While it made an interesting sidebar to your coverage of the passing of Sir Georg Solti, Howard Reich and Melita Marie Garza’s assertion (Page 1, Sept. 10) that the lack of Solti headlines across America is indicative that classical music is “dying” is quite a stretch.
Yes, the article acknowledged an “overshadowing” media frenzy and public preoccupation with the death of Princess Diana. But, in so doing, the authors vastly underestimated the overpowering strength of that shadow on media coverage. After all, even coverage of Mother Teresa was significantly diminished!
And while Van Cliburn richly deserved the “American hero” status he received following his 1958 triumph in Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Competition, it is clear that Cold War tensions and national pride had as much to do with his White House invitation as did America’s love of classical music at the time. Even if you accept the assertion that classical maestros personally command a less prominent place on the “American stage” than in the past, it is unfair to correlate this with the “dying” of classical music in general.
Over the past 10 years the cumulative monthly audience for classical music radio has doubled to more than 12 million. And in a study released recently by the National Endowment for the Arts, 33.6 percent of all adults in America say they “like” classical music. That’s nearly 63 million–a 36 percent increase since the early 1980s.
While rock ‘n’ roll and MTV still define, to a large extent, the “generation gap,” we at WFMT have seen the median age of our audience get younger. After years of watching the median age of WFMT listeners creep forward to about 52, the figure now stands at 48 years. And the fastest growing demographic group lining up at the box offices of America’s opera companies comprises people 18 to 24 years old, an increase of 18 percent in 10 years.
As for national radio broadcasts of symphony orchestras, Solti’s own Chicago Symphony Orchestra is heard each week by millions nationwide via the WFMT Fine Arts Network. This winter, we are returning the Philadelphia Orchestra to the national airwaves. In addition, national radio audiences now regularly enjoy concerts by the New York Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony and many others. Hardly the dearth asserted in your article.
Classical music has ebbed and flowed over the past 500 years. I’m betting it will still command an important place over the next 500!
