If God died at the turn of the 20th century, by the start of the 21st it looked as though classical music was going much the same way. Audience figures were down and funding in short supply, while the average age of those attending live performances spiralled ever higher. In 2002, a report by the Policy Studies Institute into Cultural Trends found that young people ‘distrusted’ cultural institutions such as orchestras, which they perceived as too ‘authoritarian’, and warned starkly that unless the classical music world made a concerted effort to reach out to new audiences, the art-form would simply ‘fall away’.
Who said classical music was dead?
Against all the odds, the first decade of the new millennium has seen a renaissance in the classical music world. This side of the spotlights, audiences are looking younger and more diverse too. So what’s the secret? When did the tide turn for this neglected outpost of the contemporary art scene?
5 Feb 2009
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