Performing Classical Music in the 21st Century...

In recent decades, much has been said about declining audience numbers at concerts of Western classical music. In 2005, prior to the financial crisis and before major cuts to the arts were declared across Europe and the United States, the European Orchestras Forum summarised the problem: “adults do not attend concerts because of a lack of time and fear of not having the necessary knowledge, whereas young people criticize the lack of opportunities to socialize, and lack of novelties as well as creativity”[1]. Classical music concerts have primarily been left to an older generation of listeners; one that has both the time and the interest to attend live concerts. Classical music concerts have come to be associated with exclusivity and isolation.

To suggest that nothing is being done to address this issue however, would be misleading. Much attention is given to educational programs aimed at children and teenagers. There is a belief that the problem is largely one of exposure and that by including Western classical music as a compulsory part of music education in primary and secondary schools, an appreciation of the music will follow. This may well be the case, however for potential audience members in their 20s and 30s, there is much less effort exerted. A recent survey of 99 professional orchestras in the United States revealed that, of the total number of people served by the educational and community outreach programs, university age beneficiaries accounted for just 0.48%[2]. It would seem that audiences of this age group are not interested in classical music concerts and that the classical music establishment is not interested in them.

In other parts of the world, the problem is much the same.For certain music professionals already operating at a high level and with seemingly huge amounts of influence and experience within the industry, there is a pessimism when addressing the possibility of drawing in younger audiences. On one hand, it is believed, the conventional works of the classical canon are too old and irrelevant to younger listeners while on the other, newer works are too radical and extreme. Benjamin Zander, conductor of the Boston Philharmonic and popular music educator suggests that while children respond well to contemporary repertoire, those aged in their 20s and 30s are more difficult “because by that age they’ve already been enculturated to distrust classical music”[3]. As Andrew Bennet suggests “new generations are increasingly at odds with their parents’ generations; concerts don’t meet their needs, namely because of a lack of interaction, an impressive conformism and the absence of a visual dimension in a society dominated by images”[4].

This project is intended to address this issue and explore various methods of engaging younger audiences. The hypothesis is that there exists a potential audience within this younger age group that, while currently neglected, could take an interest in Western classical music if approached and engaged in the appropriate way.