Classical:NEXT 2022 - An Extremely Long and Overly Detailed Review

This text was written during Classical:NEXT Conference in Hanover, Germany (May 17th-20th, 2022). I was in attendance as an observer and reviewer for Limelight Magazine. A more concise review of the conference is available at their website - the following takes the form more of a live blog of the event for those curious about the experiences and thoughts of someone in the room.

DAY 1: TUESDAY

Morning:

Hanover is like the Adelaide of Germany. Smaller than the big cities, cleaner too - a little quieter you could say. It’s a fair statement when I write you wouldn’t have many reasons to visit Hanover outside of a specific event or conference; which is what brings me here this week - to the largest (only) classical music industry innovation conference in the world, Classical:NEXT!

What to expect? Well, I’m genuinely keen to see how a bunch of people in a generally traditional and conservative industry view something like innovation. Put away your NFTs because I’m quite sure we’re still catching up with streaming in this industry; and because I was reading Dave Eggers on the train over from Berlin (aka German Melbourne), I’m sure what follows will be a poor attempt at colloquial humour.

First impressions: grand! It’s so nice being in an environment with the only other people in the world that are interested and passionate about an extremely niche and tiny field, within the extremely niche and tiny industry you belong to. Check in was great, and the enthusiasm is high for an early Tuesday morning in German-Adelaide. I’ve jumped straight into a brainstorming workshop focussing on the continued evolution of Higher Education Music Schooling; all well and good and great ideas and ways to change, but I did over hear the classic fatalist sentence from a representative for the Royal College of Music: “We all know the problems but who knows how to fix them?” When the moderator (the newly appointed Dean at the Jacobs School of Music in Indianna - one of the biggest music schools in the world) asks at the end “So we’re all talking about change, how are you going to actually do this?” she’s met only with stunned silence. Turns out we all like talking about change, but no one is quite sure (or that interested in) how to make it happen.

Meanwhile, I’ve come up with a drinking game: every time you hear “[insert statement about] a new, young audience”, you take a shot - and I’m not sure I’ll get past midday on the first day.

11:23 - 2 shots.

I meet the Australian delegation in the Exhibition Hall, who are busy setting up their delightful DIY stand, and instantly felt directly at home in a group of Australians from Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane; and sharing in the marvellous camaraderie that is truly unique with Australians, where we’re instant friends from the beginning and feel directly at ease. What a great start! Meanwhile, the Estonians across the aisle have the most beautiful and aesthetically pleasing stand, with great tech. Typical. The Scottish have already started drinking and looking askance at the English stand which is situated a few doors down from them, the Welsh and the Irish. 

Sitting in the keynote, I see Aubrey Bergauer sitting a couple of rows and immediately start fangirling (for the 2nd time). I’d seen her earlier in the stage room, and as this woman is essentially the David Bowie-meets-Prince of classical music innovation, started getting butterflies and zoned out of the discussion I was then having, whilst fantasising about our first in-person meeting after a brief zoom call two years previously. I’m writing this whilst the manager of the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra talks about their innovative programming (see next paragraph) and feeling a bit guilty, but I’m definitely still thinking about how I’ll introduce myself later, hopefully without a high pitched squeal as a segue.

Meanwhile, in the talk: apparently mixing a new composition between a work of Beethoven and Schumann is considered innovative programming here. Or hosting family-friendly daytime concerts. Huge, incredible respect for what this person and her organisation have endured and excelled through; but a key innovation speech to open the festival not given by an innovative organisation seems like the whole conference is aiming for being celebrated for social justice above their stated goal of supporting the future of the Classical Music Industry (CMI). Mark Pemberton, the Head of the Association of British Orchestras pipes up in question time with a sort of non-question that both announced the ABO’s presence and plugs their event later on. A lot of questions about the Ukrainian musicians and overall care: that mix of genuine care, good will, and morbid curiosity about tragedy that humans are so often drawn to - but from this, the KSO gets a perfect opportunity to introduce their work to a large international delegation.

It has been a fun mix of meeting people so far - older professionals tired of the constant fight for relevance; students still optimistic that they can make change; Chris walking around, double-parked with a coffee and champagne, and enjoying the dialogue.

I walk into a ‘Networking for Beginners’ event, which kinda feels adequate for a mixture of socially awkward musicians and socially awkward administrators. The presentation also acts as an introduction to the actual conference, with the key element presented as ‘Thinking about the future of classical and art music.’ Berlin-based entrepreneurial pianist Andreas Kern (from Piano Battle and Piano City fame), who I'm seated next to is a similarly cynical attendee who has a feeling that the conference features a few too many inward looking people, looking further inward and resulting in fairly tepid cyclical patterns.

Afternoon:

I take a coffee break and meet some more interesting students, before going to decompress at the Australian stand, which is the definitely the most affable, before then jumping into a session basically telling musicians how to ask for money: again, nothing groundbreaking, but very useful. Until a black composer puts his hand up during a discussion on equal-rights funding, and discusses the white people hosting festivals and events labelled as ‘diverse’, which are nonetheless held hostage by the same gatekeepers who don’t truly represent or even understand diversity. Great fun and great points - until the moderator slightly awkwardly shuts him down (let's say it’s because of time constraints rather than the risk of awkwardness). A tall, white Nordic man on the panel makes a big deal of how much he agrees, before they quickly move on.

