A survey of classical music critics

Columbia University’s National Arts Journalism Program and the Music Critics Association of North America today released a new study into classical music critics, covering demographics, psychographics and ethics.

Through Artsjournal.com I came upon the National Arts Journalism Program Web site a couple of days ago and decided to print “Reporting the Arts II” to read on the plane to the Netherlands later today. When I checked earlier today, I saw they released this new study, which I will read as soon as I have finished the other one.

The key findings presented some non-surprising facts: the average classical music critic is a white, 52-year-old male with a graduate degree. What I am most interested in reading is what the critics think about their role in arts advocacy, about ethics, how many stories and how much room they typically get, and of course, what they do and don’t like to cover. Some random key findings I wanted to highlight:

Contemporary composers whose appeal appears to be rising include Rautavaara, Golijov, Gubaidulina, Dutilleux, and Saariaho.

I am very happy to see Osvaldo Golijov in this list; he will be one of the two Mead Composers-in-Residence at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra next season (the other one is Mark-Anthony Turnage, who, as the study mentions, is also “worth keeping an eye on”). Among many things, Golijov will be curating two of the four MusicNOW new music series concerts. Read the news release here.

Critics strongly believe that “it is [their] job to educate the public about classical music and why it matters” – more than 90 percent of critics feel this way, and nearly two-thirds (63%) strongly agree with this description of their mission as critics.

Relative to other arts beats, classical music is perceived as standing at about the midpoint in the pecking order. […] It tends to receive roughly the same amount of coverage as books, the visual arts, and theater.

I am more than fascinated to find out more specifics (this is one study where I want to know the numbers!) and will report back on interesting finds in this study and “Reporting the Arts II” soon, but in the meanwhile, please read them at www.najp.org