How does ChatGPT compare to a JPO programmer?

Out of frustration with Johannesburg Philharmonic season programmes that just list the same works and same composers over and over again, I asked ChatGPT to come up with a basic four-week programme, to see whether artificial intelligence can match up to the lack of any original kind of intelligence from artistic administrators.

Here is the first cut it came up with:

Concert 1: Grand Opening – Classical Mastery

Beethoven: Egmont Overture

Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 21 in C

Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in C minor

Concert 2: Romantic Virtuosity

Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture

Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 1 in A Minor

Dvořák: Symphony No. 8 in G

Concert 3: 20th-Century Brilliance

Stravinsky: Firebird Suite (1919 version)

Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor

Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé Suite No. 2

Concert 4: A Majestic Finale

Sibelius: Finlandia

Rachmaninov: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini

Mahler: Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp minor

I asked it to make changes to Concert 3, as I though the Firebird Suite may be too difficult, and Daphnis and Chloé requires a choir. Here is its update:

Concert 3: 20th-Century Brilliance

Bartók: Romanian Folk Dances

Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor

Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade

Can you imagine a JPO season that features Bartók and Shostakovich and Rimsky-Korsakov and Mahler? Any one of these would be a remarkable event, but all four is far beyond what JPO management seems capable of.

Besides that, it would be pretty much impossible for me to tell the difference between what AI came up with, and what is actually a JPO programme. Do they pay someone to come up with their dull programmes, because even if they wanted to keep it up, it looks like they could save cash here.

One of my greatest bêtes noires among any South African arts institution is the attempt to emulate top-profile American and European organisations, without any regard for what may make us unique from them. South African orchestras can't play Beethoven or Sibelius as well as the Cleveland Orchestra or the Berlin Philharmonic, but they can make themselves indispensable by playing South African compositions, which no other orchestras are doing. (Not to mention the benefits it does for art in South Africa, when government-funded institutions eventually deign to support South African creators.)

And so, I asked ChatGPT to give me another four-week programme, this time with a South African work included each week. Here is what it gave me:

Concert 1: Heritage & Triumph

Fela Sowande: African Suite (excerpts)

Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor

Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A

Concert 2: Landscapes & Legends

Peter Klatzow: Adagio and Scherzo for Orchestra

Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor

Sibelius: Symphony No. 2 in D

Concert 3: Rhythms & Reflections

Alexander Johnson: Cape Town Overture

Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat

Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 in E minor

Concert 4: Grand Finale – African Spirit & Romantic Power

Hendrik Hofmeyr: Sinfonia Africana

Rachmaninov: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 in F minor

Granted, the thematic headings given by ChatGPT seem mostly meaningless, but the grouping together of works mostly makes sense, and matches exactly what I would expect any ordinary programmer to do. Would we could expect it here, too.