There’s so much great music out there, and while it’s nice to listen to, sometimes you want to see the artists in action. For pop music lovers, there’s an endless number of video sites that showcase performances. However, Bach, Bartok, and Beethoven fans are less well served. This is where classical music video streaming services come in. They each have their strengths and weaknesses, which we detail below.
Read on for our top picks, followed by what to consider when choosing the best classical music service for you.
Deeper Dive: Our Top Tested Picks
Medici.tv
Best for a Large Library and Live Performances
Why We Picked It
Of the services we tested, medici.tv offers the largest on-demand classical catalog. It’s also the only one that live-streams concerts, in particular from noteworthy festivals like Salzburg and Verbier. Those plusses justify its slightly higher cost. The site and app also include opera, ballet, and classic jazz performances, with excellent audio and video quality in testing. In addition, the medici.tv player is more informative than rival offerings, showing dates and piece and movement names as you view.
Who It’s For
If you want the largest library of streaming classical music, including opera, ballet, and symphonies, and you’re charmed by the idea of live festival broadcasts, then medici.tv is for you. Our only real disappointments are its lack of Android and Amazon Fire TV apps, as well as 4K content.
PROS
- Live concerts and festivals
- Large, high-quality catalog
- Good sound quality
- Informative interface
CONS
- Lacks Android or Amazon Fire TV apps
- No 4K content
Learn More
Symphony.live
Best for Orchestral Repertory in 5.1 Audio and 4K Video
Why We Picked It
Symphony.live has one purpose, as its name implies: to offer video streams of orchestral music. It has an excellent catalog (though not as large as medici.tv’s) with contributions from such esteemed groups as the Gewandhausorchester of Leipzig, LA Phil, and the London Symphony Orchestra. We even found some 4K content.
Who’s It For?
Anyone who’s all about the symphonic repertoire and doesn’t care so much about opera and ballet will be interested in Symphony.live. But if your classical needs extend to opera and ballet, or even to jazz or theater, you must look elsewhere. The service is happily available for all the major platforms, including Amazon Fire TV, Android, Apple, LG, Roku, and Samsung.
PROS
- Excellent sound quality, with some 5.1 content
- Good library of symphonic literature
- Some 4K video content available
- Lots of platform support
CONS
- No offline listening on mobile apps
- Live content is actually prerecorded
- Some interface and search issues
Learn More
Marquee TV
Best for Theater Fans
Why We Picked It
Marquee TV includes both the widest number of genre categories (orchestral, opera, ballet, theater, and jazz) and the smallest number of available streams among the services we tested. It’s a good choice for cultured viewers who want a smattering of this and that in high-performance art. You get some excellent performers, such as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, La Scala Opera, and the London Symphony Orchestra.
Who’s It For?
If you’re really into Shakespeare, Marquee TV has the goods, along with a limited selection of orchestra, opera, and ballet. At $8.99 per month, the service costs less than its rivals, and it offers apps for Amazon Fire TV, Android, Apple devices, Google TV, Roku, and other platforms.
PROS
- Offers ballet and theater performances
- Good video and audio quality
- Some top performers in the library
- Apps for all major platforms
CONS
- Lacks live concerts
- Comparatively small content library
- No downloading to mobile for offline viewing
Learn More
Buying Guide: The Best Classical Music Video Streaming Services for 2023
What Do Classical Music Video Streaming Services Offer?
A few services only include classical concerts in the strictest sense, while others throw in opera, ballet, drama, and even jazz performances. Some have live content, while others are strictly on-demand offerings. The sites cost less than Netflix, ranging from $8.99 to $12.99 per month. They also vary by what platforms they support, so if you’re intent on using a Fire TV app, that will affect your choice.
Several orchestras and operas have their own on-demand or streaming sites, such as Berlin Philharmonic’s Digital Concert Hall ($149 per year), the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (free), NYPHil+ ($4.99 per month), and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (free). For opera, check out Met Opera on Demand ($14.99 per month), OperaVision (free), and Staatsoper.TV from Munich.
If you’re more into jazz than classical, you can check out a couple of sites not listed above. Jazz Live ($9.99 per month/$99 per year), despite its name, also has a healthy library of concerts from the vault. Another option is Oh! Jazz (20 euros per month).
Which Music Streaming Service Is Best for Classical?
You can get a bigger catalog and higher-resolution sound quality in your classical music if you forego the video. Since there are more factors to consider when choosing a piece of classical music to listen to than with popular music, these apps and services let you choose by composer, performer, conductor, soloist, and so on.
Idagio has a free level so that anyone can enjoy its repertoire, and a $9.99-per-month subscription gets you on-demand, ad-free listening at lossless CD audio quality. The service actually does include live video performances, for which you pay for each concert separately. Qobuz isn’t restricted to classical, but it offers excellent tools for finding the hottest new recordings and streaming them in the highest audio quality around—even beyond lossless CD quality. It also lets you view the entire CD booklet in PDF form. These two services also pay the performers based on time rather than just rewarding the most streamed artists.
Recommended by Our Editors
Primephonic was bought and shut down by Apple, which used it as a starting point for its Apple Music Classical ($10.99 per month) app, available for Android and iOS. Apple pays artists based on the number of streams rather than time, so performers of a symphony movement that lasts 40 minutes lose out on that platform compared with the other services.
Hits: 0
