What does higher music education promise today? What can aspiring music professionals hope for? In this talk, I reflect on the sustainability of art music from the perspective of music students. In the book ""The promise of music. Hopes and expectations in higher music education"" (Craenen 2022), contributions from students and staff at the Royal Conservatoire The Hague testify to changing views on concert practice, musical heritage, audiences and artistic entrepreneurship. In addition, a thematic analysis of 291 research proposals by master's students reveals a growing interest in cross-disciplinary and curatorial approaches.

 

Based on these insights, I suggest that higher music education institutions should focus on rebalancing classical music values with emerging new possibilities regarding the use and sharing of music, the relationship with audiences and, more generally, the role of professional musicians in society and academia.