The role and significance of music in modern society are in constant transformation. Who values each of the myriad styles and genres of music today, as reflected in their creation and consumption? Who composes, performs, and produces them, and who attends concerts, buys recordings, and studies them? How do the styles cross-pollinate, consciously or not? How does popular culture and media impact music of all kinds? The following quotations provide some provoking ideas:

“It’s not that culture has abandoned classical music. It’s that classical music has abandoned culture. Music must adapt to changes in the culture—not to expect culture to remain static. Music education is not the cause—or the solution.” Greg Sandow

“A love of classical music is only partially a natural response to hearing the works performed. It also must come about by a decision to listen carefully, to pay close attention, a decision inevitably motivated by the cultural and social prestige of the art.” Charles Rosen

“I venture to credit myself with truly new music which, being based on tradition, is destined to become tradition.” Schoenberg
“If I can write the songs of the nation, I don’t care who writes the laws.” Plato

Music in 21st –Century Society is a series of talks and debates by major cultural figures addressing the changing consumption, creation, contexts, and valuations of today’s music. They are presented in midtown Manhattan by the Barry S. Brook Center for Music Research and Documentation of the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (Fifth Avenue @ 34th Street).

The series is curated by Antoni Pizà.