WHAT IS INDIE CLASSICAL?
This blog explores indie classical music—a growing movement of composers and performers who bypass traditional classical institutions to create and share music on their own terms. With a DIY spirit, intimate performances, and diverse influences from pop to electronic, indie classical redefines what classical music can be: personal, accessible, and free from gatekeeping.
-Indie classical is a group of composers/musicians who are circumventing the normal classical music organizational structures (competitions/grants/commissions). Instead of waiting for permission or opportunities from a board, they make music themselves and connect directly with an audience.
-Because they are not going through the traditional routes of classical music (i. e. access to money) often indie classical has a diy esthetic. This also means the music tends to be chamber music (because it’s cheaper), the composer is often the performer, and recordings are made in home.
- Concerts tend to be small, casual, and in non traditional spaces including art galleries, warehouses, and even in homes.
-Indie classical music embraces a wider range of musical influences often drawing heavily from the world of pop, electronic music, and jazz. This greater artistic freedom comes from its freedom from needing to please a board of “professionals” who controls who gets the commission or grant.
-It freely picks and chooses what values of classical music it wants to maintain, and which it wants to reinvent.
-Indie classical is not competitive, it’s not about being the best, but about being your self.