planning the next concert season

I have just got in from a music society committee meeting.  Scheduling a series of five concerts in rural Suffolk can be almost as complex as a Nato military training exercise.

The seating capacity of the church is greater than that of the village hall, so we need to hold concerts by the most expensive and famous acts for which we hope and need to sell lots of extra tickets over and beyond our season tickets in the church, to make room for everybody.  And the church is more atmospheric and beautiful than the hall.

We can no longer have concerts on a Friday evening in either of our traditional venues, since there is now choir practice in the church while the village hall has a ballet class that isn't over in time for the musicians to run through beforehand and for us to set out the chairs.

We would rather use the hall than the church in the depths of winter because of the cost and difficulty of heating the church.  It's bad enough for the audience sitting there swaddled in their coats for the entire concert, but worse for the musicians trying to play their instruments with icy fingers.

Piano hire costs more on a Sunday.

Opinions among the committee members run strongly in both directions as to whether it is OK to have the same group the day after they have performed for the Ipswich music society, if they play a completely different programme.

A small music society in rural Suffolk has to fit in with the touring schedule of internationally famous chamber musicians rather than the other way round.

It is not safe to book an act for an afternoon performance following on from a morning appearance in London earlier on the same day, what with the risk of train failures, weekend engineering works, and traffic jams on the A12.

There is a financial limit to how many top class acts we can afford in any one season.  That limit is one.

The risk of weather disruption is greatest in January and February so we should avoid booking the most expensive and famous performers in those months.

It is not practicable to hold a concert in the church on a Saturday evening because everything including the stage, which is extremely heavy, would have to be cleared away that same evening ready for the Sunday service.

So in an ideal world the most expensive and famous musicians would all be available for Sunday afternoon performances in the church during October, November and March, leaving us to schedule the less expensive and not so famous performers for January and February in the cosier surroundings of the village hall.

The world is not ideal.