Too Far, Too Much Work, And They’re Playing That Again?

Why are classical concert audiences eroding? Composer Libby Larsen has been studying the problem, and has some ideas. For one thing, suburbanites (and a majority of the population in most metro areas lives in the suburbs) already make an average of 13 car trips a day, and aren’t terribly keen on battling traffic into the urban core for a concert. For another, technology and its constant advance means that even hardcore music-lovers don’t actually need the concert hall to get their fix. And then, of course, there’s the repertoire problem…