Classical music for young people

IT’S a pity that emotion and personalities have tainted comment on Greg Barns’s sober, realistic view of the future of orchestral music (Talking Point, September 17). During my career as artistic director of 13 major festivals, I have worked with orchestras such as the London Philharmonic, orchestra of La Scala Milan, Hamburg Philharmonic, Russian National Orchestra and most of the state orchestras in Australia: Queensland, NSW, Victoria and Tasmania, as well as smaller ensembles such as Australian Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of the Antipodes and Australian Brandenburg Orchestra. I was inaugural chairman of Sydney Symphony when it was cut loose from the ABC, so I feel I am in a reasonable position to comment.

All over the world, symphony orchestras are in crisis or facing uncertain futures. Some of America’s flagship orchestras have shut down. Others face shuttering. Declining sales of CDs, lack of new repertoire, diminishing coverage in print and electronic media, the emergence of Spotify, and other providers, shrinking government support, lousy marketing and, most importantly, ageing audiences are all harbingers of possible extinction. Greg Barns is absolutely correct to stress the need for a strategy to address these problems, in particular the challenge of making live classical music appealing to young people. The TSO, by nature of its manageable size and flexibility, is well positioned to show the rest of Australia the road to the future. There is a substitute for money. It’s called creativity.