Resilience of Symphony Orchestras to Challenges in the COVID-19 Era

Abstract

With the growing number of orchestras and competitions from other media and popular music, orchestras are experiencing higher competition. The world's current trend of art culture is unfavorable to the growth of symphony orchestras and their development of audience base, especially under the COVID-19 pandemic. This study analyzes how Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, a professional orchestra, can retain its leading status, broaden its audience base, and remain resilient to these challenges. Porter's five force model was applied to investigate its operating environment obtained from various information sources to suggest multiple strategies to gain more audiences in local and international markets. This study contributes to discernment for symphony orchestras to implement new strategies to gain resilience from the unprecedented difficulties. Scant studies focus on the marketing and operations of symphony orchestras during the COVID-19 era, especially in East Asia.