Classical Music

This edited volume examines where classical music stands in the twenty-first century. Its contributors include composers, performers, scholars, journalists and arts managers, and the book concentrates on the genre's enduring traditions, its present difficulties and the range of its current role.

The first part gathers analytical essays on the issues shaping classical music today. These cover diversity, governance, how the art form is understood and perceived by the public, and the struggle of non-profit arts organizations to reach lasting financial stability.

The second part turns to practice, presenting case studies from Miami to Seoul. Each shows how particular arts organizations have tried new approaches to the problems discussed earlier in the book.

The introduction and several of the essays offer early reflections on how the crisis of 2020 affected classical music. The collection is aimed at academics, arts administrators and organizers, and classical music practitioners and audiences.