Eight in ten people want to experience an orchestral concert, says RPO survey

A new survey by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) has found that 82 per cent of adults are interested in going to a live orchestral performance. And it’s good news for Beethoven and Brahms, as nearly a quarter of those asked specified they would like to hear traditional repertoire in a live concert.

Programmes with music from musicals and blockbuster films just pipped symphonies to the post as the most popular forms of orchestral concert in the poll, which surveyed a representative sample of 2,099 adults in July 2024. Pop crossover was of equal interest to traditional repertoire, while one in five of those asked were interested in going to a family-friendly concert.

The appetite for orchestral music is up from 76 per cent when the RPO asked the same question two years ago, although close followers of the annual survey will notice it’s slightly down from last year’s five-year high at 84 per cent. Participants were also asked what new genres of music they would like to discover this year and 20 per cent of people picked orchestral music, putting it in third place just behind pop and rock, ahead of 12 other genres.

‘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,’ commented Vasily Petrenko, music director of the RPO. ‘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.’