We tend to be gloomy artists, as if the world were coming to an end. But I actually find that a lot of the changes that are happening are pretty interesting. They offer us opportunities.

They say the prototypical classical music audience member is 55 years old and upper-income bracket. I find that kind of astonishing, though it’s probably true – but I don’t think it has to be that way! That is the bedrock audience, and we would be foolish to ignore them. On the other hand, there are lots of other people out there, and we would be equally foolish not to try to attract their interest.

In general I think that means presenting many different kinds of concert – rather than throwing the normal concert out of the window and dressing up like pop musicians – nobody would advocate that. But a lot of ensembles I’ve been watching have experimented with format, length of programme, dress, lighting, talks from the stage... none of this is new any more. For that trend to continue in a positive direction is really important. And for people to be guiding that, influencing what choices should be made, is also important, and I’d like to be part of that.

The way music is transferred from person to person now is extraordinary, and certainly unprecedented in music history. Classical musicians should join in the fun rather than complain!

Look at what some of the young pop groups have done, becoming enormously successful simply by word of mouth, friends saying ‘download this song’. Maybe those groups won’t be around for long. But this was simply not possible until now. You had to have the backing of a big, corporate record company to achieve that. Now you don’t, and that means that the creative quotient, as opposed to the business-savvy, public-relations quotient, seems to me higher. And that can be nothing but positive.