YouTube is the biggest and fastest-growing music streaming service on the planet. The invention of an Indiana University of Pennsylvania graduate, the Google-owned company offers millions of videos and playlists for all of your music needs. Whether you’re just beginning to listen to classical music or you can remember every composer like the back of your hand, check out the Frederick Symphony Orchestra’s favorite YouTube channels for classical music lovers:

• Classical Music Only: This channel has garnered more than 170,500 subscribers and 124 million total views. After joining YouTube in May 2008, Classical Music Only became the one-stop online shop for classical music. The channel has two playlists, The Greatest Opera Overtures and Classical Music for Relaxation, which each have more than 15 videos of Bach, Schubert, Mozart, Rossini, Offenbach, Rachmaninoff, Kreisler, Mendelssohn, Shostakovich, von Suppe, Wagner, and more.
• Relaxing Classical Music for Dogs, Cat & Pets: Animals appreciate good music, too. This channel is fairly new after joining in April 2014, but has already had almost 17,000 views. Out of the 21 videos on its channel, Relaxing Music for Dogs, Cats & Pets has videos that range from 2 minutes to more than an hour. Composers include, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, Mendelssohn Johnson, Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Horsakov, Borodin and others.
• John Luther Adams: This modern day composer is helping classical music remain alive and well. He’s inspired by natural landscapes, particularly the Alaskan environment where he used to reside. Some of his works are even performed in natural settings to pay respect to his inspiration. You can become one of the almost 21,000 viewers who’ve listened to his Pulitzer Prize-winning Become Ocean and other beautiful works on his YouTube channel.
• Classical Tunes: This verified channel “is the most complete and fresh channel specialized in classical music.” Its goal is to create a catalogue of easy, simple classical music to build the beginner’s repertoire. After its inception in 2009, this channel has more than 30 playlists that include hours-long videos with Schubert, Mozart, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Dvorak, Vivaldi, Haydn, Liszt, Sibelius, Stravinsky, and more.
• Contemporary Classical Music: This channel is auto-generated by YouTube to offer playlists of contemporary classical compositions from around the world, including Iceland, Uruguay, Ukraine, Taiwan, South Africa, Montenegro, the Netherlands, and Pakistan. The videos come from artists like English minimalist composer Michael Nyman, Estonian composer Arvo Part, and Italian pianist and composer Ludovico Einaudi.
• Brooklyn Duo: Marnie and Patrick Laird are classically trained musicians from Julliard and Eastman who meld the classic composition of the piano and cello with today’s pop songs. Superstars like Taylor Swift and Shakira have noticed their covers, and the married couple has more than 20 million views on YouTube with 194,000 subscribers. If you want to hear more from this talented duo, check out their other channel Brooklyn Classical.
• Frederick Symphony: Our YouTube channel features our local orchestra performing classical compositions by Rimsky-Korsakov, Mozart, and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Harbison. Viewers are more than welcome to subscribe to the FSO’s channel to get a sneak preview of what our concerts are like.

With YouTube growing at such a rapid pace, we’ll probably have more classical music channels to explore soon. From musicians and composers to traditional playlists and concert previews, there’s so many videos to be seen, so we suggest you log on as soon as possible. 

You can view our channel here to see past concert performances.