What has changed now? Are incumbents staying on longer than they used to, thus depriving newcomers of opportunities? Has music school enrollment declined precipitously? The general inflation in college tuition costs is turning colleges more and more into vocational education. Music could be among the traditional disciplines affected.
Americans youth do not, for the most part, train for classical music.
We have very few musicians, by percent, than we did 100 years ago. If you subtract the guitar and drums from the count.
The only place where classical music and musicians really thrive and are sought out is Asia.
As one famed musician said: Thank God for the Asians, otherwise the Western music tradition would die out.
The lights are going out quickly.