Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra

This way of thinking about the music we play;fs not at all limited to the baroque. Let us take Beethoven symphonies as another example. His prize student Carl Czerny actually put metronome markings on the movements of Beethoven's symphonies, saying that these were the preferred tempos of the composer. In other words we have known for a few hundred years what speed Beethoven wanted his symphonies to be played at. But have we paid attention to his wishes? Until recently, not very often. Here is a short excerpt from the minuet of his eighth symphony by the Berlin Philharmonic under Herbert von Karajan, perhaps the most famous orchestra and conductor of the late 20th century. Notice the slow ponderous speed.

Next we have the same excerpt played by an orchestra on original instruments under the direction of Niklaus Harnoncourt, one of the pioneers of our musical "revolution." Notice how much more alive the music is played at exactly the tempo Beethoven wanted.

So, as you can see, there are many aspects to our musical revolution. The instruments, the research, the performance spaces, and most importantly the spirit of the music-making all conspire to bring the music to life in a new and contemporary way. This is far from an anachronistic exercise in museum-like performances. In fact, we have often been called the "avant-garde" of our generation of music-makers. We have been exploring new sounds, at least new to our 20th-century ears. I refer to our instruments and interpretations. We are creating from old music... new music. We have been described as creating the most exciting new esthetic in music since jazz. And we continue to be on the artistic cutting edge by exploring all sorts of collaborative media such as working with dancers, opera companies, puppets, and lots more. The baroque and classical music movement has revolutionised the way music is taught at conservatories and universities everywhere.

The Tafelmusik orchestra and choir are the undisputed forerunners of this movement in North America. And we have been able to do this because of the support of Toronto, Ontario and Canada. In the early 80s when we were starting out there was enthusiasm and money for new artistic endeavours. There was a period of enlightened Canadian pride in its culture. We certainly benefited from this favourable climate and were and are grateful for it.

Having just referred to "Canadian culture," I should say a word about that as I feel that there is often confusion about the very meaning of the word "culture." I refer especially to the unfortunate tendency to equate culture with entertainment. The aim of entertainment is to amuse and relax people. Culture is that and much much more. Culture is what defines us as a people and places us in time and space. It is what makes us Canadians at the end of the 20th century. It integrates our past, our roots, be they European, Asian, native or whatever, with our present North American reality. Our specific version of "culture" at Tafelmusik takes music from the past and makes it Canadian, contemporary, and accessible. We and our growing audiences believe firmly that the music we play is more than ever important and relevant.

Tafelmusik has proudly waved the Canadian and Toronto cultural flag around the world. We have a summer home in southern Germany where we are orchestra in residence for a prestigious international music festival. We have performed in Mexico, Venezuela, mainland China, Japan, Hong Kong, all over Europe, all over the United States and in almost every province and territory in Canada. Why does this matter? In spite of Canada's participation in the great economic conferences of the world, and even on the Security Council of the United Nations, Canada is not a well known cultural entity. Many people in Europe, the United States and Asia whom we have encountered have been surprised to discover that there is a first-class chamber orchestra in Canada. They still have the impression that Canada means mountains and lakes, Mounties and prairies, beautiful skies, hunting and national parks. But culture?

Just think for a moment what Tafelmusik, Cirque du Soleil or the National Ballet do for Canada abroad. We make the sort of links that the business :world cannot make. We speak a universal language, in our case that of music. By speaking it well, we make people worldwide sit up and take notice of Canada. With respect and with admiration. In an increasingly global world, as least economically, the role of culture is changing. Cultural identity is becoming more and more important. It is the only thing which sets us apart from others in a world where everyone eats McDonald's and wears Levis. The image Tafelmusik portrays of Canada is one of sophistication and class. Our concert tours and our 60-odd CDs which sell worldwide are free publicity for every Canadian company doing business outside the borders of Canada.

Besides performing some 50 concerts at our series at home, recording and touring internationally, Tafelmusik has a responsibility to pass on what we have learned. We need to educate children, adults and young professionals. Education therefore has become one of our most important thrusts.

For students between the age of 12 and 18, we have developed a programme where our musicians go into the schools and work with the students in their orchestras, bands and choirs. As well, we bus music students from all around the Toronto area to our performance space at Trinity St. Paul's United Church at Bloor and Spadina. There we offer concerts which are designed for these students so they will learn for example about Mozart; his life, his music, his instruments etc. These have been a great success and we can barely keep up with the demand for more of these special events which are provided free of charge to the schools and their students. Finally these junior and senior high school students are invited to come to our evening concerts for a token price of $2. We feel that that teaches them that a live concert is worth paying for, without the cost being prohibitive in any way.

For adults, we have pre-concert lectures before most of our concerts and informal talk backs after our Wednesday concerts where there is an open mike. We encourage all questions, comments and suggestions from our audience at that time. Our house programmes are informative, entertaining and educational. Even our most novice listeners feel included and involved. Perhaps it is partly due to the demographics of the baby-boomers, but we find more and more adults flocking to our concerts hungry to learn about what makes us and our music different.

For the training of young professionals, we are discussing the possible creation of a baroque institute with the Royal Conservatory of Music where I have taught for many years. This would be a training ground for orchestras such as ours. The fact is that there are more and more of these orchestras performing on original instruments, whereas there are fewer and fewer modern symphonic orchestra jobs to be had.

