Musical youth

David Whelton, managing director of the Philharmonia Orchestra, clearly knows good music when he hears it: he describes Eminem and The Streets as "terrific". He worries, though, that young people do not get the same education in classical music as his generation did. While the annual success of the BBC Proms shows that classical music still has a following, there is something in his complaint. But forcing children to listen to music they dislike would only turn them off it for good. Mr Whelton must continue to produce the finest classical music possible, and hope that, in time, he reaches that elusive younger audience.