2012-05-03

conference

Conference sessions and mentoring announced

Carsten Dürer chairs a session on the future of music journalism

3 May: Classical:NEXT has now announced all conference sessions and speakers as well as mentoring sessions and networking meetings of its 2012 edition. The conference sessions, selected by a jury of independent experts from a multitude of proposals, will constitute the core of the conference - in-depth discussions and presentations with a maximum of three people on each session. Throughout eight conference sessions nineteen speakers representing international perspectives will focus on the most pressing needs for practical solutions in the classical music sector. In addition, experts offer 15 min. one-to-one mentoring sessions on special topics and professional networks introduce themselves in so-called networking meetings. (see below for the complete programme of the conference)

One of the key topics of this year's Classical:NEXT Conference will be the engagement of future audiences, circling the matter from different angles: Steven Walter from the innovative Podium Festival and Robert Douglass of the Open Goldberg Variations project (Japan/USA/Germany/Belgium), will discuss practical examples and thought-provoking theories on crowdfunding as a means of both financing and marketing.

Rob Harris of UKMEA/Arup, creators of the structural design of the Sydney Opera House, will relate to the participatory design of the music buildings of the future, while the nowadays indispensable social media will be the focus of a session on digital promotion chaired by Dr. Martin Delhi, actori. He will be joined by Anna Kleeblatt, Bavarian State Opera Munich, and Christopher Gruits, Carnegie Hall, who aims at collaborations as an outcome of the conference:

“I am looking forward to participating in the first Classical:NEXT conference and collaborating with industry colleagues on the important topic of audience engagement online.”

Sonic inspiration will be the subject in a discussion on film music as an ear-opener with Matthias Keller, BR Bavarian Broadcasting, Laura Berman, artistic director of Art of Our Times at Bregenzer Festspiele, and Christian Heyne, film music composer, as well as in a lecture of Dr. Alan Bern, The Other Europeans (Moldova/Hungary/Bulgaria/France/UK/USA/Germany), on renewal through folk and popular music as well as on the mutual influence of club and classical which Kai-Michael Hartig, Körber Foundation, and Christian Kellersmann, Universal Music Classics & Jazz, will discuss with curator and manager Matthias Schneider, schneider+.

Centring on the income aspect, Dr. Stefan Pennartz, Schoepe Fette Pennartz Reinke, Barbara Wunderlich, Wunderlich Medien, and Paul Janse, Codaex, will deal with European copyright extensions.

“I am excited about the establishment of Classical:NEXT in Munich, because in one of the main countries for classical music, Germany, there has been a real need for such an important meeting for the whole branch of classical music. Now not only this gap will be filled, but an international gathering with people, who are in different business, but all working for bringing out the classical music to the world!” enthuses Carsten Dürer, editor of PIANONews and ENSEMBLE, who will chair a conference session on the future of classical music journalism and media together with his British colleagues Jessica Duchen, The Independent, and Oliver Condy, editor of BBC music magazine.

The jury selected the eight conference sessions in accordance with the following focus areas:

NEXT:Generation – future listeners and audience engagement
NEXT:Income – new markets and the future of funding and financing
NEXT:Technology – new methods for new challenges
NEXT:Sound – new music, new formats, sonic influences and inspirations

See here for the conference programme.