2009 Orchestra Website Reviews: Reader Ratings
The basics.
You can submit one star rating for each orchestra and leave an unlimited number of comment reviews. You do not need to leave a comment in order to submit a star rating but you are encouraged to do so.
What criteria should I use to rate orchestra websites?
There are no hard and fast rules and you are encouraged to use whatever criteria is most important to you. The official Orchestra Website Review criteria is based entirely on quantifiable elements that contribute to how well a website presents their concert schedule, sells tickets, facilitates making donations, provides organizational information, utilizes dynamic content, and on overall content and functionality. However, you are free to include elements such as color schemes, font selection, etc.
If you are interested in learning about all of the details included in the Orchestra Website Review criteria, a subscription to Adaptistration Premium will provide the data you’re looking for along with additional review details not included in the standard reviews published here.
What makes a good comment review?
- Don’t submit unqualified judgments. Saying “I like it” or “I hate it” isn’t as useful as saying why and how you arrived at your conclusions.
- User experience is subjective based on hardware and software. As such, leave some basic information about your point of contact with each website, the big three include: computer (Mac/PC), operating system (Mac OS X, Windows Vista, etc.), and browser (FireFox 3.5, Internet Explorer 8, Safari 4, etc.)
- Write a one-two sentence summary and use that as your first paragraph; include the name(s) of the orchestra and the date(s) you visited the site and additional details thereafter.
- Be fair and honest in your judgments. It isn’t likely that you’ll go through every page of an orchestra’s website so make sure to mention which pages you visited and that your rating/review is based on those parameters.
- Do not accept payola to leave a good rating/review. This includes complimentary concert tickets.
- Avoid conflicts of interest: If you work for or receive compensation from an orchestra you’re reviewing, mention it. There’s nothing wrong with a stakeholder leaving a review of their respective orchestra’s website; in fact, taking pride in your organization is something to be proud of.
How long can my review be?
There is no limit, but most of your fellow readers won’t take the time to read exhaustively long reviews.
Can I reply to someone else’s review?
Absolutely, in fact; if you represent an orchestra discussed in a review and wish to respond with additional information, etc. click the “Reply” link located immediately below the respective comment. This will insert your reply immediately below the original comment. You can keep track of new comments by subscribing to the comment RSS.
If you disagree with someone’s review, you can post your own review with your perspective. Healthy debates are encouraged but remember the basic rules of good comments. Be civil, be polite, and be articulate.
How can I get my picture to show up next to my reviews/comments?
This is super easy, just getting a Gravatar account; click here for more details.
US Orchestras
CANADIAN ORCHESTRAS
Adaptistration is authored by orchestra consultant Drew McManus and since its launch in 2003, the blog has become standard reading for arts administrators and arts administration programs throughout the world.
CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA-Very informative website. Liked the links to the Civic Orchestra of Chicago (yes, I’m a Civic alum) and the CSO chorus, as well as links to the Symphony Store (good chance to add to my CSO recording collection-yay!) Pretty easy to navigate and locate info. Really liked the online donor page-very easy to navigate, and they included info on matching contributions. Fairly easy to find contact info. I wish they had links to bios for every musician, not just their “featured” musicians.
ELGIN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA-I would consider this an acceptable website, but not outstanding. No real “wow” factor. Trying to find info on concerts a tad confusing, but ordering tickets online was fairly easy. Good to see info about dining options, etc. in downtown Elgin-very helpful for those not familiar with Elgin. Hard to find info on musicians-just a list of the musicians, no bio info on any of them, not even the concertmaster. Contact info hard to find.
PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA-What a disappointment. I would expect the website of an orchestra of their artistic stature to be much better. This website started off on the wrong foot by the loooong time it took to load the page. I would have expected the website to be more engaging than it was. It wasn’t bad, but it just wasn’t very interesting. For an orchestra of Philadelphia’s caliber, I find that highly disappointing. No real system for online donations-just a link where you can click and download a PDF form. Come on, if ROPA orchestras have figured out how to accept online donations, surely Philadelphia can do likewise. Navigation was very difficult and confusing, and again, there was the issue with the long page loading times. The bright spot was the info on the musicians-you could click on each musician’s name to get bio info.
