South African composer Kevin Volans gave a speech in which he called out millennial composers for their laziness, lack of ambition, and greed. When I saw it, my first thought was about how Kevin Volans was showing the worst parts of the millennial stereotype: privilege and entitlement.

The way we discuss relevance in classical music is a mess. We talk out every conceivable side of our mouth about a single concern dressed up as programming or education or popular misconception. Even though we claim to stand for the culture at large, and even though we are supposedly trying to relate to non-musicians, we assume that everyone who’s not initiated into the music world is just like us but hasn’t seen the light. We are trying to reach large, diverse audiences without questioning whether our own experiences may not be universal.