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Challenging or Competent?

For a VCO (Volunteer Community Orchestra), is it better to choose music that is challenging or that your musicians can play competently?
          If you look at the programs from American professional orchestras in the major cities (the ones with NFL teams), you see the glory years of symphonic composition covered quite well. Hit the high points – Germany and surrounding areas gave us Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Brahms, and many more. Russia throws in Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninoff, and the rest of that gang, France washes us in color from Debussy and Ravel, other countries pitch in with Sibelius, Elgar, Copland, etc.
          FYI – in the 2016-2016 concert season, more American orchestras performed the Beethoven No. 3, Eroica, than any other symphony (thanks, BaltimoreSymphony Orchestra).
          Should the suburban VCO play the same music as the local professional orchestra staffed by full-time paid musicians? Whether or not they should, they do, season in and season out. VCO quality varies from amateur to amazing, of course, but this comparison does seem like putting the kid who sang in high school choir onstage between Adele and Beyonce.
          The detail that's most confusing to me? How much audience overlap is there between your average VCO and the "Big Symphony" downtown? In my area, I would be amazed if it's more than 20 percent, and that's generous. But my VCO has no audience data that shows this information that I have seen. So if we don't play those big name pieces, our audience probably won't hear them played live elsewhere.
          Another confusing detail for me: is a Great Symphony play poorly better than an easier symphony played well? Which helps the players and audience more? How do we find that balance? If you have an answer, please comment.
          My concern is whether programming the Schubert 8th is a copout and shows a lack of courage on my part. Or it that piece a well-considered choice based on the attendance and capabilities of the orchestra for the first concert of the year?
          After chewing on this topic far too many nights, I think building up to the great pieces makes the most sense for my VCO. Shubert 8th in the first concert would, if I was leading the group (fingers crossed), build up to the Dvorak 8th in the last concert.
Does that make sense to you, based on your local music scene? 

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