Transcriber: Drew Makepeace Reviewer: David DeRuwe
Thomas Lo: Classical music is dying.
Hi everyone.
I'm Thomas, and this is Nicole.
And we're the co-founders of anon.
And just for the record,
we have no idea who put that up there, because we don't believe a word of it.
However though, there is some truth to this.
All you need to do is go to a classical music concert one night,
any night,
and look at the number of people in the audience who are over 60.
From our experience, we're usually the youngest by about 40 years.
(Nicole laughs)
So what this tells us
is that our audience members are getting older,
and it's getting smaller in size.
This is not the prettiest picture for the future of classical music.
But we believe that there's always two sides to the same coin.
So before we tell you what we think, we would like to ask you:
how many of you here actively enjoy classical music?
Nicole Tj: Wow, that's a good number of hands.
TL: And I'm glad you put your hands up too.
(Laughter)
Do you remember the last time you went to a classical music concert?
But most importantly, how many of you here secretly love classical music,
but aren't saying so,
because you don't want to be seen as old or nerdy?
Simply put, classical music suffers from an image problem.
It often comes across as old, rigid, and unapproachable,
and we think this is because we're not seeing the bigger picture yet.
So we asked ourselves, why?
Well, there are plenty of reasons,
and musicians across the world are tackling it in their own ways.
But for us, it comes down to two things:
quality exposure and relevance.
NT: Yeah, absolutely.
Now, how can anyone appreciate anything
if they haven't had the opportunity experience its potential?
Too often we find that people's perceptions of classical music
are limited to the big typical names of Beethoven and of Mozart, for example.
Sometimes it could be clouded
by something they experienced when they were little
that then closed all future possibilities to classical music.
So again, how can anyone appreciate anything
if they haven't had the opportunity to experience its potential?
And the idea of relevance is a huge one.
I bet every single one of you here
can think about the one time you were dozing off,
when you really should have been listening.
It could have been anywhere - in your lectures, at your wedding day.
Maybe at the back row, right now?
And, unsurprisingly, at a classical music concert.
The point is, for something to be relevant to you, it has to connect.
It has to surprise. It has to provoke.
So what can we do about it?
Well, we think that we can reach out to a wider audience and a newer audience
through the power of the live concert experience.
It's a given that we need a good idea and a strong message,
but beyond that,
an experience is a two-way street.
And what we hope to offer you is the discovery of something new.
Even if it's just for that split second.
So today we'll be sharing with you a film and music collaboration by anon.
called Trailer Music.
"Trailer," in this case, refers to movie trailers,
not the car trailers that you see up there.
This is based on a piece called Trailer Music,
for piano, violin, and cello,
by an Australian composer called Nicholas Buck.
It is so clever and so cinematic
that when Tom and I heard it for the very first time
we instantly thought, "Hey, we need to create a film for this."
For us, it just really highlighted
how powerful music was in driving storytelling and imagination.
TL: So we've invited six young filmmakers from Australia
to create short films based on this piece of music.
The core idea is to explore how they went about interpreting it,
and to show that there is just no one correct way
or one perfect way of understanding music.
For the full effect, we will now be performing the piece on its own.
So listen, let your imaginations run wild,
and create a story for yourself.
NT: Is it an action film? Is it a comedy?
It's all up to you, and it really could be anything.
TL: We'll now be joined by our cellist, Timothy Hennessy, on stage
to perform this for you.
And only then, you tell us
that classical music is old, rigid, and unapproachable.
Thank you. This is Trailer Music.
(Applause)
[Classical music is ... ]
[anon.]
(Music)
(Music ends)
(Applause)