Many suggest that classical music must remain antithetical to popular culture, adding that this music isn’t meant for everyone— neither for young adults (music students excepted), nor for ethnic minorities — and therefore institutions should not waste precious resources chasing communities that are not likely to buy tickets or donate. Fortunately, today there are many advocates and grant programs and fellowships for extending classical music more broadly, with exposure, teaching, engagement, and participation. Our Knight Foundation grant and CutTime Founder Rick Robinson’s Kresge Fellowship in Detroit are two examples. And so CutTime dares to ask, “Who doesn’t deserve beautiful, shaped, haunting, magical, and dramatic classical music?”
Today we learn that historically classical music was not always so formal as it developed. European chamber music began leaving casual and intimate settings only about 130 years ago, to upscale as a formal musical communion for large knowledgeable audiences. Presenters today remain hesitant to loosen what has become the world-class standards to draw a casual if a bit raw public. After all, the goal of a concert hall is to focus listening, akin to meditation. And so resetting the context of classical music may be best done elsewhere.