The Shocking Place Classical Music Is Making a Comeback

Published: October 2, 2025

By Kayla DeKraker

TikTok brings awareness to the “next generation of classical music talent” through its new program Crescendo, created in partnership with London’s Southbank Centre.

A description on the website describes Crescendo as “A six-month programme (January – June 2026) that sees the Southbank Centre join forces with TikTok to celebrate everything classical music and help bring the art form to a new audience.”

TikTok has already seen an upward spike in classical music interest recently.

“With nearly a million TikTok posts under the #ClassicalMusic hashtag, which has increased by 60% on TikTok over the past 12 months, the genre is stepping beyond the concert hall and finding powerful new life online,” a press release says, adding “Whether they’re virtuoso performers, bedroom composers, remixing DJs, or superfans from non-traditional backgrounds, the program is seeking fresh and diverse voices ready to unlock classical music for 21st century audiences.”

For the program, 10 creators will be chosen in January to “gain free access to Southbank Centre concerts and rehearsals, exclusive behind-the-scenes content opportunities with the Southbank Centre’s Resident Artists and Orchestras,” per Variety.

Esther Abrami, a violist and TikTok creator who performed at the launch of Crescendo, said of the program, “There’s a phrase that I heard so many times when I was studying classical music, which is ‘young people do not like classical music.’ But then I thought, ‘Wait, I’m young. I love it. How come?’ It’s music that gives you chills, it’s music that’s so powerful and I thought, it’s not fair that not everyone is actually experiencing that.”

@estherabrami

what goes on behind closed doors 🚪 #vivaldi #violin #classicalmusic

♬ original sound – Esther Abrami

Though this is a positive move on TikTok’s part, the Chinese app still remains embroiled in controversy, especially regarding its possible national security concerns.

“It’s complicated,” said Christopher McKnight Nichols, the Wayne Woodrow Hayes Chair in National Security Studies and a professor of history at The Ohio State University, of the app’s dangers. “TikTok is both a national security threat and not a very significant one. There’s no risk to the general user. The main risks are to the more high-profile users, government users, people with classified information, that kind of thing.”

But as far as safety goes, other apps hold similar risks. “There are lots and lots of other apps that have the same kinds of data processing, data collection concerns,” Nichols said. “Many of them are American, and we know that they’ve also been used against national security interests, such as in the election of 2016. And they’re not subject to this ban.”

As government agencies do their part to investigate the nefarious side of the app, it’s nice to know TikTok still has some positives.

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