I attend performances of virtually all classical concerts of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and have long been an enthusiastic supporter of how they interact with their audiences. Baltimore residents might not fully appreciate just how great the BSO is in that regard, for you must also attend concerts of the National Symphony Orchestra in nearby Washington — and compare the two orchestras — to really appreciate the BSO.

Based on my interaction with some of the trustees and staff of the NSO, they seem to believe there’s nothing they can learn from the example of the BSO. They have it precisely reversed. The BSO makes every effort to attract and involve its listeners, while the NSO ignores most of its audience and caters its programs toward a few select donors.

When you walk in the door, BSO patrons are greeted by ushers with printed programs. In stark contrast, the Kennedy Center in Washington eliminated printed programs, demonstrating an arrogant disregard for its own audiences. The substitute, so-called digital programs that can be downloaded from a bar code, has been an abysmal failure, especially for older patrons who struggle with modern technology. Acknowledging this failure, the NSO now distributes a basic one-page bare-bones list of the evening’s music, but that in no way substitutes for the music and artist notes in a full program.

From there, BSO audiences attend outstanding talks about that evening’s music at all classical concerts. At the recent concert of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, there were over 300 people listening, and the entire lobby outside of the concert hall was filled to capacity.

The NSO, by comparison, eliminated such talks years ago. The lame excuse provided to me from an NSO executive was, “We can’t figure out the appropriate room to put them in.” Even worse, at one of the recent NSO concerts, two of the musicians gave a short talk about the music in the lounge for the elite “circles” donors, but only a handful of people heard it — those who contributed $1,800 or more. This exemplifies the NSO approach, which caters only to donors.

At the BSO concert, I sat next to a family with three kids. The BSO admits children who are accompanied by an adult for free at regular concerts, so the parents can expose their children to Beethoven.

The NSO, by contrast, charges full price for children at all regular classical concerts. That same family would pay over $500 to attend the NSO, which means, as a practical matter, that only wealthy families can afford to bring their kids to an NSO performance.

After the BSO concert, the music director and conductor met with the audience to discuss the music. This occurs periodically and is a great opportunity for BSO audiences to directly interact with the orchestra.

In sharp contrast, the NSO offers only a single annual talk with a guest conductor — but only those who contribute a minimum of $350 can hear it. When I urged an NSO executive to at least offer such talks twice a year, the response betrayed their philosophy. “We do it only once each year,” he explained, “because we want it to be very exclusive and offer it only to our donors.” That approach is even demonstrated on the NSO website, for Washington residents can’t even watch those archived talks after the fact, for you must be a donor to have access to that web page.

The lack of such talks with guest conductors is a significant shortcoming of the BSO, because the BSO mistakenly believes that the talks by their own music director are similar. They aren’t, for each guest conductor has a different and fascinating story to tell about their own careers.

The BSO actively works to attract audiences from all Baltimore residents. The NSO, by contrast, aims its programs at donors as well as wealthy Washington and Georgetown elites.

Baltimore residents, as well as Washingtonians who attend BSO concerts at the Strathmore in Bethesda, have the good fortune to hear fabulous concerts that are explained by the printed program notes, by excellent talks about the music and by occasional interaction with their own music director.

By comparison, this would be a good time for the NSO to reform how it interacts with its audiences.

The NSO can begin by emulating the policies of the fabulous Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and especially the approach of the awesome BSO staff, who are driven by a simple goal — to deliver great music in an accessible manner for Baltimore residents.

Marty McBroom lives in Washington and is retired, and attends at least one performance of nearly all regular concerts of both the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra.