Click on Classical: Future of classical, video game folk music, and 'Mozart in the Jungle'

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Every Monday morning at about 9:15, I'll be joining John Birge on Classical MPR to discuss some of the fun and fascinating stories we're featuring on our site. Three stories we'll be talking about this morning:

• There are a lot of reasons to be excited about the future of classical music: so say conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, record company executive Jeff Van Driel, composer Dan Gawthrop, and MRP staff members who contributed to a feature we've just published. The last word goes to Emily Green, a co-founder of the Young Musicians of Minnesota: "We're excited for the very same reasons that previous generations were: The diversity of classical music. The surprises that come in each movement, with each different piece. The escape from everyday life that music provides. The careers that it creates. The memories it makes. And lastly: the people that it brings together."

• For composers, is video game music the new folk music? Ricky O'Bannon looks at the way that composers today are creating symphonic pieces that incorporate themes and tunes from video game music, and likens the practice to "nationalist" composers of the Romantic era who incorporated folk music from their homelands into their compositions.

• Amazon is streaming the debut episode of their Web series Mozart in the Jungle​, based on the 2005 memoir by oboist Blair Tindall. The show portrays classical musicians' lives as being full of sex, booze, and bad decisions: does that reflect reality? Not according to pianist Andrew Staupe, who says he almost wishes it did!

Also, congratulations to Steven Price, winner of an Academy Award for his Gravity score. Last year, Garrett Tiedemann interviewed Price about the challenges of writing this thrilling music.