Although there have been a few downsides to COVID-19, such as an extraordinary number of tragically avoidable deaths, there’s at least one silver lining: journalism about classical music over the last year and a half has become positive, nostalgic and full of enthusiasm.

Photo courtesy of the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

Cast your mind back a few years and the dialogue around classical music was very different indeed. 

In the Before Times, it seemed like there was an endless litany of reasons to fret and bemoan the ‘death’ of classical music. The arguments for such doom were usually flimsy and contradictory: concerts were too long! Or short! People clapped too much! Or not enough! (Does it matter?) The dress code was too formal! Or casual! And so on. It seemed like every quirk and custom of the entire industry was an irredeemable disaster. We needed to show a ‘new audience’ what was great about classical music, and to do that we apparently needed to change every single thing about it. 

(Moaning about how your customer experience is full of problems seems like a strange way to sell tickets, but...