Performing Arts 'n' Jeopardy!

on chalamet-gate, AI, and Making an orchestra season Announcement into a Competitive Nerd party

Unless you've been hiding under a very large rock lately (and really, who could blame any of us for taking shelter these days?) you've likely seen clips and/or heard about cringey bro-actor Timothée Chalamet saying some blunt words about opera and ballet while on a press junket to promote his ping-pong film.

So he doesn't want to be working in ballet or opera or 'things'. Lucky for him, working in ballet or opera is extremely unlikely to happen unless he's cast as Mother Ginger in the Nutcracker or as the Duchess of Krakenthorp in La Fille du Régiment for example.

Yes that's right. I said it.

Oh.

Snap.

(wompwomp)

I am aware that I have just engaged in some very niche and nerdy shade throwing. Plus not only is it marginally humorous or slaying in any way but also misses the point while possibly helping to make his point. It was SO FUN seeing the super creative ways ballet, opera, and even symphony organizations took to social media to troll Chalamet. The same kind of fun I had moments ago snootily listing non-professional cameo roles with a smug 'inside baseball' chuckle that immediately gave way to that frothy mix of cortisol sweat and chagrin. Because really we in the arts need to be asking ourselves why we continue to be Land of the Lost sleestaks, seemingly waiting for some noise to wake us up to connect with people (and hopefully capture them, let's be honest).

I mean, it's great that the waking up part occurs but the piranha style feeding frenzy of this latest awakening does give one pause. Those of us that are embedded deeply inside these art forms have real trouble identifying the problem in order to offer solutions - even when we can readily observe there's real reason for concern. We primarily are, and/or recently were, highly trained performers and creators who have spent untold hours alone at work honing our abilities or in the care of other highly trained perfomers and creators guiding us to hone our abilities the way they honed theirs. We are the people most qualified to deliver the art form and yet in some ways the least likely to effectively connect people with it. We can't be the only witnesses and observers and also expect the art to convey meaning if we don't spend at least as much energy and time on advocacy and education.

I think about the 'good, fast, cheap' triangle a lot - this diagram which makes it very clear why you can only ever have a maximum of two of those things even though we would love to have all three.

With the performing arts especially, nearly nothing can be produced quickly - even if it's subpar - by today's speed standards. This leaves the good and cheap vertices, and considering how generally expensive being alive is for most people this then means that the performing arts are primarily left to just one vertex of that triangle: good. That seems reasonable - to expect that a performing arts experience will be top notch - but what to do when faced with the very real problem of the glut of fast and cheap stuff widely and easily available to our greedy needy earholes and eyeballs? If there really is only one to choose this seems like the correct one, but the performing arts exist for connection to observers and we performing artists often concern ourselves with observing dangerously close to our own navals. People generally have an expectation of quality, knowledge, training, and experience when it comes to hiring for a skill they themselves don't possess. This is a big problem and it's coming for all of us in the arts, including film.

Not to defend him, but the context missing from a lot of the Chalamet backlash is important to note. He rather clunkily linked the growing issue of declining movie theater attendance - something he is clearly worried about and should be - to other art forms with similar issues affecting funding of which he is WELL aware seeing as his own family members danced ballet and he attended the LaGuardia "Fame" arts high school in NYC.

It is insanely difficult to successfully compete for people's attention in modern society, and especially challenging to use fast and cheap social media trends to adequately and authentically promote art forms that primarily live in the long-form, long-arc, 'slow' space. That doesn't mean we shouldn't use every tool in the toolbox, but it sure does present a conundrum about best and/or most effective practices and I would argue this isn't even the biggest issue.

AI and late stage capitalism have been dating and are getting excited about their marriage now that they have successfully adopted billions of babies for their dumpster fire family.

Spoiler alert. We're the adopted babies. Wide eyes, hungry to connect, inexperienced and easily dazzled.

Maybe the one thing that objectively can not be true of long-form, long-arc, 'slow' art is successfully and authentically making it faster and cheaper. This is the realm of AI supported by the worst traits of capitalism - if it's faster then more can be done, if it's cheaper then there's more profit to be had. Selling it to regular folks as a way to reduce workload is evil genius. And it's working, at least for now. AI slop is on the rise - we can observe this easily all around us - and it's becoming normalized the more we interact with the platforms that push it out to us. It's not enough to not use it - although that is a very good and essential first step to forcing ethical standards.

It's imperative that we engage in the real world with real people more often and more meaningfully, each in our own way and with commitment to community building.