The format of the conference allows a pleasant amount of time in between sessions - balancing well the FOMO aspect (where you want to be in multiple places at once), whilst also allowing space to follow up conversations. Funnily enough, whilst the conference has a really good smartphone application that allows you to save prefered events and also find the other delegates, they still send around a handwritten sign up sheet, ostensibly to keep track of how many people are attending shows. Does anything define the classical music industry better? 

Second drinking game: whenever anyone mentions talking to the audience as an innovative practice = two shots. This begins during a follow up discussion with the higher music education conversation, in which representatives from Peabody Institute (USA), Royal Northern Conservatory of Music (UK), Royal College of Music (UK), La Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía (ES), Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (IT), Johns Hopkins School of Music (USA), and several others are in a polite agreement-laden circular discussion, where the words: “We were having these discussions 20 years ago, but the Internet has made things possible now” bring the moderation to an optimistic-if-not-30-years-too-late conclusion, before the entire audience discussion is won by a German woman who is currently still studying, who brings up her salient student experiences around harassment (and a tonne of other things), all of which has more content gravity than the rest of the 1.5 hour conversation combined.

Evening:

Day One Conference Sessions are finished up, so it’s off to the hotel to drop off luggage and grab a quick bite before heading to the opening party and performance!

Arrival to the Staatsoper Hannover where there’s drinks and networking in store, and I meet Australian composer Rae Howell and Geoffrey John Davies (CEO and Founder of The Violin Channel) who have both had their luggage lost by KLM and Lufthansa, so Europe is really laying out the welcome mat. The mayor of Hanover gives a speech, followed by the Director of the conference, with everyone seemingly pretty excited about how performance is also being live-streamed online. The key message of this speech is that of collaboration as a form of opening up minds and innovating. The performance has been curated by BLiM (Black Lives in Music) from the U.K., British Underground, and the Arts Council England who have all chipped in to play the slot alongside an ensemble based in Hanover.

An invitation to “move to the music… if you feel it” belies the constant apologising we feel incumbent on ourselves to continually dole out - even when it’s only for others within classical music industry. The awkward laughter in response from the audience suggests most of the people here seem to be German and hate both movement in classical music and attempts at light humour. A few Gen Z’ers do make an attempt to stand and dance, but it turns out the string quartet work, as excellent as the music might be, doesn’t quite lend itself to vivacious quivering (highlighted when the audience tried clapping, but can’t find the beat). When three young women get on stage and start breakdancing, I begin to think there might be plants in the audience (NOTE: this was confirmed by a performer acquaintance later). I’m reminded during this performance of something a colleague once told me: “You can put classical musicians in the coolest spaces and playing the coolest rep, but unless they really feel comfortable then it’s still the same awkward classical musicians playing in a cool space.”

Classic fuck up follows: why would you get an old white German man as the key speaker at an event celebrating racial diversity in music? Moreso, one who makes slightly awkward well-intentioned racially-tinged jokes at an attempt to justify being asked to give the speech; before going on a long political speech regarding Syria, climate change, Amazon, Yemen, and Ukraine, looming nuclear threats, gender inequality; concluding with his view that these things are all acts of destruction, and creativity is the answer, before arguing for the defunding of art in preference of social causes; new commissions; shadowing Fleischmann’s community of musicians; interdisciplinarity; a new term ‘Pantopian music’ with a mini manifesto alongside that I forgot to listen to but I think it’s something to do with renaming classical music. Then a super poetic ending which is utopian in nature and pointless in delivery. Maybe he had some good points, but I have no idea what they were by the end of it.

The second world premiere for the evening is a banger, with the orchestra very much into the fusion nature of the work - this one people don’t lose the beat when clapping along to it. Can’t shake the feeling that this music is ‘classical music as fun entertainment’, and as such will take a while to convince many of its legitimacy before we see it performed again in concert halls; but I do know the soprano saxophone solo was legitimately the only time I’ve ever truly enjoyed that oddity of an instrument.

It took a whole day, but the final realisation before dropping to sleep after the drinks have dried up: this is very much an event designed to take the incumbent industry and try and persuade it to move; rather than celebrate independents and small organisations who actually make change on a daily basis.

DAY 2: WEDNESDAY

Morning:

Morning friends!! Welcome back to my daily journal-meets-live-blog-meets-the-mildly concerning rants of a Delusional Dandy in Deutschland.

Heading to the conference this morning, I’m thinking about a conversation I was having with the Agent Manager of an Australian concert pianist last night, about the closing sentence from the previous evening: we discussed the various members of the traditional industry who are attending; and how they’re more interested the networking aspects of the event, whilst paying homage to the vague concept of innovation - the truth is, there’s not much interest or ability to make change represented here. Rather than an exchange of ideas or fierce debates on pressing topics, what I’ve witnessed on Day One is a simple meet and greet populated by exhausted delegates after a day of selling themselves and their wares… is this what the conference has intended all along? I highly doubt it - I think in fact they’re limited by the necessity to represent as many elements of the CMI as possible, without enough funding or manpower to go out and source the real innovators; with the very sanguine reality of needing to invite the big names and organisations to legitimise themselves. As a constant cynic I’m still really appreciative that this platform exists, even within its obvious limitations.

