A network for historic guitars and vihuelas

Guitar Concert Attendance

I've been reading on classical guitar sites about dwindling concert attendance. It seems that the numbers range from 25+/- to an average of 100 or so. Even top rung performers don't do much better than that it seems. I've also noticed low numbers in my area but chalked it up to the fact I live in a relatively sparely populated part of the world.

Lute, early music groups and the like do better. We don't get many (if any at all) early romantic guitar concert artists coming through so I cannot judge what their numbers might be.

So my question is: What were the attendance numbers in your area for the last few concerts, if you remember. I'm especially interested in what our European friends have to say.

Almost every day new people join our site here. On the surface it looks like the interest in early guitars and vihuelas is on the rise, especially amongst the young players that seem to be gravitating here. I'm wondering if that is being reflected in the concert hall.

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Chris Despopoulos on April 14, 2011 at 14:30

During the Semana de Musica Antigua in Gijon Spain, there are many *free* concerts, and they are often world-class. I believe these are attended very well, not just by festival participants, but also by the average citizen. When it's time to pay for a concert, attendance has fallen. Understand that the price of everything has been climbing steadily since the introduction of the Euro. I'd guess that in the last five years ticket price has doubled. The same for most other discretionary items like dinner out, a ride on a Ferris Wheel, a book... Let's not talk about housing or groceries! And on top of that, unemployment is really high. I think people here are strapped, and one individual pays to see fewer performances than he might have 5 or 10 years ago.