Orchestral Music Tops The Charts For Discovery As Yorkshire Leads The Nation's Love Of The Classics.

Orchestral music has overtaken pop, rock, and country to become the genre Britons most want to explore, according to a major new survey by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra—and Yorkshire is at the heart of the nation's enthusiasm.

The RPO's annual Insights Report, now in its ninth year, found that 2025 marked a record high in the percentage of adults who said they like orchestral music, alongside an increase in the number experiencing it for the first time.

The proportion of people saying they would like to learn more about orchestral music jumped from 20 per cent in 2024 to 35 per cent in 2025—the first time the genre has topped the list ahead of pop, rock, R&B, dance, and country—with the rise particularly marked among young people under 25.

Yorkshire sets the pace.

The region has much to celebrate in the findings. Residents of Yorkshire and the Humber are the most likely in the UK to regard music as the country's greatest export to the world, at 54 per cent, and the area records the highest popularity for Tchaikovsky of any UK region. When it comes to children learning instruments, the drums are the most popular here, chosen by 31 per cent — the highest figure nationally.

Overall, 81 per cent of Yorkshire adults say they have a relationship with orchestral music, with 28 per cent having followed it for many years and 27 per cent enjoying it alongside other genres.

The report also highlights local concerns. The most damaging losses to community life in Yorkshire and the Humber, residents feel, would come from the closure of libraries, live music venues, and museums, alongside the disappearance of amateur music and theatre groups.

Claire Elsdon, Theatre and Halls Manager at Hull Theatres, welcomed the findings, saying the long-standing partnership with the RPO had added an important dimension to live music in and around Hull and that music, theatre, and the arts play a vital role in enriching society and supporting inclusion.

From the bath to the commute

The research found that for 80 per cent of UK adults, orchestral music features as part of their regular lifestyle and routines, whether by choice or by chance. The commute emerged as a significant listening moment, with 28 per cent saying they listen on the way to work—almost double the 15 per cent recorded in 2024.

The summer months saw a particularly striking statistic: 82 per cent of students chose orchestral music as part of their revision soundtrack, up from 69 per cent in 2024, with Beethoven, Mozart, Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky, and Bach the most popular choices.

Nationally, 34 per cent of respondents said they would be relaxing to orchestral music during their summer holiday—more than double the 2024 figure of 15 per cent.

The myth of the aging audience

The report pushes back against the notion that orchestral music belongs only to older listeners. The RPO's research found that the popularity of core classical and orchestral repertoire stretches across all age groups, with young people's experiences of the great composers playing a key role in fuelling their enjoyment of the genre.

In 2025 there was a significant rise in the percentage of people classing themselves as having enjoyed the orchestral genre for many years—evidence, the RPO argues, that people are transitioning from being beginners to explorers to committed enthusiasts.

The breadth of what draws people in is striking. Core classical repertoire was important to fewer than 20 per cent of the audience, with significant numbers drawn to orchestral music through film, musical theatre and video gaming, while orchestral collaborations with rock and pop were also popular.

The AI question

The report devotes substantial attention to artificial intelligence, drawing on new research conducted in January 2026. Asked which areas of the arts AI will have replaced humans by 2050, respondents identified live music concerts and theatre productions as the safest havens, with 78 per cent believing human creativity would remain untouched. Respondents viewed recorded music and photography as the most vulnerable, with studio recordings essentially a 50-50 call.

Despite widespread scepticism, 58 per cent of UK adults said they were in favour of AI creating new music from greatly loved composers and performers no longer with us, with Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury, David Bowie, and John Lennon topping the wish list, alongside Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, and Shostakovich.

The most common concern was the prospect of artists having their music copied without royalties being paid, cited by 51 per cent of respondents, followed by worries about the impact on live music venues if audiences dwindled.

More than twice as many people thought AI would stifle creative innovation in music as believed it would enhance it—and that scepticism showed little variation by age group.

RPO Music Director Vasily Petrenko offered a longer perspective in his concluding remarks, noting that a hundred years ago, in 1926, Shostakovich premiered his First Symphony and Sibelius his final major work, in the same year that electrical recording technology transformed how music was heard. Both composers are still performed worldwide today. Change and continuity, he argued, have always coexisted—and will continue to do so.


The RPO Insights Report 2026 is based on tracking research by Walr, which surveyed 2,000 UK adults in February, June, and October 2025, and on additional AI-focused research by UK Omnibus Group in January 2026.