Oxy

Absolutely it has a place. Fashions in all things come and go, but style and brilliance never gets lost or replaced.

After all, who would have thought that here in the UK there is a new monumental interest in Real ale by young people? Real Ale was seen as something for old anoraks and pipe smokers a few years ago.

Classical music has huge appeal to young people in the same way.

zsezse4

Of Course classical music is still relevant. You'll find modern music such as rock has a connection to the medieval style music. Classical renaissance and enlightenment period music appeals to someone who has a bit of a different taste for example i dislike a lot of modern music. So i listen to classical.

Burning Down

I agree.

However, teens and young adults seem to just be interested in sh*tty overrated pop music though, at least here. I don't know what it's like in other parts of the world. There are only a select few (like myself) who appreciate this music for what it is. I'm probably one of the orchestra's youngest season ticket subscription holders, lol.

NGPercussion

I think anything holds relevance as long as it has an audience, even if said audience is not as big as whoever today's big pop star is. Orchestras and wind symphonies still enjoy well populated concerts, if they didn't, then more of them would be going belly up...but that is not the case. DCI and WGI ticket sales and attendance are hitting record highs. Some college music programs are seeing substantial growth in student participation as well as majors. Clearly classical music and its relatives still enjoy a solid place in modern society.

Rjinn

I have yet to meet someone in Australia that likes Classical music, even considerably old people.

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Frownland

Well, the conversations that me and my main bloke Stryder struck up with some of our seated neighbours at my college's weekly Concert Hour performance suggest that these individuals that elude general relevance of a genre have the basement music syndrome. This is when the homo primate secludes itself in a basement and exposes itself to the groundbreaking works of the apes similarly interested in the genre for years on end via the internet for a boundless wealth of knowledge on the subject. Maybe since a lot of people don't go to these types of concerts, they don't see the passion behind the common classical music audience member's repeat attendance, be it pretension, adoration of the genre, or relatability to the style through participation (the former two I subscribe to. Some say I qualify for all three, but I beg to differ).

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Oxy

I totally agree with Burning Down. I guess its a question of maturity in many cases. Its interesting too that what we broadly call 'classical' music is full of variety, as is modern music.

Also, an interesting concept is that classical music is always performed by 'tribute' bands. Think about it. Not many of the original artistes are still performing live!

Comment for the RJinn from Australia, I'm hardly suprised by that. Australia is hardly the seat of all things cultural is it? Maybe you could help change that?

Rjinn

That's a pretty big task for one person to change the culture of Australia.

There's a variety of musical cultures here. You get certain crowds attending jazz and blues clubs, and festivals including blues, country, pop, rave, rock and metal. There are underground arenas and rock gigs. House music that dominates the nightlife here. Huge hip-hop scene and Ministry of Sound Australia is pretty big. I just haven't seen anything to do with classical, maybe the Opera House but I'm not sure. Only attended twice.

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Lisnaholic

Hi, Rjinn! I really like your new avatar, though that appraisal of Australian musical tastes is kind of depressing.

@ Burning Down: I can imagine that, for someone under 30, a passion for classical music may feel like an isolating characteristic - that there aren´t many people who share your enthusiasm. Well, variety and individualism make this world a more interesting place and although I don´t generally care for classical music, at some level I´m glad it´s there.

"Is classical music relevant?" That´s a question I´d rather side-step. It´s like asking "Are the Egyptian pyramids relevant?" The pyramids exist; they´re an acheivement that humanity can be proud of. If more people visit shopping malls than pyramids, that may feel sad to the pyramid ticket vendor, but it doesn´t alter the status of the pyramid.

Does that make any sense?

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Janette

Totally relevant. If you listen to the music tracks in the background of video and anime etc stuff, many sound 'classical and young people try to download the sheet music from sites so they can play their favourite 'game' music. Heard some recently which was very Debussy-esque.