The European National Court Philharmonic Orchestra, which has a history of more than 400 years, is actually counterfeited by passers-by?
At the beginning of the new year, New Year's concerts were carried out in various places, looking at the domestic market with a hundred flowers blooming, but it fell into the "water group" turmoil.
It all started at the end of last year. On December 22, at the Shijiazhuang Grand Theater in Hebei Province, the "Royal Belgian Philharmonic Orchestra" was staging a New Year's concert. After the performance, many audience members shouted "refund tickets" and complained that the performance was too "watery", which caused heated public opinion.
Why is the seemingly serious royal court orchestra questioned about the water group?
According to the audience, this is a "net worth" that started with a "very poor performance experience".
According to the ticket stub posted by the audience, the ticket price for the performance is not low, divided into five stalls of 80 / 180 / 280 / 380 / 580 yuan↓↓↓
But the high ticket price did not come in exchange for high quality.
On the night of December 22nd, the performance scheduled for 7:30 o'clock took 20 minutes for everyone to check in and enter the venue, and everyone waited in the leaky hall because "the orchestra equipment and instruments were not properly adjusted"...
After waiting for a long time in the cold wind, the audience was already complaining, but they did not expect that the worse experience was yet to come: according to the audience, the whole performance was repetitive, and the quality of the performance was low: "Even amateurs can hear that the orchestra's performance level is far from what they expected." ”
"And what is supposed to be a good symphonic classical concert, the real performer does not appear for half a day, up to 50 minutes, and there is only one tenor and harp player on the stage, and it is not until half past eight that the performer takes the stage, and the music played skips several pieces directly" (@小红书: The Travels of the Beautiful Mother)↓↓↓
After this terrible performance experience, the audience called for a refund, and then the Shijiazhuang Grand Theater issued an apology statement, saying that because the actors were "ill", they would give a full refund for the poor quality of the performance, and another concert of the orchestra in Foshan was also cancelled↓↓↓
Although the apology was true, netizens didn't buy it, and began to dig deep into this orchestra with amazing performances.
I didn't expect this pickup, it's really amazing: it turns out that this is a "complete false propaganda".
On the poster of the "Royal Belgian Philharmonic Orchestra", it is indicated that the real body t Muziek Frascati", after checking by netizens, it was learned that they are a musical group from Leuven, Belgium, composed of preparatory students and amateurs.
It is clear that in 400 years of history, the "royal" is nothing, but the official sources use it for propaganda.
The original name of the orchestra is Frascati Symphonic, that is, the Frascati Symphony Orchestra, which has also become "Royal Belgian Philharmonic Orchestra" in the translated Chinese version↓↓↓
In such a Chinese word game, Chinese music fans have become leeks for the "European water group".
1. "Water Mass" is rampant, and the audience avoids it
Let's first popularize the general definition of "water troupe": water troupe refers to an orchestra (@小红书: villain classical) that is mostly registered overseas, lacks performance experience, and is even temporarily formed by foreign amateurs.
To put it in layman's terms, the water troupe is not the same as an unknown orchestra and a non-professional orchestra, but an orchestra that actually has no level and still uses golden signboards to defraud consumers.
And the Belgian orchestra that made a big deal this time is not alone.
As early as in the post of Xiaohongshu blogger @villain classical, the phenomenon of "water groups running rampant" at the New Year's concert in China has been exposed.
Earlier, a group called "Deutsche Symphonie Orchestra Berlin" came to Shanghai to perform, but netizens found through investigation that this orchestra has nothing to do with the various tall slogans in the promotional materials↓↓↓
For example, the organizer advertised that the soprano is Marika, who is known as the "goddess of European opera", and said that she has performed in world-famous theaters such as the Scala Theater, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and the Royal Opera House in Barcelona
But after an investigation by netizens, it was found that in fact, she graduated from the Bari Conservatory of Music in Italy with a major in chamber music and venue, and has never sung in the Metropolitan or the Barcelona Theater, and the most noteworthy resume is that she was a choirist in the production of "Madama Butterfly" at the Opera House in Rome...