After grabbing a typical German coffee which is characterised best by the strong sense that the same pot has been brewing since before the fall of the wall, I bump into Philippa Allan, an Australian Agent Manager also living in Berlin, who is on the Selection Panel for the conference programme, and after some lovely chats I realise I’m running late for the first talk of the day on Multimedia Integration in Concert Formats. I walk in halfway through Mathis Nitschke discussing his various projects which in a sense can be defined as “DAMN THAT SOUNDS SO COOL”, as several artists discuss their work with various technological integration into their work including AR, VR, surround sound, smartphone apps: my personal opinion for years has been that technology needs to be engaged with for new compositions, and that continuing to write only for orchestral instruments is a bit dull. Our predecessors (Bach, Beethoven, Ravel etc) all utilised new technology such as tuning systems, the evolution of existing instruments, new instruments - and that the people who are thinking about how to use contemporary technology are the ones that will be best placed to create something that represents our contemporary time. Great talk! Obviously, when you combine music nerd with tech nerd you get a fairly dull presentation severely lacking in charisma, however that’s to be expected - and at the end of the day, the art sounds awesome so what else could you want? Though I do find it ironic that an industry based on performance skills is populated by so many people who are not great at presenting themselves…

11:33 First shot of the day - ‘New audiences’

11:42 Second shot, ibid

I’m sitting in a room full of people where a young moderation team is actually discussing how to work with streaming platforms and get people listening on this medium. Good thing it’s not 2012 and we’re at the beginning of the movement, it ls definitely always best to jump on the late adopter bandwagon. It is Crowd Understanding Basics 101 and I’m just glad Aubrey Bergauer isn’t in the room to see how basic this is.

But isn’t that the point?? With this industry audience, it’s only ever about playing catch-up - these are the conversations I was having as an angry student in 2014; yet the industry needs to catch up, and therefore a platform such as this where we should be engaged in really forward thinking ideas - such as engaging with DAOs, Web 3.0, pushing actual boundaries - is instead required to fill in people on what they’ve been missing whilst their collective heads were stuck in the subscription model sand.

11:45 drink

Again the timelessness of classical music comes through, when a record label executive discusses the use of classical music for relaxing as a new phenomenon - forgetting this has been used as a marketing technique since at least the 1990s. No one seems to be thinking about the potential of the format as a new art medium, as Glenn Gould would have been; no one is speaking about sound quality or anything relevant, they’re all still trying to figure out how to get their artists onto a playlist. Meanwhile, an actual quote: “I don’t ever envisage a time when the album will go away” from the record label executive, trying his best to keep his head in the sand. The general disdain the audience shows towards popular culture is evident (such as the laughter when ‘classical music for sleeping’ playlists is mentioned), and demonstrates the underlying subconscious mentality about how much we still patronise our audiences: if we’re trying to compete in a neoliberal system, we should stop being so pretentious as to ignore what people want.

A representative from the streaming platform Idagio asks “hasn’t the playlist has supplanted the album?” which gives one a brief sigh of relief that not everyone is still working on the 1980s business model, but question I have during this session doesn’t have time to be asked (probably for the best as I might not have made many friends) - which would have been along the lines of:

“There’s an element of elitism in this room whenever we denigrate the way people choose to absorb or engage with music; understandably because we’ve all worked super hard and we’re really passionate - but if we have this ongoing subconscious mentality, and we keep trying to educate, lecture, and preach to people how to engage rather than meeting them where they are - doesn’t this just further distance us when all the conversations are about coming forward?? Does any other genre belittle their potential audiences as much as we do? At least Max Richter tried to make art that engaged with contemporary culture with the ‘Sleep’ album?”

Afternoon:

Next chat: interesting formats with a panel of people who have made a living doing so - Britten Sinfonia (UK), Stegreif Orchestra (DE), and Podium Esslingen (DE). This chat is fantastic, but I’m definitely the choir they’re preaching to here (with my own artistic practices built on similar philosophies to theirs), so I can’t be an objective judge - just that you should all check out these three organisations and see for yourself.

14:06 - lost count of drinks. A Scottish colleague is keeping a tally to catch up on for later and I’m genuinely worried for our health and safety.

A tech start up from Berlin is finally talking about tech innovation and utilising data in a way that doesn’t focus on tools that have been around since the advent of the internet (which is super refreshing), as they explore the Netflix algorithm model and how we can learn from it. Fantastic when you compare it to the earlier chat - which means there’s now been a steady improvement in the content during the day which bodes well. Similar to Aubrey Bergauer’s work - though this company spans all cultural fields as opposed to the orchestral model alone - this is a company that actually researches and understands 21st century audience behaviour and data usage etc., which too many organisations haven’t begun to comprehend or value - is it no surprise then that this event is also the least attended out of the four I’ve seen this morning? 

