Notes Towards Reinventing the American Orchestra highlighted the fragility of performing arts institutions before and during the pandemic. Issues such as declining ticket sales, low viewership, and program stagnation plagued most major orchestras for years. Tommasini sees the reopening of performing arts after COVID as an opportunity for the performing arts to rejuvenate excitement (i.e. include diverse works, alter subscription agreements, renovate performance venue, allow audience members to attend daytime rehearsals).

Professional orchestras and their critics can learn a thing or two from music educators. For years, music educators have programmed music with its student performers, stakeholders, and audience in mind. Music educators have been known to program something slow, fast, classical, and something contemporary (like wedding tradition of “somethings”). Orchestras must consider what is holding them back from programming beyond the last millennium. However, rejuvenating orchestral interest will require more than diverse programming and inclusion. Teaching during the pandemic has taught educators more about 21st century connectivity, its pitfalls, and its potential. Access to education became a focal point during remote learning. While educators and performers shifted content/performance delivery, educators also found ways to maintain students’ motivation. There are parallels between access to education and access to the performing arts.

How much do professional performing groups consider the relevance of their product to consumers? What is the mission and vision of orchestra in ten to twenty years down the road? Educators teach with the end in mind. But educators teach students in anticipation of skills needed upon graduation. Perhaps performing artists must do more to consider the interests of newer consumers (e.g., grade school students) and what educators are doing to balance classical and contemporary arts education.

The mandatory shutdown of the performing arts during COVID-19 was a shock to both professionals and the world of music education. We sought other means to engage musically with our students and audience using today's technology. Doing so meant raising serious questions about the future of music performance ensembles, approaches to maintaining musical interests in the next generation of musicians, and ensuring easy access to the arts. Professional artists, organizations, and music educators must share insight on how they engaged students during the shutdown and their efforts to welcoming this next generation of musicians into post-COVID-19 music engagement.