My job as Music Director of Tafelmusik is very different from a traditional conductor's job. First of all, I play my violin as I lead. That makes me "prima inter pares," "first among equals." I always say that it keeps me honest since I am doing the same work as the other players and another job as well. Rehearsals are a delicate balance of efficient work and open dialogue. Musicians are encouraged to contribute to the many decisions which make the music come off the page. Should we make a crescendo here or an accent there? Our listeners tell us that our performances are exciting because the musicians seem so involved, sitting on the edge of their seats and putting out a lot of energy and enthusiasm. As music director and regular guest director of other Canadian orchestras, I can attest to the importance and uniqueness of this healthy working environment on the part of our musicians.

In closing I would like to invite you all to experience a Tafelmusik concert at Trinity St. Paul's United Church on Bloor St. at Spadina. And I would welcome you to come up and see the CDs which we have brought along today. I hope to see you some time soon at a Tafelmusik concert.

Introduction by Robert J. Dechert

Lynn Haight is a graduate of Oxford University and the London Business School.

She is a chartered accountant and a certified management accountant.

Ms. Haight has worked in financial services executive management, controllership and consulting both in Canada and internationally. She has also served as chair of the Canadian Association of Management Accountants.

She is currently Senior Vice-President of Risk Management with the International Order of Forresters.

Lynn Haight has graciously agreed to address us today in the role of her "night job" as President of the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Ms. Lynn Haight to the podium of The Empire Club of Canada.

Lynn Haight

Thank you Bob.

Well you've heard from a musician about seventeenth century performance practices. Now you're going to hear from a simple insurance executive, or bean counter as we heard before, about the sort of management challenges which confront this orchestra, an enterprise operating in very modem times today.

There are several things I feel are issues that you as men and women in the business world today will be able to empathise with.

Something that keeps us on our toes all the time is the need to keep up with our revenue mix. Our revenue mix changes over a period of time. We find that corporations and foundations are turning away from the arts, and governments have been retrenching on cultural awards. Private donations have increased 9 per cent across Canada and across different types of cultural entertainment. What impact does that have on us? It means we change. Our fundraising committee changes. Brochures change. Our documentation changes. Our ads change. And of course over a period of time in an imperceptible way our programming changes slightly to respond to this. We root about like a pig looking for truffles so that we can spot trends over the next few years in order to reward and encourage donors. Foundations have helped us enormously with our education programme. Donations from individuals have more or less tripled over the last five years.

The second issue which I'd like to bring up is our capacity. Our ticket sales are 89 per cent of the total tickets available. We rescale the house periodically in order to provide 'a wider range of ticket prices. And of course we've increased the number of concerts. We have been able to maintain that comparatively high ticket sale which has been a bedrock of the Toronto season and of course our balance sheet and financial statement.

What do we know about our customers? We know where they live, we know that they're the highest educated within the Toronto Metropolitan Area. However they are not the affluent members of society. We can do some psychographics with them. We want to learn more about the audience and be able to reflect this in our programming for the future. We must also look at the next generation. We are acutely conscious of new trends in electronic media and commerce. We are extremely anxious that Tafelmusik utilise this technology but not in a manner which would offend our very loyal current audience.

We try to mitigate financial risk just like you do. This ranges from daily expense control to a predilection for predictability of income and expenses. The subscription renewal rate is 82 per cent. For similar organisations it's 72 per cent. Recurring engagements are always welcome. We are ratifying a three-year contract with our orchestra members and that will give them more security. And it gives us assurances about budgeting over the next three years.

For the last three years we've had an operating surplus-not a huge surplus but a surplus. Our accumulated deficit is reducing accordingly over the years.

Tafelmusik is run now with revenues of just under $3 million-a small business. Twenty years ago it was run by two entrepreneurial individuals. We have changed and ensure all stakeholders-the Board, management and the musicians-get involved in the decision-making processes and planning for the future.

We are drawn by foreign markets although there are snags. We had the bright idea some years ago of going to Asia in October of 1998. There were other forces at play in Asia in October, of 1998 and we lost an enormous sponsorship. The company cancelled the launch of a product which we were going to promote through Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, China, Korea and Macau. We were stuck with about four weeks to go. We changed the programme. We changed the number of musicians. We didn't sign contracts which were outstanding but not yet signed. We decided we would go to Japan because we'd promised the Japanese three years before and we would never be allowed in the country again unless we went. We went to Hong Kong because all the tickets were all pre-sold. And we went to China because of a grant from the government to assist in Canadian Sino-Canadian relationships. We nipped and tucked all the way through. I think it's fair to say that the executive of the Board and the management felt that they could get group rates at a psychiatric home by the time the trip got back but we made it through.

Consulting firms say their assets go up and down. Well so do ours. With a pickup orchestra the members arrive on the bus overnight, they play, they put on their. raincoats and they shuffle off. With Tafelmusik we have to worry about members' musical development and their ability to flourish in their artistic environment by being adequately supported and challenged by having a role put in front of them for progression up the orchestra. We have to make sure those 18 people can play as a team and not as a group of individuals who have just come together for a night. It creates a very different kind of sound and it creates a very different empathy within the orchestra as you can imagine.

When you come to Tafelmusik to listen to us you can look at the orchestra on the stage and say it is facing exactly the same kinds of typical management problems that I face in my business every day. And I hope that you will come and that you will enjoy it. Thank you very much.

The appreciation of the meeting was expressed by Montague Larkin, C.A., Past President, Canadian Opera Company, Director, Toronto Arts Council and Honorary Director, The Empire Club of Canada.