I duck out of the foray into the Futuristic World of 2022 and jump into the Global Orchestras Meet Up, which seems on face value a small club of orchestral administrators just appreciating being in a room together after all going through the same issues during the pandemic. The head of Association of British Orchestras (who holds a notebook) is leading a chat with Aubrey Bergauer (who holds a smartphone), offering a fascinating opportunity to hear both the North American and European experiences over the past two years, considering the vast difference in administration and financial funding models. Side note: gosh this woman is a superhero and I have such a professional crush on all her ideas.

It feels here that large orchestras were pre-pandemic, a huge lumbering beast with too many issues to be able to fix at any one stage; yet the pandemic offered an opportunity for The Great Reset. Whether this was finally being able to press stop on antiquated concepts like international touring, or overpaying soloists, it seemed like a unique opportunity to make huge changes. But who actually did this? Did any organisation treat the lockdown as an opportunity, or were they all focused on honing their survival skills? Instead of being resilient, who utilised this time to focus on resurgent? With the majority of these institutions returning to the same old behaviours (be it programming, structures, whatever) was apparently a financial decision, according to an administrator from the Dunedin Consort. There’s a fatalist feeling here (echoed across the entire conference) that as much as they enjoyed change, they are still powerless against these big beasts that were wounded, but not defeated.

15:05 3 more shots all in a row, as if Pemberton is some sadistic salesman who has targeted new young audiences 

What is becoming clear is that there are two types of people and organisations here: 1) those who just innovate and get on with it and are thinking light years ahead the majority; and 2) those who sit around moaning about the need to change and the issues they face, and don’t intend to change anything, even if they’ve been smacked in the face by the need for evolution. Guess who the bigger audience with more funding is (hint: not the one who thinks outside the box).

Run run run run run and now we’re in the piece de resistance from the Australian point of view, with Geoffrey John Davies and Benjamin Woodroffe representing us well in a discussion on the Digital Concert - essentially focusing on what orchestras couldn’t, by exploring how this art form can be utilised in the post-pandemic world? Not to be biassed, but Benjamin is killing this - this is by far the most fun and engaging session of the day; and Dr Julia Haferkorn (University of Middlesex) on the panel is one of the more qualified persons to speak on this topic, having prepared a report on Live Streaming for the U.K. Government during the lockdowns. Shockingly, as a fairly amateur attendee regarding this - with my knowledge purely based on autodidactic methods as opposed to working in a lot of the fields these people represent - but this (and the earlier Netflix talk) were the only two events I could say I’ve genuinely learnt anything in. Two points for the Aussie team. Geoffrey explains the Vanguard Project which was a response to Covid-19 limitations, which is essentially taking the Reality TV format and overlaying it with high quality concert performances. I can’t quite put my finger on what makes this work, or why it’s different/unique, but something seems great about this and it might be as simple as Quality. It seems up to date, relevant for 21st century audiences - that is, the audience who like 10 part series on Amazon Prime, and makes me think that innovation isn’t necessarily the only thing we need; there is also still room for simply excellent quality. Whoops double shot: 16:08. It does seem here that Geoffrey’s greatest offer to the musicians featured in this project (which was created to support artists) was his expertise in marketing and business. Again, if I’m being pessimistic, this is nothing new - there have been examples of this from the advent of television; and whilst this project might not match Bernstein’s educational programme with the New York Philharmonic in the 1970s, it does seem very well done. And sidenote: I’m not being pessimistic, I’m quite excited to see what comes next.

Most impressive about this event is that it clashed directly with the 15:00-16:00 Austrian and Swiss free schnapps drinks session; and the 16:00-17:00 Scottish and Irish free whisky drinks session; and the audience didn’t dash out as soon as the possibility of free alcohol arose - which is the true sign of a job well done. Benjamin nails it when he makes a distinction between Live and Digital: “Digital concerts are about narrative and storytelling, live concerts are about performance,” whilst Geoffrey takes the cake when he states that an online portfolio is more useful than a Carnegie review these days. Well done lads.

Now we get to my personal highlight, and I’m like a schoolgirl seeing Billie Eilish as I bound up the stairs to not miss a second of Aubrey Bergauer’s presentation. For anyone who hasn’t come across her and is interested in the actual ways we can evolve to meet 21st century needs, search the name and Changing the Narrative for a treasure trove of public access information. Put simply, she rocks, and this is what I’ve been waiting for. Even the production quality of her slideshow (transitions, colours, fonts, media) puts everything else we’ve seen all week to shame. Her presentation style is affable, down to earth, humorous, and it is such a relief to see someone who knows how to interact with a crowd and engage the audience this well, after days of awkward classical music administrators bumbling through their powerpoint slides. The presentation is well designed, rehearsed and formatted with audience interaction in between points (rather than HERE’S ALL THE INFO ASK QUESTIONS NOW); it has solid research interspersed with personal anecdotes. My head is buzzing for the first time with how much information has been put into it; now we’re cracking! She even does a fantastic job dealing with a couple of older pale men who feel the need to interject with their unsolicited feedback, with the expertise of a professional who has been dealing with this for a lifetime. 

Evening.

