1:00 AM 12th March 2026
AI In Music: A Viewpoint From Vasily Petrenko RPO Music Director
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RPO & Vasily Petrenko
Photo: Ben Wright
Britain in 2025: Live performances are aspects of the Arts where people think AI will not touch human creativity (75%), whereas studio recorded music (48%) and photography (52%) are areas where people think AI is most likely to have replaced humans by 2050.
Most acceptable uses of AI in music creation related to engineering and production aspects – mixing (23%), remastering (23%) and restoration of archive catalogues (37%).
The music genre differentiator with AI. People thought AI positively worked best for dance (48%), pop (44%) and rap (33%) music. People didn’t think AI worked so well for Classical (74%), blues (76%), folk (76%) and soul (83%).
Concerns over the consequences of AI - Majority of people (53%) cited concerns over music being copied without royalties being paid - and the implications for local music venues (42%), and the potential impact on career pathways in music for young people (40%).
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Vasily Petrenko
Photo: Ben Wrigh
Rewind a hundred years to 1926. It was the year when a 19-year-old composer, Dmitri Shostakovich, premiered his first symphony in Leningrad, whilst in New York, concert audiences experienced the world premiere of the last substantial composition from Jean Sibelius. 1926 was also the year when the microphone and electrical 78 rpm recordings were launched to the world, heralding a ground-breaking era of recorded music that went from vinyl to cassette to CD - and then back again to vinyl.
100 years on, the music premiered in 1926 is still performed today, Sibelius and Shostakovich are both regularly performed around the world. And after what started in 1926, recorded music has never been as easily accessible as it is today. From cumbersome 78s, people can now enjoy gigantic music libraries easily accessible on the smartphone in their back pocket.
Orchestral music must embrace change, not just to survive but to grow and prosper. New technology is an enabler and a democratizer, and the rich diversity of the orchestral audience today allows us to celebrate its relevance to changing tastes, cultures and beliefs. And at a time of so many challenges in the world, music is a powerful universal language that reminds people of what they have in common, and we need it now more than ever.
But whilst we embrace these changes, we also see continuity. As our research reveals, the public’s journey of music and orchestral discovery includes core repertoire as a cornerstone. Whilst movie soundtracks and pop and crossover concerts all deliver something new, the orchestral experience continues to draw people to the timeless genius of the great masterworks. Whilst busy, on-the-go people enjoy listening to orchestral music in everyday situations, the jigsaw puzzle is never complete without the live concert hall experience. Consequently, change and continuity very much live together.
This report also explores the range of audience viewpoints from around the UK, and this reminds us that there is no ‘average’ when it comes to the audience perspectives on orchestral music. From my conducting engagements around the world, this position is also true by country and by continent. It is good to celebrate the different preferences, views and tastes of audiences. This diversity keeps the orchestral world vibrant, socially relevant and healthy. But the common thread continues to be a shared love for the music.
And our learnings on AI in music represent the start of a new period of research and understanding. Consumer viewpoints vary and this is understandable, given the technology is in its early stages and will continue to develop. There are risks to musicians and creatives, and there are also risks, perhaps even greater ones, to the concert audience. So many people in the industry have focused on the impact on musicians, but the greater impact could be on whether they have an audience to play to if job losses, as a result of AI, are on the scale that some have predicted. Set against fears, some people also see positives and opportunity from AI, and views towards it are sometimes based on age – with older people more fearful of something they have read about, whilst young people are more likely to already use it and accept it. In terms of the outcomes and consequences of AI, none of this is known at this stage, but again this brings us back to the theme, which is the co-existence of change and continuity.
Another reason why human creativity and AI can co-exist is because they offer different strengths. The RPO research revealed that the public felt AI could be used successfully to enhance the production side of recording music - such as the mastering of new recorded music and the restoration and audio enhancement of archive recordings. In terms of the creation of music, AI may in theory offer perfection, but great art is often art precisely because of human imperfections implicit within the shape and form of the piece. This is true of many great paintings for example. Any creative act - any art - always has an element of hesitation in the mind of an artist. Not hesitation in the exact moment of creation, but about the 'fullness' or 'completion' of the object. One of many examples might be the Unfinished' Symphony by Schubert. This kind of hesitation is completely beyond AI, in terms of structure and idea. This adds weight to the thought that change and continuity can co-exist.
The key (and heartening) take out from the new RPO report is that the orchestral audience is growing, people are having fulfilling journeys of discovery and, for many, orchestral music is becoming a passion of a lifetime. In 2126 people will still be discovering orchestral music, as they were in 1926 and as they do today - as we discover at every rehearsal and performance.