Popular Tastes

Several years ago I attended a lecture delivered to a conference of music critics on the topic of how to attract page views. The one thing I remember was that death and opera were a sure-fire draw. I thought about this while reviewing my recent Google Analytics numbers for San Francisco Symphony (SFS) concerts. I discovered that Nadine Sierra attracted a lot my attention than Yuja Wang, even though, as far as I could tell, Wang was the one who sold out at the SFS Box Office. Granted, as a former Adler Fellow with the San Francisco Opera, Sierra could claim to be a "home town favorite." Perhaps, however, that was more relevant when it came to reading about her, rather than actually attending her performance!