The good news is this is a growing trend, especially among Gen Z and Gen Alpha who are increasingly seeking time away from screens. Recent reports show these demographic groups have been turning more often toward offline socializing, nostalgia inducing analog tech like LPs and film cameras, and hands-on creative endeavors like knitting, jewelry-making, ceramics, and painting. Remember the "Granny chic" fashion trend? It almost feels like the eye-roll response of "OK, Boomer" has morphed into an ecstatic "Okay! Boomer!!" or at least an acknowledgement that Gen X might be 'old school/old cool'.

And what is knitting, jewelry-making, ceramics, and painting if not slow art practices??

I don't pretend to have all, or even any, of the answers here. Defining the problem/s with clarity is necessary before throwing spaghetti at the wall, seeing what sticks, evaluating why, and then developing strategic short and long term approaches. There are so many wonderfully committed super qualified creative thinkers throwing themselves and their impressive skill sets at this. I'm just one person with one person's POV and that POV is possibly still too close to the center to see with any clarity of perspective. I play the viola rurl purdy. But for me that's not enough. I need connection beyond the instrument, the colleagues, or the composer. For me it's about connecting all of that with observers and building community through shared experiences.

Also, I just love the world of music and want everyone else to love it too.

It's in this spirit that I've long enjoyed delivering pre-concert talks for my home team, the Colorado Symphony. I don't pretend to be some well researched scholar but I live inside music enough to want to connect people to threads they can pull at to find their own entry points. Sometimes it's historical context, sometimes it's nerdy music theory tidbits, sometimes it's philosophical musings, but my primary objective is to make it approachable and curiosity driven. It was in this spirit that I made my devious and super nerdy plan to help announce the 2026/27 Colorado Symphony season, joined by our Music Director Peter Oundjian, by playing...

Season Brochure Jeopardy!

We officially announce our new season to great fanfare each spring, and the brochure is chock full of a head spinning amount of potential winners for people. I thought it would be fun to sort of force the audience to flip through every page of that brochure in an open book quiz to find the answers (in the form of a question!) to my clues. I offered prizes - a signed card from a member of the orchestra, crew, or staff plus a couple stickers - and a grand prize of a brand new car for the winner of a final jeopardy round. (the Hot Wheels bin at the Safeway did not disappoint!)

I vastly underestimated the bloodthirsty competition this created. Apparently, based on the speed and volume of yelling out answers, people care very deeply about nerding out at the symphony once they're in attendance. 🥇🤓🎶😎

Case in point:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uzX1hhLxG8

Good on our marketing team for effectively getting the word out. There was a nice big crowd assembled for this season announce sneak preview an hour before the start of the concert. When I told them it would be in the form of a game show the energy in the room went electric with anticipation. Afterward several people thanked me for making it fun, and for getting them excited for next season. Now, these are the people who are already activated to attend but it seems to me like this could be something they might tell friends and family about from their weekend highlights and that is certainly a win as far as I'm concerned.

Closing this post for you now, dear reader, is the brochure and the quiz to enjoy for yourselves along with a challenge - give your future self a gift from your current self. If you aren't sure about subscribing to scheduled events months in advance, consider a Flex Pass. If you haven't yet become a symphony subscriber, try a Custom Design 4, 8, or 16 concert package to mix and match any of the genres we present. If you're already a subscriber, consider adding a subscription or getting Flex Passes to another genre than your primary choice. The entire symphony season holds the possibility for you to experience joy, surprise, and wonderment in an analog space with other actual people in real life and in real time. I promise attending will increase your life points, and if you want you can crow about it on the socials to crowd out the AI slop a bit more. Bonus!

Open the brochure in a new window here.

Play Season Brochure Jeopardy below by toggling awkwardly between this window and the brochure window.

Go here when you get inspired to gift ALL THINGS SYMPHONY to your future self.

Here are the categories, into which nearly everything in the brochure could fit:

Concerts Conducted by Peter or By Someone Else

1. These two works on a joyful program feature music about the first liberator of America and the official anthem of the European Union.

2. This fantastic program, featuring the Colorado Symphony Chorus, includes a happy wedding march and a jubilant execution march.

3. This new series is Frank-ly Eclectic.

Concerts You Can Attend and Bring All Your Friends

1. Lenny, Igor, and Maury enjoy a platonic relationship on this program.

2. This absolutely gonzo musical film starring Michael Caine is being shown with your symphony playing the score synced live in the present, not the past or the future.

3. “Open the pod bay doors, Hal” this concert includes the last songs of a season that’s anything but ‘Nietzsche’.

Concerts Featuring Music by Different Composers

1. You’re WANTED at this pops program featuring “the greatest songwriter on the planet” as described by one of the greatest songwriters on the planet. 

2. This beloved family program features lots of - Duck!  It’s the oboe! 

3. It’s a good year for this genius piano themed “Rach” concert.