With a new BBC Proms season underway, new research reveals that a record number of British adults want to experience an orchestral concert – and the classical genre is also rising in popularity relative to other styles of popular music.
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) conducted its annual poll on the UK public’s music tastes among a nationally representative sample of 2,099 adults in July 2024. Across the 15 music genres surveyed, the findings reveal a significant hunger for music discovery, with 85% of adults saying they would like to discover a new genre of music this year. Relative to the other 14 music genres explored, orchestral music rose to 3rd place as the most popular genre people would like to discover this year (20%). Narrowly behind the expected popularity of pop (26%), and rock (25%), more people wanted to make 2024 the year they discovered the orchestral world than was the case for country music (19%), R&B (18%), dance (17%), musicals (16%), jazz (15%), rap (11%) and folk (11%).
The survey also suggests the orchestral audience in the UK is growing. Nationally, the desire to discover more about orchestral music was prevalent among those people that were relatively new to the genre (21%) – and those that knew nothing about it but wanted to give it a go (15%). For those studying music at school or university, 17% wanted to get to know orchestral music better this year.
The research also suggested that the allure of the concert hall was especially strong with orchestral music. Nationally, 82% of adults said they were interested in going to a live orchestral performance this year – a rise from 76% this time last year.
The top five forms of orchestral concert people wanted to experience were: musicals (25%), blockbuster films (25%), traditional repertoire (24%) and pop crossover (24%). Family-friendly orchestral concerts were also a draw for one in five respondents (20%).
Within the broad mix of concerts people were drawn to, traditional repertoire appealed to all orchestral audiences. For long-established enthusiasts, 57% wanted to enjoy traditional repertoire in a live setting. The same was true for 23% of people new to the genre and 25% who occasionally listened to orchestral music along with other favourite genres.
Vasily Petrenko Music Director at the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra commented: “Whilst all of us in the orchestral world seek to modernise the genre and broaden its appeal to more diverse audiences, there is also a simple truth that we must also let the music do the talking – and especially in a live setting. The huge success of the BBC Proms, the world’s biggest orchestral festival, underscores the enduring and timeless appeal of the genre to new and established audiences. As Associate Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra knows what a special music venue it is and we greatly look forward to performing at the BBC Proms this summer on Thursday 1 August, with a programme comprising works by Ives, Ravel, Debussy and Tchaikovsky. The football may be over but the Proms are starting: Let the music begin!”
For more information, contact:
Guy Bellamy - elephant communications
Tel: 07766 775216