The Future of Classical Music

UPDATE: Classical Music: Contemporary Perspectives and Challenges, edited by Michael Beckerman and Paul Boghossian, is now available on Open Book Publishers to read or download here.

Led by Michael Beckerman, Paul Boghossian, and Kit Fine, this project consists of a working group of scholars, musicians, and arts administration professionals meeting to study the future of classical music, a future that these days is routinely said to be at risk.

The general aim of the project is to study key aspects in the direction and development of classical music as it enters the 21st Century. Among the specific questions we hope to study are the following:

1. Is there a looming crisis for the future vitality of the institutions that cater to the art form we call ‘classical music’?
2. If so, is this crisis uniform across those institutions, or is it distributed in some specific ways?  For example:
   1. Does it vary geographically?  Country to country?  Region to region?
   2. Does it vary by type of institution?
   3. Small versus large?
   4. Opera versus symphonic?
   5. Large symphony orchestras versus smaller ensembles?
3. Where there is a crisis, what is its nature?
   1. Is it primarily financial, with the threat of deficits being the main cause of concern?  If not, then what?  If so, is this largely because of:
      1. Declining revenue from box office?
      2. Declining revenue from other sources, for example recordings?
      3. Growing operational costs?
      4. Declining public sector support?
      5.  Declining private sector support?
      6. All of the above?
4. If these are some of the characteristics of the looming crisis, what are their root causes?
   1. Declining interest from audiences?
   2. Ageing audiences, along with a failure to replenish from below?
   3. The content of programming?
      1. If so, is that because there is too much old stuff?
      2. Too much new stuff?
   4. Does it have to do with technological developments (e.g. the internet) and impact on artist revenue?
   5. Does it have to do with unsustainable labor contracts?
   6. All of the above?
5. Assuming we can get a handle on what’s going on, can something be done about it, and if so what, and by whom?
6. Assuming we can get a handle on what’s going on, should something be done about it, or should we let matters take their ‘natural’ course?
7. Assuming we are on some sort of downward spiral, and nothing is done to prevent it from worsening, what will the classical music landscape look like in twenty years’ time?

Steering Committee

Project Members

• H.E. Huda Alkhamis-Kanoo (Founder, Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation; Founder and Artistic Director, Abu Dhabi Festival)
• Laurent Bayle (Chief executive director, Cité de la Musique – Philharmonie de Paris)
• Michael Beckerman (Carroll and Milton Petrie Professor of Music and Chair; Collegiate Professor, New York University)
• Paul Boghossian, Chair (Julius Silver Professor of Philosophy and Chair; Director, Global Institute for Advanced Study, New York University)
• Deborah Borda (President and Chief Executive Officer, New York Philharmonic; former President and Chief Executive Officer, Los Angeles Philharmonic)
• Ian Bostridge (Tenor)
• Claire Chase (Flautist and Founder, International Contemporary Ensemble)
• Unsuk Chin (Composer; Director, Seoul Festival with the LA Philharmonic; Artistic Director Designate, Tongyeong International Music Festival, South Korea; Artistic Director Designate, Weiwuying International Music Festival, Kaohsiung, Taiwan)
• Andreas Ditter (Stalnaker Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; PhD graduate, Department of Philosophy, New York University) 
• Kit Fine (Julius Silver Professor of Philosophy and Mathematics; University Professor, New York University)
• Kirill Gerstein (Pianist)
• Jeremy Geffen (Executive and Artistic Director, Cal Performances; former Senior Director and Artistic Adviser, Carnegie Hall)
• Ara Guzelimian (Artistic and Executive Director, Ojai Festival; Special Advisor, Office of the President and former Provost and Dean, The Juilliard School)
• Ellen T. Harris (Class of 1949 Professor Emeritus of Music, MIT; former President, American Musicological Society)
• Jenny Judge (PhD candidate, Department of Philosophy, New York University)
• Anthony McGill (Principal Clarinet, New York Philharmonic; Artistic Director for the Music Advancement Program at The Juilliard School)
• Alexander Neef (General Director, Opéra national de Paris, former General Director, Canadian Opera Company)
• Alex Ross (Music Critic, The New Yorker)
• Christopher Peacocke (Johnsonian Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University; Honorary Fellow, Institute of Philosophy, University of London)
• Catherine Provenzano (Johnsonian Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University; Honorary Fellow, Institute of Philosophy, University of London)
• Esa-Pekka Salonen (Composer and Conductor; Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor, Philharmonia Orchestra, London; Music Director, San Francisco Symphony; Conductor Laureate, Los Angeles Philharmonic)
• Peter Sellars (Theater, Opera, Film, and Festival Director; Distinguished Professor, UCLA Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance)
• Richard Sennett (Honorary Professor, The Bartlett School, University College London; Member, Council on Urban Initiatives, United Nations Habitat; Chair, Theatrum Mundi)
• Tom Service (Writer and Broadcaster, BBC)
• Toby Spence (Tenor)
• Matthew VanBesien (President of the University Musical Society, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
• Julia Wolfe (Composer; Professor of Music Composition and Artistic Director of Music Composition at New York University Steinhardt, and co-founder of Bang on a Can)
• Zachary Woolfe (Classical Music Editor, The New York Times)