# Classical Music and Festivals: are they an effective combination?



## JanisRuby (Mar 3, 2014)

Hi everybody! 

Currently I am busy with my bachelor thesis about festival motivations and also working part time for a Dutch classical music festival, Festival Classique. Therefore I am extremely interested in your opinions about the combination of festivals with classical music. It seems that the popularity of music festivals has been increasing over the past years. Still the amount of music festival only portraying classical music stay limited, at least in the Netherlands the classical music festivals can be counted on one hand. It remains a tricky music genre to deliver to a wider public. Hence my question to you..

Are music festivals better set for popular music e.g. rock, dance and jazz than classical music or can music festivals be suitable for any music genre?

I would love to hear thoughts from you guys about this. 

Many thanks in advance,
Janis


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

Any and every musical genre. We used to go to Folk Festivals we will be going to a Gilbert and Sullivan festival and an Early Music festival. OK it's a little more sedate, but it works very well.

There's also a local do with lots of assorted music - including the 16 who will also be in York. Do remember that Norwich is very near to the Netherlands with daily flights to Amsterdam from the local airport!

There's also the Latitude festival - a mad mixture of music, the arts and dyed sheep held near Southwold.


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## JanisRuby (Mar 3, 2014)

So festivals are suitable for every genre. Still I wonder considering that there are many classical music enthusiast.. Why are other music festivals better attended? Would you reckon that classical music festivals aren't that accessible for the bigger public as other festival with different music genres?


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

We don't do stadiums or parks because we don't do amplification, but you'll still get 2000+ in Norwich Cathedral for a big concert. Look at the details of the York Early Music Festival, they've got workshops and other stuff running all over the town. Another one I missed is Aldeburgh / Snape - Snape Maltings is another nice big venue with spare rooms all over the place for small workshops.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

There are probably social reasons why pop music festivals & folk festivals flourish more than classical music festivals. In our youth we used to attend the Durham Folk Festival, and lots of people there were young visitors who stayed on (easily flooded) campsites & were prepared to rough it. As well as concerts, there were dances & workshops to attend. But the folk boom has passed & this festival has bitten the dust. Popular music festivals also rely on people roughing it & camping out - but classical music fans are generally older, less prepared to rough it, less prepared to give up days to something rather than just do one concert - and the ticket prices are higher, and with orchestras there are more people who need to make a living, and there are just fewer classical music fans than pop music fans. 

I think - I'm just making up theories here, though. It's a hobby of mine.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

The only tried and true effective combination for listening to classical music I've found is me alone in my room, undistracted and undisturbed.


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## JanisRuby (Mar 3, 2014)

Thanks Ingélou for thinking along. Your ideas sound very logical! What I gathered so far.. classical music might not be the right genre for a multi-day festival. The audience indeed isn't willing to roughing it & camping out. Do you reckon that the public would be attracted to an one-day outdoor classical music festival? E.g. classical music throughout the city at interesting locations? Maybe with the option to stay over in a nice hotel included in the ticket price if people come from 'far'?

Furthermore, hpowders thank you so much for sharing your thoughts! It seems to confirm my idea about classical music in combination with festivals a bit. Classical music requires a certain mood, surrounding and mind-state. 
But maybe an one-day outdoor festival concerning classical music might be more attractive to a bigger public when it is also combined with other art forms, like dance and theatre. Or maybe with workshops? Giving it an unique incentive for visiting a classical music festival after all. 

I would love to hear more thoughts on this from you guys. Thanks!!


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