Each Tuesday in Music Matters, Matthew Linder explores the intersections of music, culture and faith.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s not have popular culture accost \u00a0the gospel but rather enrich popular culture with the gospel.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n You might not be aware of this but classical music is experiencing the beginnings of a resurgence in American culture. It might not be readily apparent that this is occurring, since many of the largest orchestras and opera companies are in dire financial straits. From staff lay offs<\/a>, merging with other institutions<\/a>, filing bankruptcy<\/a> or the near constant negotiations between union musicians and their financial backers<\/a>, the institutions of classical music seem to be dying a slow, drawn-out death.<\/p>\n Additionally, classical music audiences are aging without being replenished by a steady stream of new young fans<\/a>, since younger generations find more artistry, creativity and challenge in popular music<\/a>. The issue is, as classical music advocate and Julliard professor Greg Sandow\u00a0succinctly\u00a0puts it<\/a>, \u201cclassical music culture\u2026 \u2014 as a whole \u2014 doesn\u2019t [have] many roots in contemporary life.\u201d<\/p>\n Therefore, to most observers it would seem that classical music has lost the clout and musical importance it once had in American culture, so why would I say that it is experiencing a resurrection? The concert hall and opera house could be going the way of history but a number of enterprising classical musicians are skipping the traditional route and using the medium of pop culture to expose a new audience to this ancient music.<\/p>\n There are three main streams in which classical performers have co-opted popular culture, something I think we as Christians can use to examine our own engagement with popular culture and more importantly, in creating new culture.<\/p>\n First, there are several performers out there who primarily do classical covers of pop music. From the rock-edge of 2Cellos<\/a> to the pop sensibility of the Vitamin String Quartet<\/a>, these groups re-imagine popular music within a classical idiom. However, the one issue with these types of experiments is that they do not truly embrace the sound of classical music but rather come across as an instrumental version of a pop song. The shift from a guitar-heavy song to a violin or cello is not a difficult one and even more so when the original song was strings-driven such as\u00a0Coldplay\u2019s \u201cViva La Vida\u201d<\/a>\u00a0or Arcade Fire\u2019s \u201cEmpty Room\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n The second approach is the mashup. One of the most popular YouTube videos of 2012 was of a classical violinist, Lindsey Stirling (first\u00a0introduced\u00a0to the public through her America\u2019s Got Talent audition in 2010<\/a>). \u201cCrystallize\u201d, an original classical piece married with the\u00a0synthesizers\u00a0of dubstep, had over 45 million views and was the sixth most viewed video in 2012<\/a>.<\/p>\n