Emerging from almost 8 hours of non-stop listening and learning was like emerging from the ocean as a 10 year old after swimming for hours without realising how exhausted and tired you’ve become. Connecting with the Australians who had gathered for a picture, we slowly mosey our way down to a dinner spot, where we bump into some drunk Brits (classic) from the conference and grab a quick dinner before heading to the Showcase performance. The venue for the evening - the Schauspielhaus Hanover (Theatre House) - has a club space for the late evening, and an overpriced bar where people keep on networking. More and more I’ve come to realise that a solid 70% of the attendees are here to network and meet, rather than attend the actual conference content; which doesn’t quite bode well for this conference as an active roleplayer in forming the future; as much as it might be a serendipitous bystander facilitating the potential  for accidental change occurring after a chance meeting in the Speed Networking area.

No matter the intention in attending the conference, the showcase performances are rather epic, with the devotion to diverse voices that are slowly becoming classified as ‘classical music’ - a Turkish folk/jazz quartet; Estonian new music electronic ensemble (characterised by a new friend from the USA as sounding like a bassoon quartet on LSD; at which point I started wanting to find some LSD and bassoon quartet to discover what that sounds like); and a Colombian singer integrating traditional folk song with new music by female composers (I’ve heard this term so often over the past two days, and start wondering when these artists, if ever, are going to be referred to simply as ‘composers’) and electronics. The question inevitably comes for me though… is this just white guilt trying to cover up for centuries of sins by showcasing other cultures and flying the diversity coloured flag? It comes across still as an uncomfortably small step away from the 19th century ‘Circus of Oddities’ by (fellow classical music entrepreneur) P.T. Barnum? Something seems inorganic about the way diversity is trumpeted here - but is there a better way to make up for a century of racist policy and behaviour? Outside of giving the organisational keys away to a U.N. of Culture, it seems unlikely, and platforms like this will have to do their best to fight the good fight. Note: this is not a criticism of the organisers in supporting diverse voices, but more an open question to everyone regarding how we can collectively be part of the solution: the fetishisation of exoticism is a step backwards, rather than forwards - so what can we actually do?

Meanwhile a chance encounter near the bar leads to the best and most stimulating conversation with a pianist and researcher from Munich who is researching the meaning classical musicians can bring to contemporary society; and a venue manager from Brussels developing new concepts and the use of narrative in concert formats - both of which are my Sunday morning cup of perfection-tea topics, so the serendipity approach to making friends is finally working!

On the last fumes of gas in the tank I haul myself up to the club showcase; which is some form of modern jazz that I’d love to cover; but sorry dearest readers - after a full day conferencing, a full evening chatting animatedly with old and new friends, I think it’s time to call it an evening.

DAY 3: THURSDAY

Morning:

After a solid rest, I make it back for the final official programme day! The mood and energy is tired after two full-on days and nights; but more convivial on account of seeing the same faces on repeat. People are rushing around to meetings that have been set up all day, which allows a bit more free time (as no one is interested in networking with a freelance writer from Australia), so I have pleasant chats with new friends, and new chats with people who are similarly a bit tired of the hustle: including an Icelandic delegate who is promoting the new initiative by the Icelandic government, who have recently made an investment in culture to bring higher quality creatives to their country; in this case covering 25% of recording fees to encourage musicians to set up there (wouldn’t that be nice Australia). The odd delegate who has as close-to-rockstar-quality (with matching hairstyle, fantastic) as is possible in these settings is swamped by an entourage of sycophants; artist managers are running around handing out CDs (#innovate) and promoting their artists and to anyone who they can catch (reminiscent of the charity-actors who stand on a busy street asking if you care about the environment), and festival bookers are keeping as quiet a profile as possible. 

Speaking with a tech entrepreneur who started in orchestral management before going into consultancy, we share a laugh about the low level of innovation actually being dealt with here; before heading upstairs to a banging panel on DIY Concert Making with our own Australian royalty Damien Ricketson nailing it. I was speaking with Damien beforehand who didn’t seem to have an idea of what he was supposed to present; but you wouldn’t know by the naturally weaving narrative he weaves which provokes questions from the audience; which also has the benefit of coming from a position of experience. It’s people like Damien who take Europeans by surprise by showing how we have so many individuals developing new creative concepts (and as we know, in the absence of real popular support); and it’s enough to make one proud to be an Australian artist.

11:49 shot

Twoset Violin gets a nod when we’re talking about how to merchandise alongside the lines of Bayern Munich or Manchester United - another Australian group that have revolutionised their segment of the industry (healthy nod to Ray Chen also here). The question was raised about how we in classical music could create a similar global following based on merchandising and branding; to which the response came ‘I don’t think we can’, before someone replies ‘well actually, it already is happening.’ Classic classical music - we should do a shot every time an industry figure says we could never do something, that in fact is already being done by an independent group. 

I bump into a friend and colleague from Berlin who is giving a talk on her work in new tech and music (she’s an artificial intelligence composition specialist who will give a talk later today that is bound to confuse everyone here, as the majority here are still grappling with the use of electricity in concerts).

