‘Radio silence’: Tickets not selling for ‘inspiring’ Ipswich City Orchestra Brass on Safari tour
Despite leaving spectators inspired, an Ipswich orchestra is struggling to fill seats
Ipswich
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SLUGGISH ticket sales and a lack of funding forced a local orchestra to combine two performances into one for Ipswich audiences.
Despite the “disappointing” compromise, the decision meant one of two time slots was able to be preserved, with about 50 concertgoers gathering at St Paul’s Anglican Church at 6pm on May 8.
The show was the first of an Ipswich City Orchestra tour across Ipswich, the Lockyer Valley, Somerset and Scenic Rim regions, featuring music by composers such as Camille Saint-Saëns, Modest Mussorgsky and Graeme Wright Denniss.
READ MORE: Music, painting, perspective: Quintet to take to stage
Ipswich City Orchestra secretary Julie Sibley said there was no shortage of positive feedback from the modest audience.
“When people do come, they’re all like ‘holy heck, that was just amazing’,” Ms Sibley said.
“But we’ve got to get them there first somehow.”
The brass quintet is delivering live music in its animal-themed Brass on Safari tour, as visual artists paint, allowing the sound of the music to guide their artwork.
Because the 2pm Saturday show was cancelled, two artists – Lorraine Kitching and Mieke den Otter – worked in tandem to produce two paintings.
The end results reflected the difference perspective can make.
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“They were completely different – it was interesting that they wound up using a similar colour palette but, other than that, there were two completely different styles of artwork,” Ms Sibley said.
“One is like an aquarium and almost abstract and the other is of all the animals that stuck out at her.”
Ms Sibley said an audience member had created her own artwork inspired by the performance.
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“She went home and did a watercolour herself, her impression of the concert, and posted it on social media,” she said.
“It was inspiring enough to affect another artist like that.”
Despite its reception among those who sat in the audience, the tour is not drawing enough interest.
“We had some early sales and then nothing – radio silence,” Ms Sibley said.
“(The orchestra is) still at the very beginning of building a reputation for the quality of our concerts.”
Ipswich City Orchestra formed and incorporated in 2019.
Audiences can attend the show at Esk (May 22, 2pm at the Somerset Civic Centre); Laidley (May 22, 7pm at the Laidley Cultural Centre); Beaudesert (May 29, 2pm at The Centre); and Boonah (May 29, 7pm at the Boonah Cultural Centre).
Tickets are $22 for adults, $18 for concession, $15 for students and children under 12 can attend for free.
Read more news by Ebony Graveur.
Originally published as ‘Radio silence’: Tickets not selling for ‘inspiring’ Ipswich City Orchestra Brass on Safari tour
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