tangent question:
sorry for double-posting, but a few comments in the last post inspired me to ask this question as it's come up recently with some former students and colleagues.
what's the status of concert orchestra and "classical" (for lack of a better word) music in the UK?
i ask because in the US, the orchestra is basically dying a slow but assured death, kind of like the traveling circus. Some of the big staple orchestras won't go away, but many of the smaller orchestras are either folding or are in danger of folding (or reconceptualizing their model to not be able to properly support full time performers).
i know that at least a decade or so ago, music education in the UK was much stronger than in the US. in particular, i remember hearing about some sort of special tribute concert for elliot carter (in honor of his 90th birthday maybe) which flabbergasted me as it would be doubtful that any major orchestra in the US would consider programming one of works, much less an entire tribute concert, and that it's also very doubtful that most music educators at the precollegiate level even know who elliot carter is.
i don't know how strong music education and post-1950 music education is in the UK now (which i suppose is another question i can ask), but i'd be interested to know what the current atmosphere is like for all of that stuff.
thanks kindly. this community is awesome.