And the tenor Talamo, whose propaganda says "Carreras Domingo says he has Pavarotti", is even more false propaganda, and the tenor has barely worked since 2019.
And S.Michael Johannesz, who is known as the world's master conductor, is also very funny, and there is no such person at all↓↓↓
"Water troupes" are not at all exclusive to classical concerts, and the ballet world abounds.
For example, the "Royal Ballet of Russia", which has become popular in China for "subject three" before, is also ridiculous - after all, there is no royal family in Russia at all!
In fact, as early as this time, before the Shijiazhuang music fans angrily shouted for a refund, audiences across the country have been "suffering from the water group for a long time", and there is an endless stream of posts to step on thunder and share experience.
"It's just a grass platform team";
"You must remember to take a detour, if you can save one, it is one";
"Blowing overseas famous groups in China, and making people overseas according to tour groups" - where does this confidence come from to make money in China?
2. Who gives the living soil to China for money?
Why do "water troupes" gather frequently? The direct cause must be that "the performers are not virtuous."
"Since the 90s of the last century, there have been performers in China who have been doing the business of 'water troupes', and they have taken advantage of the Chinese audience's yearning for foreign orchestras, thinking that as long as they are foreign, it is fine. In this way, a large number of foreign orchestras that impersonated and changed their names and resumes went to China to make money. ”
The sword goes off the rails, and the truth is the status quo of many immature performers.
Such performers have an opportunity to take advantage of China's immature classical music market.
In many second- and third-tier cities, there are a large number of audiences who like classical music but have no experience in appreciating it. Limited by the theater space and the allocation of resources, it is difficult for them to get in touch with the orchestra that actually enters the theater, so they can only settle for the next best.
At the same time, in terms of the current situation of the popularization of classical music, it is difficult for many audiences to understand some repertoire that is too difficult to understand. For example, some netizens commented: Listen to a lively atmosphere, although it is very watery, but it is very happy↓↓↓
This conflict between audience demand and resource scarcity gives performers the opportunity to take advantage of the situation.
And although there are also water groups abroad, such as in Berlin and Vienna, it is common to see musicians wearing wigs and handing out flyers to attract tourists - relatively speaking, the classical music literacy that Chinese audiences urgently need to grow up has given the "water group" a greater soil for survival.
The second is the business model of domestic theaters.
Because many theaters and concert halls perform in the form of rented venues, the theater will lose its say in the content of the performance and become a soulless carrier, especially during the New Year's concert, the rent will be increased accordingly, and it can make a lot of money, let alone censor the content.
In essence, it is still a market of false prosperity, and everything is done for profit.
3. How to identify a water mass?
"It's hard to get scammed if you do your homework. ”
Netizens also gave various experience posts on social platforms.
First, we must keep an eye on it: for example, when we see the words "royal", "philharmonic" and "court", we must be extra vigilant, and when we see the words "New Year's concert", we must also have a clear awareness, most of the famous European troupes will choose to hold New Year's concerts in their own countries;
But this is obviously too much for beginners: they don't have enough experience to be able to discern every time.
There are many bloggers on the Internet who provide scientific methods, and the most practical is to make good use of search engines: when you see an orchestra, you can enter the English name to search, if you find that there are no search results, then it is a "water group", the probability is very large↓↓↓
The mentality of ordinary listeners who are willing to contact art is not terrible, in fact, it is worth encouraging, and because of this, "water balls" need to be valued.
The experience of "buying a fake product with full expectation and feeling like it is nothing more than that" is a vicious circle for the entire cultural industry.
It is worth mentioning that "fighting fake water groups" does not mean that all amateur orchestras are killed with a stick, as long as the ticket price is reasonable and the publicity is real, such exchanges will not be completely boycotted.
False propaganda and mismatched goods should be rectified.
And the status quo of "water groups piling up to make money in China" is by no means only dependent on the audience's discernment to recognize the chaos.
Do you have any experience of stepping on thunder "water masses", or have you had the experience of identifying "water masses"? Welcome to share.