San Francisco Symphony Blog Outreach: The Experience

Bloggers’ Night at the San Francisco Symphony

Last week, I was one of the few lucky bloggers who were invited by the San Francisco Symphony to their first Blogger’s Night for their “Classical Romance” program. See all the photos from the SF Symphony here.

I’ll post first about the music and follow-up with a review of how the SFS Public Relations team conducted their blog outreach later. So if wish to learn more about my experience as a audience member at the symphony read on, otherwise wait from my follow-up on the PR/marketing perspective.

Fellow Bloggers in the SFS’ Press Room

The Music: James Gaffigan, Gabriela Martinez and Rachmaninoff

First off, I was very surprised how different classical music sounded in an actual symphony hall compared to listening to HD-CD on a high-end stereo. Yes, I know it was going to be different – but not this different. The music was warm and textured with the audience members easily getting carried away with every note, the musical sway of the orchestra, and every turn of James Gaffigan’s (the conductor) baton.

The symphony began with Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo & Juliet” and Strauss’ “Don Juan”. Both two very recognizable classical numbers, which sadly has been long abused and overplayed in popular culture. While I enjoyed the aural experience of the music, I wasn’t too fond of the songs themselves because they were so overplayed.

Q&A Session with James Gaffigan (middle) and Gabriela Martinez (right)

Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with Gabriela Martinez

The Symphony finished with Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3, known for the demanding technical skill and endurance required on the pianist to perform.

Gabriela Martinez (yes a MySpace link), a 23-year pianist from Venezuela, took to the piano. She recently graduated from Juillard in May and rehearsed Rachmaninoff only once before. Martinez stage presence was incredible as her ability to play; indeed, Rachmaninoff’s concerto sounded like something that required a creature with 3-4 hands and the endurance of a train athlete to perform. During Q&A, Martinez mentioned she drank 4-5 Gatorades before in preparation of performing.

The chemistry between James Gaffigan, the young and spirited conductor, and Martinez was obvious and endearing. Gaffigan and Martinez has a readily apparent chemistry throughout the performance, with both of them casually making eye contact and smiling at each other.

Conclusion: Go check out the Symphony

While I got the tickets free this time around (hurray for blogging), I would love to come back to the Symphony again. Maybe for some Bach violin sonatas or Shostakovich. I don’t know what it’s like at your local symphony, but while I did have the initial apprehensive feeling of “oh no, I’m in a stuffy symphony” – the atmosphere was far more casual than I thought and had none of the Old World pretentiousness that I feared.

Disclosure

Yes, the fine folks at the San Francisco Symphony did give me two free tickets to the Symphony, and the same goes for other bloggers present that night. While blogging about the event was strongly encouraged, there was no demand for us to blog or to blog positively about the experience. Indeed, some bloggers that night gave a mixed review. Also, they gave us free milano cookies. ;)

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