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My first experience of music critics was while working for a small opera company based on a farm in rural Cheshire, says Josie Aston.

The company trained many young singers who went on to become household names (in opera-loving households, at any rate). The issues surrounding critics were fairly simple. We would invite them to come. They would look at a map and swiftly discover that not only is Cheshire not near London, the venue itself was miles from the nearest mainline station. If it weren?t for a kind critic on a Sunday paper who had been friends with the artistic director?s mother, we would never have been covered at all, despite the excellent standard of the productions.

I now work for the London-based Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE) and have few problems getting critics to come to our performances. The OAE?s core repertoire is music from the 18th and 19th centuries, and musicians perform with instruments specifically suited to each period. The OAE is an Associate Orchestra of the Royal Festival Hall and Glyndebourne Festival Opera. That critics will come is in part to do with the strength of the orchestra?s reputation, but is also thanks to the hard work of our press consultants, Macbeth Media Relations and the press office at the South Bank Centre where critics can sign up on a monthly basis to the performances they wish to see.

Unlike an opera company, the OAE often gives concerts on a one-off basis ? good reviews therefore don?t have the obvious benefit of filling seats for future performances. The help they offer is more subtle. Good, well-informed reviews can validate the taste of the people who attended the concert; encourage the programming department; offer quotable material for the website and future print; and help to sell the orchestra to promoters in the UK and abroad. For example, when we?re next planning a South America tour, we can quote ?An exquisite, beautiful, refined, and near-perfect performance?, from La Nación, Argentina.

Reviews can also reassure the OAE?s supporters that they are putting money into something artistically worthwhile and help maintain the profile of the orchestra; although occasionally it can take several readings to work out if what?s been printed is a compliment or not. Witness the following from The Times: ?This orchestra makes a sound unlike any other ? violins like stretched silk, an attention to counterpoint and the minutiae of contrasting textures that swings between swooningly beautiful and annoyingly pedantic.? I?m still trying to work out how a violin could be pedantic.

Reviews can boost individual artists, complimenting players and helping their careers. Of course, there?s always a downside. One memorable example is the critic who did not notice a last-minute substitution of soloist in a concert despite programme slips, notices front of house and the fact that the two performers were of quite different appearance. At least the review was complimentary about the performer, even if it was the wrong one!

I like critics best when they not only write an intelligent comment but also make me laugh out loud. My absolute favourite is: ?The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment would probably make an electrifying noise even if they performed handcuffed at the bottom of the Thames? (The Times). Now, there?s an idea?

Josie Aston is Press and Marketing Manager for The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. t: 020 7836 6690;
w: http://www.oae.co.uk