Thinking beyond the canon

Music critic and author Alex Ross has a theme he keeps returning to: How did the classical canon come to be, with its heavy emphasis on a relatively small number of famous names? 

Canon is defined as a selection of works in literature, music or other cultural expressions that are considered the most central and influential. In this lecture, Ross asks whether the canon of classical music can in future be expanded to include a more diverse group of composers.

Alex Ross has been a music critic for The New Yorker since 1996. He covers all classical music, from opera to the contemporary avant-garde, and also writes about literature, history, art, film and ecology. As an author and writer, he has won a number of awards and grants. His first book, The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century is about the cultural history of music since 1900 and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. He also wrote the essay collection Listen to This and Wagnerism: Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music, about Wagner's enormous cultural significance.

Photo: Josh Goldstine

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