Whether she's attending a chamber performance or playing in one, cellist and teacher Laura Backstrom says one thing is pretty consistent — the audience "looks like a sea of white hair," she says.

In contemplating why that is, Backstrom, 60, said she initially thought it was because seniors have "a need for music in their life and they have the time for it and they have the resources." 

But lately, her thinking has changed, she told Cost…