The Philharmonic (the Nizhny Novgorod Philharmonic named after M. Rostropovich) is a concert hall specializing in classical music. It is located in the The Kremlin.
April 1, 2017 — unprecedented demand for subscriptions
Subscriptions — multi-use tickets that allow attending a series of concerts and performances throughout the season — are especially popular with older audiences.
Sales of subscriptions for the new season took place on April 1 and 2 and, for the first time since Soviet times, caused an unusual rush. More than 1,500 subscriptions were sold on the very first day. By the results of April 1, the sales leader was the "Fairy Tales with the Orchestra" concert series.
Tickets were sold both online and at the philharmonic building itself. An electronic queue was organized for them.
|
The philharmonic's website even "hung" for a while press service of the Nizhny Novgorod Region government
|
|
Reasons for the surge in popularity
Economically difficult periods are typically marked by increased attention to cultural events. This is due not only to the fact that idle commercial spaces are often taken over by galleries and exhibitions, but also to the fact that people seek to escape into a world of artistic images, away from the cyclical dwelling on everyday problems.
The direction taken by this kind of escapism is curious. During the Great Depression, for instance, Walt Disney built his fortune and his corporation in California, while in Moscow visitors suddenly created an uproar around the exhibition of Valentin Serov's paintings, even though the exhibition itself had already been running for six months beforehand without attracting much public interest.
Deputy Bochkarev objects
For Nizhny Novgorod politics, what is valuable about the situation of increased popularity of cultural events is that it has become possible to "rock the boat" of culture's popularity in any direction without much career risk, as well as to justify allocating budgets to "give people a chance to take their minds off their problems."
Thus, amendments to the 2017 budget were adopted: an additional 141.8 million rubles were allocated for the multimedia patriotic museum "Russia — My History."
|
|
I would call the allocation of funds for the multimedia museum a "feast in time of plague."
The "Fair Russia" faction did not support allocating these funds. If our social obligations are not being fully met, if there are problems providing housing for orphans, and a stalled situation regarding the disabled, veterans, and children of the war, then how can we simply hand over 140 million to a museum? Moreover, the amendments provide for allocating 4.8 million rubles for a visit by the Mariinsky Orchestra. That's wrong. I understand that holidays need funding, but let's step into the courtyards — the city is dirty. Can't we direct this money to the city, to the children of the war? As chairman of the tourism committee, I am in favor of the Nizhny Novgorod Fair developing and working well. But tourists are unlikely to go there. They won't see a single landmark, because there aren't any. Are they going to drive on bad roads specifically to this museum at the fairground? Money needs to be allocated to what matters more |
|
A "personal" bonus from the Rostropovich Philharmonic
On the evening of April 1, a gift concert, "Violoncellissimo," was arranged for the first thousand people who bought subscriptions for the new season. It was dedicated to Rostropovich Mstislav Leopoldovich. The evening ended with a screening of a film about the maestro. It included documentary footage and interviews with Russian and foreign cultural figures, rare footage from the personal archive of the great cellist and his family, and recordings of Mstislav Rostropovich's finest performances.