Motivation and preferences of classical music concert attendants

The aim of this thesis is to analyse the motivation and preferences of classical music concert attendees on the basis of the authors own quantitative and qualitative research, and to formulate the results into strategic recommendations for the management of music organisations that are looking to address the problem of low or decreasing attendance. Four important Prague-based ensembles - the Czech Philharmonic, the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the FOK Prague Symphony Orchestra participated in the questionnaire survey, and a total of 1218 respondents across the four organizations served as the subject of analysis. The theme is interdisciplinary, and this works contribution to the field of music management is also summarized and connected to knowledge from other fields - marketing, dramaturgy, sociology, and particularly psychology, from which Csíkszentmihályis concept of a fully concentrated experience, called flow, is crucial. Statistical testing has confirmed the elementary premise of this work: The concert attendee who usually experiences flow during a classical music concert tends to attend concerts more often than others. The existence of a relationship between the audiences cultural capital (represented by musical education) and flow has also been confirmed. Furthermore, a relationship between genre preferences and flow has been found. In summary, a managerial strategic orientation on facilitating flow to concert attendants can significantly contribute to solving the problem of concert attendance.