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May 02, 2012

Audience choice - 1913 style

It was tradition during Stokowski’s tenure to end each season with a program selected by the audience. That’s why this year’s Stokowski Celebration will conclude with a concert chosen by our own concertgoers—voting for this year’s program is open via our website and by paper ballots through May 18. As we mapped out our 21st-century version of an Audience Choice contest, the question came up more than once of how Stokowski implemented his audience programs in Philadelphia almost a century ago. Sure enough, we found this fascinating clipping that describes the final selection process for Stokowski’s audience choice program with The Philadelphia Orchestra during his first season as conductor in 1913.