Challenging the Listener: How to change trends in classical music programming

Abstract

This article aims to provide the first large-scale description of current trends in classical music programming. The purpose is to analyze an issue commonly associated with the critical state of concert venues today, which is to say, the predominantly conservative aesthetic of performed repertoires. This paper attempts to go further than previous studies by looking at a larger group of repertoires and institutions, examining data from some 4,700 concerts performed between 2010 and 2015, randomly gathered by the database www.bachtrack.com. No other source in this field enjoys its sheer size and wide variety. The first section demonstrates that an extremely small handful of composers dominate the musical landscape, and that patterns of association between programmed composers within individual concerts are highly predictable. Against this problematic backdrop, the second section proposes possible remedies to balance this disproportionate concentration of specific styles, composers, and associations by focusing as a case study on the innovative music program at the Juan March Foundation in Madrid. The overall results are both original and valuable, as they reveal otherwise undetected trends in music programming, while providing practical strategies to re-engage audiences and encourage different cultural policies at concert halls.