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The Great Concert Dress Debate

Times are changing: hairstyle trends, the economy, technology, and even concert dress!

With these new times and new trends some musicians are wanting to change too.....well at least their concert dress (some things in music like classical masterpieces will never change). And the article of clothing in center spotlight of this great debate....the tuxedo.

"Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel wears one.

Hans Graf at the Houston Symphony does not.

The Juilliard String Quartet used to.

The Pavel Haas Quartet never did.

Like most fashion rules these days, the dress code for the concert stage has some give to it. For many male performers, the standard tux and tails have gone the way of the hemline. Anymore, anything goes."

"I think we are at a time when old rules are wearing down and there is a lot of creative freedom," said Chad Smith, vice president of artistic planning at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, one of the world's premier orchestras and Dudamel's new conducting home.

Sarah Rothenberg, artistic director of Da Camera of Houston and a pianist who performs across the globe, takes it one fashion step forward.

"I think tuxedos are gradually disappearing from the classical music stage, except with orchestras," she said.

Though the portrait of the male classical musician was once an artist in white tie and tails or a tuxedo, these days that view is more caricature than snapshot as performers update the look with long black tunics over pants or black slacks and shirts." [TARA DOOLEY, "To tux or not" Houston Chronicle, Nov. 19, 2009 (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/main/6729191.html)]

Why are musicians wanting freedom from the classic concert dress standard? For most, their priority is comfort. Through the years we have seen professional athletes who, wanting to improve their sport, have changed up their dress in the name of comfort and performance. Musicians are also wanting to change their performance wear for better comfort and freedom to play.

"The outfit (tuxedo) has multiple layers - shirt, undershirt, tie, vest, suspenders and jacket - that can be confining for a performer, who has to move his or her arms and body," said Matthew Dirst, organist, harpsichordist and artistic director of Houston's early music group, Ars Lyrica.

"They are hot," he said, "and when you perform under hot lights, they are not much fun to wear." (Houston Chronicle, Nov. 19, 2009.)

Another reason musicians are wanting to rethink the standard concert dress code is to bridge the gap between performers and audience members. More and more you find concert goers dressing up in their very best....jeans and t-shirt to attend the special event. Many musicians feel that if they dressed down they might erase the reputation they have with members of younger generations of being stiff, stuffy, and pretentious. Others argue that as audience members if they pay a professional price for their ticket, they expect a professional sounding as well as professional looking orchestra.

I guess the real question should be, is there a more comfortable, modern way for orchestra members to dress that still achieves the elegant, classical, and professional look? Is there an answer that would make both professional musicians, and audience members happy? Probably not, but above all it seems that concert-goers and performers alike can agree on one thing...uniformity.

"Individuality is accepted for soloists, chamber musicians or conductors, but unity is the name of the game for orchestra players.

For evening classical concerts, orchestras such as the Houston Symphony, the San Antonio Symphony, the New York Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Philharmonic stick with white tie and tails.

"There is a sense of the collective when the orchestra plays," Smith said. "When there is this shared look, it becomes about the collective." (Houston Chronicle, Nov. 19, 2009.)

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