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Classical music for a modern age: outside the concert hall

Classical music for a modern age” is a video series exploring the evolving landscape of the “new classical” genre, which flourishes on the borderland where classical meets pop, experimental and multimedia. It takes place in new spaces in front of younger, less stereotypical audiences, and springs from an unlikely alliance of old-style classical musicians with laptop players, producers and video artists. Over four parts, I talk to some of the musicians involved in this revolution and ask: is it its own entirely new genre and is it a boon or a threat to the old classical tradition? The new classical music isn’t just about new sounds, or mingling sounds and images. It’s about taking the experience into new spaces. In this final episode I visit the well-known London club Village Underground, to meet the musicians involved in classical club-night cum record label  “Nonclassical”, and witness a new concerto for drum machine and orchestra in the making.   In the course of making this series I’ve heard many fascinating sounds, and have been intrigued, amused, and sometimes baffled. I’ve dipped into four musical worlds, similar in some ways but also with many differences. The vital thing they have in common is a new young audience that likes to take risks. But are these new musical worlds part of “classical music” as we normally understand it? At the end I try to answer that question.