Take A Friend To Orchestra Month

Click here to stop by the TAFTO microsite!

Take A Friend To The Orchestra, or TAFTO, is an annual event at Adaptistration every April where more than a dozen critics, bloggers, musicians, classical music enthusiasts, and administrators writing about how average patrons throughout the country can invite friends who don’t regularly participate in live music events to a performance in your area.

Essentially, TAFTO is an opportunity for the people who care the most about classical music to participate in a proactive way; and no, you’re not simply going to get hit up to write a check or make a donation to your local orchestra.

There’s now a Take A Friend To The Orchestra microsite that features all of the TAFTO contributions and much, much more. It’s super easy to navigate and n addition to being organized by year, content is now categorized by author type (musician, manager, patron, blogger, journalist, etc.) and if the content contains audio and/or video.

Stop by and explore all the microsite has to offer!

2012 TAFTO Contributor List

  • Jonathan Becker: Chicago based uber patron and man about town. All I can say about JB is he isn’t what you might expect for  a guy that lists “Carlos Kleiber” as his Facebook profile religious view but you wish there were thousands more out there like him. In short, you can’t describe JB, you have to experience JB.
  • George Daugherty: conductor and creator of the Emmy award winning Bugs Bunny at the Symphony and Bugs Bunny on Broadway series.
  • Paul Helfrich: President; Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra (and someone who I believe is among the Top 10 execs in the field today).
  • Maura Lafferty: Chief Happiness Officer at Maura Lafferty PR, social media impresario, and culture blogger.
  • David J. Loehr: Playwright, designer, artist in residence, co-founder of Riverrun Theatre, and editor of 2AMt (seriously, there’s very little this Renaissance man doesn’t do).

20 Most Recent Contributions

  • TAFTO 2012 Contribution: David J. Loehr April 20, 2012
    I’m just going to say this up front.  The friend I’m talking about isn’t technically a friend, and I still haven’t taken him to an orchestra.  (And Drew passes out.) The first part’s easy to explain.  It’s my son.  He’s ten, and in the last few years, he’s started to pay attention to the elements [...] [...]
  • TAFTO 2012 Contribution: Maura Lafferty April 19, 2012
    When I first met Raul, I didn’t quite know what I was getting myself into. He checked me out & asked me on a date after seeing me at church, and I was in the middle of a cross-country visit to DC. Our very first conversation revealed that he was everything I wasn’t in high [...] [...]
  • TAFTO 2012 Contribution: Jonathan Becker April 18, 2012
    My whole life, I’ve worried that my Cleveland Browns would be in the Super Bowl the same night my hometown orchestra was performing Mahler’s 9th symphony. It’ll never happen, but what would I do? And why am I asking you?  And why are live performances of classical music so enrapturing, nine out of 10 members [...] [...]
  • TAFTO 2012 Contribution: Paul Helfrich April 17, 2012
    I’m pleased to be part of TAFTO for 2012. I have to admit, though, I’ve often been a bit cynical about the endeavor. A lot of past contributions seem to fall in one of two camps. The first group typically focuses on the evangelical power of classical music, its ability to effect sudden conversions in [...] [...]
  • TAFTO 2012 Contribution: George Daugherty April 16, 2012
    For the past 23 years, I have conducted these crazy concerts called Bugs Bunny on Broadway and Bugs Bunny at the Symphony, where we pair the greatest symphony orchestras in the world with an evening full of Looney Tunes projected on a big screen above the orchestra, and do all the great classical music/classic animation [...] [...]
  • TAFTO 2011 Contribution: Proper Discord April 25, 2011
    I've taken a lot of friends to the orchestra over the years. I'm lucky enough to work in music, and I get a lot of concert tickets, so if you know me, there's a good chance you've been introduced to an orchestra's publicist at some point as my best friend, Plus One. A lot of the time, there's a work element to attending the concert. I'm supposed to decide if the soloist is somebody my company should work with. [...]
  • TAFTO 2011 Contribution: Gerard Schwarz April 22, 2011
    I am completing my twenty-sixth, and final season as Music Director of Seattle Symphony and that has given me a chance to reflect on some events that occurred during my tenure. I would love to share with you one of my favorite stories of one individual who has become a devotee of symphonic music and classical music in general. [...]
  • TAFTO 2011 Contribution: Mark Clague April 21, 2011
    When times are tough is when we most need our friends. In the concert world, we tend not to think of friends or friendship. We are professionals, whether musicians or administrators. Our audience is made up of patrons, who support the institution’s music making through ticket purchases, donations, and maybe volunteer service. Patrons are ‘friends’ of the ensemble to be sure, but in the abstract, impersonal sense. [...]
  • TAFTO 2011 Contribution: Sean Hickey April 20, 2011
    Like others who have contributed to TAFTO in the past, when I look down my long list of friends, acquaintances and contacts, it strikes me that I don't know too many people that aren't musicians. Nearly everyone in my life is involved in music in some way, with a great number of people working as composers, performers, producers, engineers, administrators and critics. If the purpose of TAFTO is to invite someone who doesn't normally attend live concert events to a concert event, then I'm fortunate that even several of my musician colleagues fit that bill all too well. I can think of several people whose opinion on musical matters I value highly who simply don't attend concerts – be they [...]
  • TAFTO 2011 Contribution: Evan Schumacher April 19, 2011
    In 2007 two of San Diego Symphony's young musicians changed my expectations for a classical music concert. They did what many consider impossible by creating an event that stimulates long time classical music fans and at the same time being open and engaging to newcomers. [...]