What Do They Want? - A Case Study of Cultural Aware Non-attenders at Live Classical Music Concerts in Utrecht, The Netherlands

Abstract

This thesis strives to offer an answer to the question what keeps cultural-aware non-attenders away from classical concerts and when attending what musicological elements help create the desired concert experience worth staying for. It is a musicological addition to the marketing dominated audience development discourse. A historical perspective shows that the classical concert has not changes in the last 150 years. Deriving from question forms and interviews with cultural-aware non-attenders at two different classical concerts, this thesis proposes three themes of change: stereotypes, identification, and immersion. These changes aim to help create the best concert experience for the potential new audience group, so that they will find their way back to the concert hall.