OMAHA SYMPHONY ORCHESTERA-Disappointing. My first reaction when loading the home page was “Blech.” The home page did not inspire me to do further exploration on the website-it wasn’t very interesting or engaging. Concert schedule was hard to find. Contact info was VERY hard to find-tiny little letters at the bottom of the home page. Navigation was confusing.
SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY-My first reaction was “WOW!” Visually appealing from the start-very engaging, very interesting. I WANTED to spend lots of time on the website! Very easy to find information on upcoming concerts, and to order tickets online-both single tickets and season subscriptions. Loved the link right on the home page to make a donation. The donation page made it very easy, listing donation categories, employer matching contributions, etc. The musician’s section was the best I’d seen-biographical information, plus a short interview to get to know the musicians as people. Bravo, SFSO webmaster-great job!
Thanks Martha, great reviews and a very nice cross section!
AUSTIN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA-Visually pleasing and engaging home page. Good information on attending concerts, including parking, dining options, and information for patrons with disabilities. Locating concert information was a tad confusing at first, but once I located it the information was good. When ordering tickets the seating chart immediately comes up, which is very helpful. There were musician bios of only 2 musicians (the concertmaster and assistant concertmaster). Complete contact information-web form for contacting administrative staff (has a pull-down menu to direct message to the appropriate department). Good use of video on the website. The Austin Symphony is running a fundraiser in conjunction with Amazon.com, and the Amazon link on their home page was most helpful. While there is a complete description of options for contributions, there is no mechanism in place for making online donations to the orchestra.
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA-Home page was visually attractive. I liked the photos of individual musicians being displayed as prominently as the music director’s on the home page. However, I found this website frustrating and difficult to navigate. You would hover your mouse over a section, and a pull-down menu would appear. If you didn’t hover exactly right over the option you wanted, the menu would disappear. It took several attempts for me to get to some pages. No snail mail address listed on the website-at least I couldn’t find it. Not good. I thought the online ticket process was confusing. Complete bios for all musicians.
HOUSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA-The home page was not very attractive-it didn’t grab my attention. I liked the ability to exchange tickets online, as well as the detailed ticket policies. No musicians bios-which I find unacceptable for an ICSOM orchestra.
ST. LOUIS SYMPHONY-I wasn’t exactly blown away by the home page, but as I navigated my way through the website I liked it more and more. Very user friendly website. User-friendly pages for ticket purchases and donations. I liked the ability to download and print a complete list of donor benefits. Musician bios for all musicians. Snail mail (a post office box) and physical address were easy to find on the home page. Easy navigation throughout the website.
WICHITA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA-Not very engaging-nothing on the website really grabbed my attention. When I clicked to order tickets, a new window opened up, which took a long time to load. For online donations the web form had a space where contributors could designate a fund, but no listing of the funds available, much less an explanation. The only bios were of the conductors (music director and music director designate)-no bios of any musicians, no bios of any of the administrative staff. You do have the ability to e-mail individual musicians. There was one group picture of the administrative staff outside their concert hall, some of whom had their dogs with them.
I am trying to vote and it doesn’t seem to process for certain Orchestras. For example, Philadelphia.
Also, regarding Martha’s comment about there not being an online donation form for Philadelphia, I was just on philorch.org and there are three red pledge online buttons. The ‘Donate Online’ link appears in the header of every page.
Please let us know when the voting mechanism has been fixed.
Sue: thanks for the note and I double checked the system but it appears to be working fine. Odds are you’ve encountered the spam protection feature that prevents one person from voting over and over again. If anyone from your computer (or work computer if all consoles share the same IP address) has voted, you won’t be able to vote again. I know that might put some folks that want to vote from the same IP address in a bind but my advice is wait until you are home and try voting from a personal computer.
Finally, If you have any sort of javascript blocker in place, that is likely preventing the script from running (again, another provision related to preventing spam voting). If after clicking a star rating to cast a vote, do you see message before the “thank you for casting your vote” message? If so, what does it say? I tried to send you this message via your email address but since you left “none@none.com” I doubt it will go through
As such, I hope you check the comment thread here and this info leads you to a solution.