Ben Finane (pictured), Assistant Director of the 92nd Street Y School of Music, recently had an article published in The Star-Ledger (NJ) on George Marriner Maull, the conductor of the newly named Discovery Orchestra and his concerts that are geared toward music education for adults. We found this part on the role of technology particularly interesting.

In discussing the orchestra’s role beyond the concert hall, Maull says he is “quite aware of the fact that live performance may not be the best way to reach most people,” noting “our society has just become so electronic.”

Maull cites the Knight Foundation’s 2002 Classical Music Consumer Segmentation Study, which found that of those Americans who consider themselves lovers of classical music, only half attend concerts regularly, with the other half choosing to listen in their cars or on their home stereo systems, computers, etc.

“As we go forward in creating more educational products,” Maull says, “we want them to be usable on almost any electronic platform,” including iPods and computers. Maull believes this is an essential strategy to reach listeners in their formative teenage years.

Read the full article here. Of course, we’re happy to give you the option to experience music in both the concert hall and the classroom.