Afternoon:

There’s a lull in activity whilst musical exports are discussed in one of the seminars, so I take the opportunity to get some fresh air and have a lovely chat with Nat Bartsch for an article focusing on the Australian delegation; however we keep getting sidetracked by fantastic discussions about basically everything else. With the conversation flowing, but the clock still ticking, I realise it’s time to jump into a Project Pitch session today, where two Australians are presenting - starting off with Justus Wille’s presentation for Anna Meredith’s game-integration composition experience, ‘Bumps Per Minute’, which is essentially a dodgem car ride where the interaction between the cars creates the music and I’m fucking sold. This is fantastic, and the project pitches are really popping - a lot of audience are present even though ostensibly the presentations are directed at festivals and venues; it seems that those in the know are preferring this content as opposed to the seminar style talks: perhaps because the pitches are the practical demonstration of cool new ideas, as opposed to the theoretical discussion about it; which makes sense for musicians who spend their life doing, whilst constantly trying to avoid theory lessons. The people presenting are no joke as well - after Anna Meredith’s presentation, Bang on a Can are the next show up, before our very own Rae Howell jumps on stage. Hard act to follow perhaps, but she’s got the audience onside as soon as she begins. The project - Bee Sharp Honeybee - perfectly combines multimedia, music, and messaging, in a compelling presentation; with the piece integrating the discussion surrounding climate issues, specifically around failing bee populations. The music is guided by scientific research, and the presentation has a direct point, with a Scottish composer I’ve made acquaintances with saying he hoped to make it work in conjunction with a work of his that focuses on melting ice caps: collaborations being born every second in Hanover.

I sprint out to catch some of Jovanka von Wilsdorf’s chat on future tech: and finally we welcome in the Metaverse, Web 3.0, blockchain, DAOs, NFTs, crypto, AR/VR, and artificial intelligence: that is, the actual tech that will influence our work over the next few decades that we ALL need to be engaged with (and C:N deserve an applause for programming this content), otherwise we are threatened with falling twenty years behind everyone else like we are with streaming etc. Basically, this information is the most important being shared for anyone who wants to lead the way forward, to avoid repeating the scenarios witnessed at every other presentation this week, where the industry leaders of orchestras, universities, festivals are at kindergarten-level, being pulled along against their will. And even so, there’s only 10 people in the room - bringing flashbacks to my university days at the music business course which had 5 people attending; with 200 instrumental students opting to take the additional performance class because they didn’t want to deal with ‘all that stuff.’ This talk and the lack of interest in it is almost the best example of what is psychologically and systematically wrong with our industry.

Overheard several times in this and other discussions: ‘[insert tech innovation] is an addition to the live concert’ - that is, each organisation views their major product still as live performance, and anything else added on top is treated like a nuisance thing that needs to be swatted away. This mentality is the same one that sees record labels prioritising CD production still today; and explains why so many people here represent organisations obsessed with what they’ve already done over the past decades, and only play lip service to innovation. I bring this up during this discussion: what would happen if we actually started leading the way, and putting a proper financial investment (time, financial, energy) into properly paving the way, rather than continually half-arseing it? Von Wilsdorf responds really beautifully to this, suggesting it’s always about balance and not being a purist in anything, which only serves to create a sense of remoteness. At the end of day, our organisations are staffed with people who can’t be expected to schedule rehearsals and develop live-streaming technologies and educate themselves about minting NFTs; but how about they send someone to this talk to learn about who they need to bring into their organisations to bridge these gaps?

Run back run back run back to get in time to see our next Project Pitch (there are three separate areas in the conference and it’s almost like you a need a visa to transfer between them, they’re that far away from each other) - enter Genevieve Lacey’s Soliloquy, which is next up after Berlin’s 1:1 Concerts which took the world by storm during the pandemic lockdowns. Martel Ollerenshaw gets up onstage to present Lacey’s project, and she commands the stage with a great level of sage wisdom and experience that makes us all perk up: less a pitch and more like a super interesting mini-podcast where you’re learning whilst being pleasantly sold the concept. The video and project are super beautiful - integrating dance as a narrative tool to reimagine the format of a recital; which made her playing of Telemann on recorder far more engaging than any baroque solo period instrument should be. The way Martel presents just makes me want to hang out and become friends with her, knowing she would never feed, nor take your shit. It feels like she’s a person who if she’s on your side, you’ve got a fighter for life.

After this I finally catch up with Tamara Kohler, ostensibly to do our five minute interview, but we end up chatting ideas, goals, and dreams, and an hour wiles away before we know it; which really is the best element of this conference - the relaxed chats without the toxic networking elements. After the 20th coffee of the day and a quick breathing break, I jump into the second last chat of the day, which is a talk on virtual content by a French production company - again, true futuristic thinking; again, fairly empty crowd. Though to be fair, it’s towards the end of the day, and the networkers are out trying to ensure they didn’t miss a single opportunity to sell their ensemble or ideas. It makes me wonder for sure - what would happen if all these people took time out of their cannibalistic feeding frenzy, to actually learn about things that could make their products more unique than ‘my quartet is good and we want to play lots of concerts’ (actual conversation I had earlier). This talk is amazing, as it’s exploring gaming and the audience psychology of participation - the shift from viewer to user, merchandising, personalisation, interaction - this is what millions and millions of people globally want, and what our industry can’t even begin to get its head around. 350M subscribers on Fortnite; 43M daily logins to Roblux, and 20 people from a total delegate audience of 900+ who think this might be worth learning about; whilst the rest keep fighting over the scraps of the ageing audience and wondering why they aren’t connecting to new, young audiences. Drink.

