“Gen Z is going to find its own path,” shares famed British conductor Sir Mark Elder, continuing, “I'm sure for some of them, the idea of what's happening in classical music is really important because my experience is that audiences are full of young people.” It is a stark difference from the time he was growing up. Elder, who was in Mumbai for the very first time, was also making his debut in the country, when he was left pleasantly surprised to see the audience for his performance at the National Centre for Performing Arts during Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI)'s Spring 2025 Season. 

Elder adds, “I'm so thrilled about that because when I was young, they weren’t, and everybody thought that the youth would never get to music. I've spent my life trying to get young people interested in all sorts of music and I just love it when I come to do a concert and see lots of young people everywhere.” While the number of Gen-Z who witnessed him live is debatable, the crowd had an interesting mix of young and old. It is no wonder then that the British conductor is hopeful for the future of Western Classical music at a time when Gen-Z, a generation that people apparently love to hate, is confidently taking over physical and online spaces in more ways than one. 

Having conducted orchestras around the world in Australia, USA and the United Kingdom, for the last five decades, Elder says a live symphony orchestra is a powerful emotional language, which can be loud and soft too, “It is the only large-scale musical activity that happens in the world without microphones. As a young person growing up today, all the music they hear, whatever it is and however much they love it, it's microphoned.” On the other hand, he says in a live symphony orchestra what you see is what you get. “I always say that to young children, ‘You must come and listen. Come on, sit near the front. They say, oh, it's so loud. Yeah, but there are no microphones. It's live. The player sits there and makes the sound for you. That's part of the appeal. You see the moment of creation. I think that's wonderful to watch people create.”