Classical:NEXT 2025: Interview with Vincent Sneed

American music educator and researcher Vincent Sneed advocates for the rethinking of the history of music through a global lens on stages worldwide. At Classical:NEXT 2025, Vincent made the case as to why classical music is not just European. When one thinks of “classical” music, they may think of an opera by Giuseppe Verdi, a symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven, or a fugue by Johann Sebastian Bach. All of these well known composers are European and what they wrote has been known as art or classical music. This implies that this music was created solely by Europeans with no other influences. However, classical (art) music actually belongs to the world. In fact, the music of composers such as Mozart, Haydn, and Wagner would not have existed without influence from places such as Mesopotamia, Persia, Africa, India and China. Music journalist Jo Frost caught up with Vincent after his session to speak in greater depth and get to know a little bit more about this interesting history.