Return

Can’t quite believe that it’s been a month since I blogged, but…my schedule, like Crazy Eddie’s prices (for those who remember those long-ago, screaming TV ads), has been totally insane. And it’s all blog-related, all involved with projects that touch on the future of classical music, including my Pittsburgh concert series (for that elusive new classical audience), the Concert Companion (program notes that describe orchestra music in real-time, as the music changes), my Juilliard course (about the future of classical music), and, almost back to back, private conferences about orchestras and professional music education.

All of which leaves me much to think about. I get the feeling that the pace of change has picked up — that classical music is, in the next few years, going to change faster than most of us expect. I’ll have to be discreet about some things I’ve picked up on, but I’ll quote one provocative statement from an associate dean at one of the major music schools, who, at a meeting I attended, said, “Classical music right now is like East Germany just before the Wall came down.”

Without context, without further explanation, I’m sure that sounds a little too sensational. But the speaker isn’t someone anyone would tag as a flaming radical, and what he said isn’t atypical of what I’ve been hearing from many people, some of whom might not talk publicly the way they talk in private. We might be in for some surprises.