The classical music concert format

This is an interesting article in a recent New Yorker by Alex Ross about how the classical music and opera concert as it is now configured came to take shape. He mentions a book I'm very fond of--HIGHBROW/LOWBROW by Lawrence Levine. In the 19th century, entertainment evenings often were put together like variety shows. In a nod to that, our opening nights at Opera Memphis are starting to feature regular after concerts. Last season we experimented with this with aristocrunkers LORD T. AND ELOISE performing after TURANDOT. In a considerably more mellow vein, folk diva Judy Collins is performing after LA TRAVIATA's opening night on October 25th.