It takes until 17:27 on the final proper conference day to hear the words I’ve been waiting to hear (from a virtual content producer, and not someone from within the industry): ‘it’s not about replacing anything, it’s about discovering new ideas and people.’ 

I run into the final show which seems to be a classical music song festival - Liedzentrum Heidelberg - appropriating pornographic marketing to sell a product that is essentially a typical classical music video. Having had this idea around 10 years ago, and realising then even whilst in the midst of my youthful stupidity and naivety that this was a terrible and superficial concept that at best offends and at worst becomes kitsch; I’m sadly not surprised to see this here. Taking ‘sex sells’ as your marketing method is an even lower level of innovation than the most basic concepts discussed so far. At least their production quality is on par with B-grade homemade pornography. Not to be too much of an annoying liberal, but this is an insult to the porn industry, which has been working hard in the independent scene through creative directors such as Erika Lust and Paulita Pappel, and platforms like Ersties which prioritise feminism and female voices in sex positivity - a collaboration to engage culturally with the ethical porn industry would at least have the potential for artistic relevance. This is just crap. They’re so happy they raised social media awareness by the debate that raged about it that they haven’t realised they’ve created a genuinely awful attempt to be ‘cool’.

Thinking back on it, I’ve been trying to figure out what triggered me so much: as someone who has dedicated an entire career to discovering new performance methods, formats, messaging, marketing, communication, etc., etc - this project seemed to completely cheapen and ruin all the work people like myself around the world have attempted. In one foul fell swoop, they have cheapened this with their attempt at relevancy and being cool, and given ammunition to anyone who wants to call our work cheap and pointless. Theirs is an embarrassment we all have to carry now: well done, asshats.

Evening:

Thankfully, the drinks are poured and the showcase performers begin and Seth Parker Woods is phenomenal. A rare mix of novelty (in the new rather than kitsch sense of the term); skilled musicianship, skilled storytelling, powerful messaging, and fantastic stage outfit. It’s a rare occasion where electronics incorporated to the live element don’t seem gimmicky and actually combine for a compelling sonic experience (70 years after musique concrete, we’re still figuring this relationship out), but this is definitely one of them.

Too much input means the brain is ready to relax a bit and have a few drinks and non-work related chats with new friends. After ducking out with the Brits for a few drinks (gosh they’re a rowdy bunch, they never stop), I manage to finally grab some alone time with Philippa Allan and Burke Turner who have, of course, been doing Australia proud. We slowly mosey around the socialising area, too tired to engage further, and enjoying some non-work related conversations with new friends. The final day of a conference is always like this: a little society has formed, with friendship groups developed from the people you enjoyed chatting with. Gabriel Prokofiev (aka Sergei’s grandson) is DJ’ing with Blue Maignien on behalf of his Nonclassical organisation, which is thoroughly odd - not least because a bunch of nerdy classical music people are trying to dance to experimental techno. Nice D&Ms with new bestie Nat Bartsch, before bed finally calls at 3am meaning I’ll be in tip top shape for Zubin Kanga’s performance tomorrow morning!

DAY 4: Friday

Brendan Jan Walsh launches onstage, donned in a bright gold suit with energy to match, and somehow manages to enervate and revive the audience who are tired and hungover, but happy to have survived these long, last few days. His presentation and style are fantastic - and his optimistic words on the power of this conference and industry is enough to make one think ‘oh if only this were actually true.’

Nothing wakes up and warms the soul like our very own Lyle Chan receiving an Innovation Award on behalf of Ngarra Burria. First up: Lyle is also the winner of most popular bloke in general here, by a country mile. His friendliness and keenness to engage and learn allows him to float through the conference areas making friends like a bee gathers pollen; and in doing so helps the ecosystem of these occasionally dull occasions come alive like the first full blossoms in spring (what’s up, Rae).

And guess what?? We took two of three! Well not really, as the third award goes to Death of Classical, which is a great concept I’ve come across already who are based in New York City; however Australian Geoffrey John Davies comes up to the stage to accept the award on behalf of them - so whilst we may not be able to claim the actual award for Australians, we can absolutely claim best award receivers. The third winner of the innovation award was the orchestra from Medellin, Colombia - a fantastic resurgence success story of what independents can do outside of the incumbent industry - hopefully a proper report is made from their story in order to prove what can be achieved with some open thinking.

