A Classic Situation: Men’s Reluctance to Attend Concerts

If only Rimsky-Korsakov were high-scoring forwards for the Mighty Ducks. If only Beethoven’s 9th were renamed Beethoven’s Bottom of the 9th. If only there were an over-under for the length of a concert.

Maybe then more Orange County men would flock to “Classic Encounters,” the Pacific Symphony Orchestra’s annual pitch for single guys and gals to meet each other . . . and get some culture in the process.

It’s not like no guys show up. It’s just that the numbers are running about two women for every man. That’s not a good ratio when you’re trying to convince women to show up. They’d have better luck meeting men at a pool hall.

Precisely the problem. We’re talking about women who want to meet men without having to promise them, “four-ball in the corner pocket.” These are women who want their man to know that “The Rite of Spring” is a Stravinsky ballet and not Opening Day at the Big A.

Just wrapping up its 10th season, the “Classic Encounters” program offers both winter and summer packages for singles. The idea is that lonely hearts will meet refined people of the opposite sex and that Pacific Symphony will expand its customer base.

To make it work, though, single guys must get off their couches or bar stools. Not to be pointing fingers or anything, but when it comes to cultural events (and, guys, that doesn’t mean Rotisserie League draft night), men are notoriously slow getting out of the box.

“In a couples situation, it’s often the woman who makes the decision to attend a cultural event and bring their husbands along,” says Lou Spisto, Pacific Symphony’s executive director. “So, in this situation, it may be the men who are reluctant to do it on their own or who don’t really know about how attractive and how great the women are who are coming.”

What’s frustrating to him is that you’d think Orange County would be a repository of single-male concert-goers. About half of the county’s adult population is single, education and income levels are high, and the concert packages offer shows at both the Performing Arts Center and Irvine Meadows Amphitheater.

The format of the “Classic Encounters” series is simple: Subscribers attend pre-concert parties and have a light buffet dinner or barbecue--either at the Westin or on the Irvine Meadows grounds. After that ice-breaker, the group sits together at the concert. On paper, it makes perfect sense: people of similar interests congregating in the same place.

And yet . . .

As I see it, Spisto is fighting merely, oh, 11 or 12 generations of indoctrination, in which males have been taught that sitting quietly in cushioned seating while people in tuxedos play music is akin to POW treatment. They hate to go to any event where they can’t boo. Most men get excited about a man waving a baton only when it’s handed to the anchor in a 4 x 100 relay race.

Spisto knows that, but he has to be diplomatic about it. “Women tend to be more inclined to cultural events,” he says, “men to sporting events. I don’t want to sound sexist, but that’s the way it is. I think the deal here is that if men really want to meet women, they should be showing up at our concerts.”

Over the years, the singles package has lured anywhere from 450 to 800 subscribers, Spisto says, with the “winter” season just completed drawing about 600. The 1997-98 packages offer deals as low as $145 for five parties and concerts--or, about what it costs to make two trips to the concession stand at Anaheim Stadium.

So, no, money isn’t the problem.

The upcoming summer season, which begins in July, will offer, among its four concerts, a “Tchaikovsky Spectacular” and “Mozart in Vienna.” Good luck getting men to sign up for that.

Much more promising, I think, are the winter season packages. One night is billed as “Gutierrez Plays Brahms.” Who cares if it refers to the pianist; that could easily trick at least a few dozen guys into thinking they’re going to a ballgame. Another concert is titled, “Comissiona Leads Rachmaninoff,” and that also has possibilities.

“I know there are a lot of men who listen [to classical music] at home or on the car stereo or CD players,” Spisto says. “If they’re looking to have a great time and meet people, this is a great opportunity.”

All right, sir, that’s a workable sales pitch.

Spisto is more optimistic than I about luring men out of Legends and in to Segerstrom Hall. I know these men; they are not easily budged. These are men to whom the most beautiful music in the world is the intro to “Sportscenter.”

With that in mind, Mr. Spisto, may I be so bold as to offer a marketing suggestion for the symphony hall?

As a tiny first step, would you consider allowing cigar smoking in loge seating?

Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by writing to him at The Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or calling (714) 966-7821.