14. Changing Rooms

This chapter presents a diary of unconventional concert spaces, two pre- and four post-pandemic. The aim is to explore the effects of spatial innovation, providing insights for the future of performances outside the concert hall. Already a hot topic in attempts to innovate the classical music concert, the pandemic has seen an unprecedented (if enforced) explosion of experimentation in this area, whether online, outdoors, or in unusual buildings. What we have learnt from these experiences is far from clear. Indeed, vacating the concert hall may simply make people desperate to return. While innovation in this area can be effective, and the intentions are admirable, it might also be too easy a fix: changing space alone is unlikely to achieve the goals of improving classical music’s reach and demographic appeal. Concert hall discipline is not just in the concert hall but in the habits and practices of the people raised within its traditions.