Helsinki Chamber Orchestra: Vernacular and Art Music

For many centuries, and preceding the era of widespread access to all genres of music in which we are living today, the art of manipulating sounds, transcribing them, and sharing them, existed mainly through the opposition between secular and religious. While this opposition was mostly relevant and clear during the medieval period until the renaissance, the dichotomy later evolved into the more actual notions of art music and popular music. The art music, the music of high aesthetic value, implied careful craftsmanship and numerous considerations. On the other hand, popular music stood for its accessibility, having a free rapport with the high structural and theoretical concepts on which art music is based. Until today, and at times with great audacity, many composers have willingly played with this opposition and de facto rendered it null, by showing that art music too, could be popular and appeal to wide audiences. In a similar fashion, popular music has often enjoyed levels of craftsmanship and theoretical depth which contributed to question the relevance of the dichotomy.

Link: https://www.helsinkichamberorchestra.com/events/vernacular-and-art-music