Minnesota Orchestra is trying to put fresh faces onstage as well

Minnesota Orchestra violinist Ben Ullery feels the Crescendo Program is one of the best things the orchestra does to attract younger patrons -- people such as himself.

Ullery, 26, grew up in the Twin Cities, and his parents are members of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, so he sees the campaign to get young people into classical music as a life-long effort. We caught up with him at the Grand Teton Music Festival, where he regularly performs during the summer.

Q What would you do to attract younger audiences if you were programming?

A The Crescendo Program is a really great idea for younger audience members so they don't feel that everyone around them has gray hair. It's a nice community thing to do. And as far as getting younger people interested in concerts, education is really crucial. Even if they don't grow up to be musicians, they come to concerts. The "Inside the Classics" programs that [violist] Sam Bergman does are a really great way to show people what music is all about.

Q Do you feel like an odd man out at your age?

A Yes and no. By nature of being a professional, a lot of the people I associate with are classical musicians and they are around my age. But I do realize that's somewhat of an isolated community and not really the norm.

Q Is the orchestra a pretty mature group?

Q You had a leg up because your parents were classical musicians, yeah?

A Clearly it would be hard to say that didn't play any part, but I actually didn't get serious about wanting to be a musician until high school, when I started listening to classical music on my own.

Q What kind of popular groups did you listen to?

A Oh, I listened to all the popular music that other kids in high school were listening to. And I still do. I listen to a lot of what you'd call indie rock.

People have asked me that question a lot, people who aren't classical musicians. They say, "Do you just listen to classical music?" And I always tell them no. That's true of a lot of people in the orchestra. We spend all day playing classical music. You don't want to go home and listen to more classical music. At least I don't.

A I'd say that a lot of times when people think they don't like classical music, they have certain stereotypes in their minds about what it's actually like. A lot of that is fostered by the way classical music is portrayed in the media, on TV and how they play classical music as background music in stores. A lot of people don't realize how great and exciting it actually is.

Q What about styles?

A I remember back in high school and I was still discovering all the great classics of the 19th- and 20th-century orchestral repertoire, I was driving in a car with some friends and I put in a CD of [Stravinsky's] "Rite of Spring" because I thought it was really cool. And they all loved it. They were not classical musicians themselves. So if you can expose people in the right way to stuff like that, it's possible to show them what it's all about. You don't have to have any education to listen to "Rite of Spring" and get how exciting it is.