"The city's leading free spirits have discovered and embraced classical music, but on their own terms"

An alternative scene for classical events outside the ice palaces of classical music is growing. Last month, you could 'classical clubbing' at the Yellow Lounge at the Westergasfabriek venue. The club was sold out, indeed with a large share young people - although the sprawling guest list may have distorted this picture.

Tickets at €12.50, a DJ, and a fresh treat - the Jussen brothers who performed Liszt and Chopin in synchronised headbopping. Their label Deutsche Grammophon, the organiser and financier of Yellow Lounge, put the boys on the market smoothly and as bait in a club.

Much needed. Classical music audiences are ageing rapidly. There are just short of corpses in the concert hall.

From this year's survey shows that the percentage of young visitors to classical concerts fell from 17% to 13.4% over the past 25 years. The hoped-for expectation is not coming true: young people are not growing towards classical music as they reach the next age stage. We complain and argue until we weigh an ounce. Throw in a survey. Page-long marketing plans. How do you get the youngster into classical music? The target group itself gets jaundiced by the noble attempts and looks indifferently past posters and twitter campaigns.

Ajakkes, classical music. Boring!

Concert organisers came up with prize stunts and education programmes, much to the delight of the subsidy providers: after all, young people don't understand music, so they have to learn it. Because learning to listen is learning to appreciate. Most young people, however, had no ears for this. Learning? Oh well, that indeed makes the music instantly more appealing.

Only in the last two years have organisers implemented more extreme measures. Following the book, the industry hit From high art to new art by Hans Abbing (2009) realised that the target audience does not find the music syrupy boring but falls asleep from everything around it. Miles away from the pop palaces and festivals.

Reactions to Abbing's vision did not lie. 'Young people certainly don't want to sit still! But silence is the only way to really appreciate our music.' Yet young listeners naturally become silent - if the music calls for breathless listening.

 

Counterattack

The establishment took the initiative. The Concertgebouw started with Tracks, De Nederlandse Opera deployed Operaflirt and the Holland Festival is doing it with HF Young. The keywords of their approach: short, preselection, exclusivity, after-party. Without violating the artistic content.

Does it work? Both the Concertgebouw and the Netherlands Opera report that the concept has caught on; seats are consistently sold out. It is just not yet clear whether the line will continue to 'regular' concerts.

And so now there is this Yellow Lounge. But there is more. A week earlier, there was Bridge9 Classic in the heart of Amsterdam. In a basement under a bridge over the Singel, a hundred hipsters and one grey head with a beer were listening in complete silence to the young classical music professionals playing three times two sets of not the easiest music. An über-slick presenter told the stories behind the music and the musicians with one raised eyebrow. It worked wonders.

Why? Hanna Schreuders (27), who is organising the event at Brug9, believes there is a particular need for casualness. She speaks the language of her generation. What does that 'language' say? An atmospheric setting? A beer? Being allowed to stand and walk like at a pop concert? A lounge chair or beanbag? All this including a DJ actually seems like a weakness. Does the music really need to be embellished?

Guido van Oorschot quoted last week in De Volkskrant Henriette Post, the director of the Performing Arts Fund:

"The key lies in the relationship with the audience. If the ensemble world had focused more on that in the last decade, the situation would be different now. For too long we have thought it would come naturally."

The Music Building on the IJ, the home of ailing ensemble culture, has yet to find the right tone:

"We are convinced that our concert offerings are also worthwhile for young people. Because we want to give young people an extra incentive to visit a concert, we are offering Early Bird youth prizes this season as well."

Then the recruiting text for Bridge9 Classic:

"Imagine a jam session, but with móóie music, while you can ogle that handsomely moved fellow attendee with a bottle of beer in hand. The city's leading free spirits have discovered and embraced classical music, but on their own terms: with drinks, flirting and a roguish presentation. At Brug9, we like doing things a little differently: not sitting still on a chair, but standing cosily. Just shut your mouth when people are singing beautifully, but afterwards it's okay to chat to your heart's content."

C'est le ton qui fait la musique.

But there is more to it than a language difference. In the charming little book Music - A Very Short Introduction Nicholas Cook aptly outlines the gap between old and young audiences.

The current world of classical music is based on a hierarchical principle of musical authority that began with Beethoven. From top to bottom of the monkey rock: the composer, the conductor, the performer, the music critic, the music teacher, the layman with a listening course taken, the layman without a listening course taken. Simply listening because you like the music puts you at the bottom of the ladder. This downward power is paralysing. Passive listening is not really listening, such are the laws in the world of classical music. Young people simply have no appetite for this.

How differently it works in the world of non-classical music. No one is paralysed. You are allowed to listen. You are allowed to like. You are allowed to like. Regardless of who you are or what you know (also known as democracy).

The two music systems collide on a level that concert organisers naively look past. Teaching or shielding authenticity of performance does not work.

Only when the concert reflects the living and listening mores of young people will they enjoy coming. And bring their friends.