Finnish conductors have always been a large presence in American orchestras - Osmo Vänskä led the Minnesota Orchestra from 2003 until 2022 and Esa-Pekka Salonen was the music director of the LAP from 1992 to 2009 and was composer-in-residence of the NYP from 2015-2018. This 2022/23 seasons, 24% of all contemporary repertoire performed by the NYP was performed by Finnish conductors. In the CSO, 31% of contemporary repertoire was conducted by Finns. And in the LAP, 23% of contemporary repertoire performed this season was led by Finnish conductors. In the United States, programming decisions are primarily made by the Music Director and president of the orchestra, with varying influence from orchestral musicians. However, visiting conductors can influence the programs they conduct, in some orchestras to some degree. Whether or not the repertoire decisions were made by these Finnish conductors and to what degree cannot be determined, however the musical and creative responsibility for contemporary music performance assigned to these Finnish conductors is noteworthy.

CONCLUSIONS

It goes without saying that orchestras are still feeling the effects of COVID economically as well as structurally when it comes to planning with certainty and audience turnout. Last season 2021/22 still included a lot of rescheduled performances and content from the disrupted 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons. This season could be considered the first “normal” post-COVID orchestral season, but one cannot say for sure (or yet, as it is only December). What can be said is that COVID did not disrupt contemporary music programming as much as might have been anticipated. If the (particularly American) belief in the risky nature contemporary music programming had been strong, then one would have seen a large drop off in contemporary music programming as times for orchestras became uncertain. The opposite has happened, with large increases in contemporary programming by the PHIL and BSO and large, long-term commissiong projects by the NYP and LAP. This has been evident even the CLE and CSO, who have historically performed less contemporary music than their American peers. In Northern Europe, the Finnish orchestras in this survey continue to program and perform the most contemporary repertoire. The RSP also has increased its contemporary programming over the last three seasons, after decreasing it during the first three seasons of this survey. The SRSO has been steadily declining its contemporary programming and performance, while the DRSO and OPO vary from season-to-season but have stayed steady on average.

This study has also been examining decisions made by these orchestras to focus on contemporary works by national or international composers. In the United States over six seasons, the trend line of American contemporary compositions programming (of total number of contemporary works performed) has remained flat for the New York Philharmonic (average of 49.9% over six seasons) Cleveland Orchestra (32.3%), Boston Symphony (52.3%) and Los Angeles Philharmonic (43.8%). The CSO has slightly decreased its performance of American contemporary compositions over six seasons and the Philadelphia Orchestra has increased their performance of American contemporary compositions. However, this study has shown that the PHIL and CSO perform a much higher percentage of American contemporary composition, on average, than the other American orchestras surveyed.

In Northern Europe, the SRSO, DRSO and RSP have decreased the percentage of national contemporary composers performed over the course of six seasons. The FRSO, who consistently commission the highest percentage of national composers, perform Finnish contemporary composers around 50% of the time on average. The HKO has increased it performance of Finnish contemporary composers across the last three seasons, while the OPO average has remained flat (34.8%).

Finally, the survey of most performed contemporary composers can offer some insights into popularity of aesthetic styles as well as the more widespread American preference for European contemporary composers over American ones. In the United States, three of the top four most performed contemporary composers were European (Thomas Adès, John Adams, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Andrea Tarrodi). Despite the huge number of contemporary American composers per capita in the US, their European counterparts are still more heavily programmed by most orchestras. Notable exceptions would be in the Philadelphia Orchestra and Chicago Symphony. This is in strong contrast to a country like Finland, which also has a huge percentage of composers per capita. The Finnish orchestras in this survey consistently perform a high percentage of contemporary works by Finnish composers. International composers, especially American composers, have been featured more and more by these two Finnish orchestras, but not at the expense of performing Finnish compositions.

As this study continues next season, close attention should be paid to changes arising from the announcement of new Music Directors/Chief Conductors at the NYP, CSO and HKO.

Lucy Abrams