Much as the government might want to use time in school to change the attitude of children to classical music, I think that is ambitious. I remember all too clearly the ‘school trip to a concert’, with all my peers sniggering in a line. It is much cooler to knock the music being played than it is to lose yourself in its intensity, so those children who might enjoy the music would be more likely to switch off rather than be laughed at by actually concentrating on it.

So we think it's critically important to get the children with their parents into a concert hall, and give them the best possible opportunity to connect with the music under favourable circumstances.

That is why we started the 'Bachtrack Young Reviewer' programme in March. When you have teenagers (as we do), there are problems getting them to go to a classical concert or an opera. They no longer have to come with you. They could stay at home, and it would make it cheaper for you.

So to provide some level of bribery, we created Young Reviewer. I spoke to orchestras, venues, ensembles, and societies across the UK, covering every pocket of the country. With few exceptions, everyone said they would back us, and, when they had availability, would give two free tickets for a 12-16-year-old to attend a professional classical concert with a parent and review it. The quid pro quo was that the music teacher would support the child and would talk to them about how they should go about listening to a classical concert in order to be able to write a review. We were grateful for information written by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra so that home schooled children needn't be excluded.

Once written and checked briefly by the teacher, the review then gets published on Bachtrack. So young teenagers without any journalistic experience, and not necessarily playing a musical instrument, get tickets to some of the best concerts available on the day and location that suits their family. In addition, their review gets emailed to the sponsor who then forwards it to the conductor, orchestra and soloists! You're 14 years old and your words are being read by really top class musicians. Isn't that fantastic?

Everyone genuinely wants to know whether young people like one composer more than another and what they make of the experience. After all, this is a generation that needs to be enticed into the concert hall, to fill the many chairs that will be empty when the current concert-going public die off. With a current average age of around 50, and many considerably older, there is widespread concern and debate as to how to fill those empty seats.

From our tiny sample, the programme has been enormously successful. Everyone who has attended a concert, often for the first time ever, has come away wanting to repeat the experience. This is a major success for the musicians and the music. The problem is that we are not getting to nearly enough teenagers.

If we can achieve a near 100% conversion rate on the people who do attend, please can you put some more teenagers my way? It's hard, of course, and everyone is so busy, but think of the joy you get listening to a live concert. Why shouldn't all teenagers have that experience?

From the girl who, on handing in her review wrote, ‘by the way, I asked mum if we could go to another concert soon, so she booked one’, to the boy who said ‘I think I'm hooked’, all those who have been reviewers have fallen under the spell of a live classical concert.

But the final words have to be given to the reviewer who wrote for Bachtrack: ‘A CD recording just doesn't do it. Something gets lost; the atmosphere is just not the same. I recommend that anyone who doesn't go to classical music concerts get started because they're absolutely amazing.’

Many younger children should also be able to enjoy music. The first article I wrote for our ‘For Kids’ section involved play for pre-school children. On the premise that children love drama, I offered my own kids appropriate background music to their activities. As a result, they never felt a Star Wars fight was complete without Holst ‘The Planets’ LOUD in the background. Children love to dance, and when you play Strauss you can dance up and down a corridor to great effect.

There's no reason why parents shouldn't take very young children to a concert. But if the parents aren't ‘into’ classical, that could be a problem, so with Bachtrack we did two things.

First, we provided space for all the orchestras and venues to input their children’s concerts into a ‘kids’ section where parents without a musical background could find what is on near their homes in a form of words that would appeal to them.

Secondly, we advertise widely on the web that ‘Concerts for kids are fun, not expensive or fattening’ to encourage those who would not bother to go to an orchestra's website to give it a try. There are now over a hundred forthcoming concerts in our kids’ section, and we welcome more.

Many parents think that concerts are expensive, but that is really not the case in the UK. So I also set out to find out what special offers exist for children in concert halls, and where you can listen to good-quality live classical music for £10 or for free.

We are continually working to improve the ‘Directory’ section which contains details of all those Universities who put on concerts, generally in term-time only, and the many music clubs and societies who put on amazing series of chamber concerts from September/October to May/June each year. On average, these cost £10-12 a ticket, but there are often major concessions for children, with free tickets available for under 22-year-olds at a number of areas around the UK, thanks to the wonderful work of CAVATINA, the Chamber Music Trust.

In an effort to persuade yet more people to attend a classical concert, we've approached Universities and Music Colleges to encourage them to input their concert details into the Bachtrack concert finder because of our unique ‘search by price bracket’ facility. Promoters, venues and ensembles who input details of their concerts have the ability to select a ‘low price concert’ button, where at least 50% of tickets are £10 or less.

There is another button for totally free concerts. You may not think there are many of these, but all the music colleges whose students are working towards becoming professional musicians have to get performing practice. Most lunchtimes you can go to a local music college and be entertained by an excellent classical performance. It would be great if they'd input their concerts into our database, and let everyone know what they can go and hear today or tomorrow.

Running a classical music website that provides information about all live classical and opera events wherever they take place, gives a unique view to know what music is being performed where. Regular contact with orchestras and venues both in the UK and, increasingly, abroad gives a very good sense of the vibrancy of one area over another.

The need to get more young reviewers for the programme means I have to speak to music services and heads of music in schools, and it gives me a good idea of the great work that is going on in schools not only internally but also through a myriad of different providers.

Three initiatives deserve a specific mention: CAVATINA bring chamber music to children in schools, whilst the Garden Opera Company instils an early love of opera which touches children and their parents. Last but not least, Lancashire Sinfonietta is embedded so deep into the county that they see their work starting with babies through their vastly popular mini-Mozart concerts which they also provide without charge.

So, in summary, there is some wonderful work being carried on across the country by a range of charities, all trying to bring children to classical music and opera. I would love to see adults trying hard to pass on to their students a love of music. It gives many of us so much enjoyment. When I left a recent Royal Festival Hall concert of Shostakovich conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, I was one of a gigantic crowd of concert-goers who had been jolted by the electricity of his performance. I fizzed with the excitement I had experienced. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could pass that on to the young people?