the state of classical music

the state of classical music Is there anyone out there that agrees with me about the appalling state of classical music and in particular orchestral music.

you only have to look at the situation in my home town of melbourne Australia. the melbourne symphony orchestra receives about 7 million dollars a year from the Australian government, in exchange the orchestra has to make a contibution to the cultural life of Australia by performing one original work by an Australian composer per year the remaining repertoire consisting of the usual museum pieces, largely from the classical and romantic periods.the orchestra also plays as a backing band for pop hacks like neil sadarka glen cambell and meatloaf.

Clearly this situation is artisticaly bankrupt.and unfortunately this is the norm if you look at the web sites of virtualy any symphony orchestra around the world you'll see they offer almost exactly the same thing.namely ,old music(most of it overrated and over performed)old presentaton(formal attire boring lighting ect).Classical music can not keep trading on its snob value the rich elites of today dont necessarly want to listen to classical music and the rigid formality of classical concerts put new listeners off.but the biggest problem is the repertoire, there is just not enough good orchestral music;and virtualy none from the last 100 years.symphony orchestras have cut their own throats by ignoring new music ,thus forcing young composers to abandon symphonic music.

if there is'nt a conserted effort to develope a new repertoire relavent to contemporary sociaty and emotionaly compelling(not just interesting music for people trained in complex music)the audience will continue to shrink and the time will come when most symphony orchestras will have to close. Thus artistic bankruptty is creating the conditions for financial bankrupty and the death of orchestral music before it has reached its true potential.