The New Face of Classical Music

To remain relevant, an art form has to be in dialogue with the here and now. Yet in classical music, the bulk of what is performed is still at least a century old. Contrast that with art museums, which present their holdings as a continuum from ancient times to the present, with nearly every major city boasting a contemporary art center and a host of galleries. … In the last decade or so, a new breed of conservatory-trained musicians has reinvented crossover in unprecedented ways, fusing classical tradition with hip-hop, indie rock and world music and providing new, exciting audience bridges among these forms at the same time.