A director associated with the BBC Proms has claimed that a middle-aged demographic continues to stay away from the annual classical music festival because they perceive the art form as "elitist". The comments are notable because they suggest that persistent image problems around classical music, rather than younger audiences alone, are shaping who attends, and point to an ongoing challenge for one of Britain's best-known cultural events as it tries to broaden its appeal.

Beyond the headline claim, the substantive detail of the article was not available in the supplied text, which consisted largely of unrelated Daily Mail homepage headlines rather than the body of the Proms report. As a result, the specific figures, the identity and role of the director quoted, and any measures proposed to counter the "elitist" perception cannot be reliably summarised here.