Someone Tell Carnegie’s Perelman That Millennials Do Like Classical Music

As an interesting juxtaposition to what incoming Carnegie Hall board chair, Ronald Perelman, apparently believes is a general distaste for classical music among the Millennial generation, CityScope magazine recently published an article by Karen Wilson titled Elegant, Evocative, Edgy — The New Face of Classical Music that focuses on a group of classical musicians in Chattanooga, TN and some their work with building an audience base from a broad generational cross section.

Each musician is provided a cliff notes size profile and it would be interesting to see an expanded version of each one; nonetheless, among the profiles is Inside The Arts author and Chattanooga Symphony & Opera concertmaster, Holly Mulcahy. At her Inside The Arts blog, Neo Classical, Mulcahy has been publishing a regular series of articles about her audience building efforts and (spoiler alert) most of the individuals she interacts with are not stereotypical gray haired orchestra patrons.

Of particular interest is the article about the Tea With Strangers program where Mulcahy participates as a a host and organizer.

So no, classical music isn’t dying nor is it Millennial repellant. As CityScope reaffirms, it is filled with dynamic individuals across multiple generations who appeal to an equally broad number of listeners.