Culture | Airs and graces

The classical-music world is grappling with accessibility

It is possible to make the art form less intimidating without lowering artistic standards

TOPSHOT - Lyon National Orchestra, led by Dutch conductor Ernst van Tiel, performs the Star Wars soundtrack, on September 29, 2016 at Lyon auditorium. / AFP / JEFF PACHOUD (Photo credit should read JEFF PACHOUD/AFP via Getty Images)
|BALTIMORE, BERLIN AND LONDON

“Live and love with open mind/Let our cultures intertwine.” In April, at a performance by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO), the bass sang that ode to mutual understanding by Wordsmith, a rapper, in the final movement of Beethoven’s ninth symphony. The original text, by Friedrich Schiller, begins: “Joy, bright spark of divinity/Daughter of Elysium.”

This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Airs and graces”

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