Survey shows under-25s want to explore classical music

13 December 2012, 16:00 | Updated: 14 December 2012, 12:08

Under-25s keen to explore genres other than pop, with classical music and jazz at the top of the list, concludes a new YouGov poll.

A YouGov poll of 2,000 people under 25 has shown that 60% of them are keen to explore new genres of music outside of pop, with 31% of that group wanting to learn more about classical music.

The survey also showed that 32% of under-25s would like to know more about jazz music, more than twice as many as people over 45 (14%). The under-25 group joined over-55s in being most interested in classical music, possibly suggesting that interest in the genre has skipped a generation.

Alice Walton, Marketing Director of the Philharmonia, commented: "We are delighted that young people are keen to explore different forms of music. This may, in part, be linked with having music lessons at school but music is a huge part of most of our lives, and classical music is all around us, in films, TV and online."

The Philharmonia in particular has invested much in exposing young people to classical music, with a brand new app, 'The Orchestra', for iPad and regular podcasts, as well as offering free music-making software online.

The poll showed the following genres to be of most interest to under-25s:

Jazz (32%)
Classical (31%)
Blues (19%)
African (16%)
Oriental (13%)