The director of the award comes out for the final speech and thanks, presenting these hastily recorded figures from the end of the week:

10th anniversary of the conference

1st edition outside Rotterdam 

50 countries represented - most international edition

The goal was to bring together a mixture of emerging and seasoned creatives; they want the international discourse alive, the overall intention is being the scene together to discuss what is needed to bring art and classical music forward

Fair access, gender, women, non-euro centric perspectives was the focus 2022

  • 900 delegates

  • 550 companies

  • 190 people from 40 countries across 64 stands

  • 60 journalists (whoop)

  • 13 Showcase Performances, totaling 66 performers from 17 countries

  • 52 conference sessions and meet ups

  • 121 presenters from 30 countries 

But now it’s time for the piece de resistance, as Zubin Kanga comes onstage, introduced under his performance moniker, the Cyborg Pianist. Let’s just break this down for a second - 3 out of 4 people who have been celebrated on this stage today have been Australian, and considering the figures above, I think we can say we’re batting above our position here in terms of representation and quality. Keep cutting our funding access, Australian Treasurer, we clearly don’t need your continual support professionally or financially - our artists are representing you and all of us on the global stage with aplomb, and we’ll keep on doing it in spite of the shit we continually get for it. Explaining this comment to some British colleagues, I tell them how much the Australian Government seems to cuts arts funding for fun; soon they’ll have reduced it so much that award winners will start having to pay the Australia Council. But nah keep funnelling millions to snowboarders who are going to come 12th in some hyped up nationalist sporting event every 4 years; that definitely brings global respect and recognition.

Rant aside, Zubin is killing it. There’s an incredible balance here of humour, technology, reflection on contemporary society, and phenomenal pianistic and music skills that is essentially never demonstrated so perfectly in his performance of Alexander Schubert’s crowd generated work; wiki-piano.net. Moreover, the performance is one I want to share so badly with everyone via links online, but one gets the feeling it’s a piece best experienced live which is again an incredible achievement - a piece celebrating technology that still requires the permanence of live performance. This is really something special: an analogy I’ve used frequently over the past week, is when you see a mate’s band, you can’t always be sure whether they are objectively any good - because you like them and therefore you think they’re great. This friendship bias has certainly clouded my judgement whilst reviewing the Australian contributions here. But every now and then your friends are Led Zeppelin and you just absolutely know: this music is excellent, and you’re witnessing a great artist at work.

Meanwhile, a question that has arisen over the past week, that has been flirted with previously: why can't serious classical music be a fun experience? Is Anna Meredith’s Bumps Per Minute any less an important work than any number of northern-European odes to fucking-tragedy, simply because people enjoy it? The criticism of the lightness of the music from the first showcase performance suggests we still rate higher performances that make us want to purchase a lobotomy afterwards. This mentality started over one hundred years ago with the Dadaists, but how much longer can we continue ignoring the goal of our audience (to enjoy an evening) and hoping they’ll come along for the masochistic ride? Heston Blumenthal successfully made haute cuisine fun whilst maintaining world-leading high standards; and Zubin affected the same dynamic with his performances - without ever falling into the lightness category. Something to think about!

Afternoon:

The old moniker ‘saving the best til last’ is realised now, though I’m not sure the conference organisers planned on the manifestation of this statement to be realised in the final chill-hangout that proceeded from the performance. A final networking opportunity for those left over: we drink, and chat like old friends who have been through a long adventure together - everyone’s brain is fried after too many conversations and ideas being shared; and too many drinks been had. Now the networking is (almost) done with and it’s just relaxed chats about everything else in life. I finally manage to grab Damien Ricketson and Lyle Chan to discuss their experiences for the review; but spend most of the conversation in fascinating dialogue with people from around the world - all with great ideas, great potential, and just the right amount of optimism to make it work.

By the end of the show, the last ones at the party are inevitably the Australians, the stragglers, outnumbering the others slow to move. I share jovial and relaxed chats with folks who were strangers only days ago, and make sure to welcome everyone for a drink in Berlin when they next pass through town. I might not have been in the market for networking opportunities, but I definitely come away with new friends.

News the conference is going on hiatus in 2023 takes a few by surprise - though it makes sense. As we’re in the classical music industry, it often seems our birthright to bitch and complain about everything, and this conference is no different. Several people voice their disappointment at the lack of this or that; that there’s no buyers for all the sellers, or not enough people from the big industry attending etc. What I’ve witnessed however is a true labour of love from the people that created this - and I know these types of people. These are the people who sacrifice sleep and socialising and work too hard for too little to put on a show they believe valuable; they sacrifice an unhealthy amount of energy to make this happen. They have noble goals they wish to achieve, and they make it happen by endlessly compromising, convincing, and coercing partners and situations to make it happen; and against all odds, they make it happen. And they do this for a crowd (let’s hope a minority) that turns around and expresses disappointment and complain about various elements; no wonder they want to take a year off to regather steam and figure out the way forward.

A final conversation with Chan, who was on the Selection Panel for the programme in 2020-2021 helps illuminate the reasons behind some of the thoughts I’ve had over the past days; namely why the programme is so basic a lot of them, whilst appealing to too much of a cross section of the industry, rather than really focusing on the new and innovative: Chan explains that the real purpose of the event that informs jury selection is not only to focus on the most new and innovative ideas, but to also include the application of past innovations. He explains the mindset is that just the initial concept and zeitgeist of a specific idea is pointless unless the application of it is Followed through, giving the analogy of the iPhone: the initial idea and development alone didn’t change humanity, it was the process of interaction and usage by everyday people that was the application of the innovation that shook up the world. Seen in this light, the conference was a good success, a proper balance of the new and ongoing, and seems a valuable resource for those moving forward. 


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A Detailed Note on the Australian Delegation Representation:

An international conference in Europe, focusing on an art form rooted in European society and history, and celebrating the newest and most promising ideas regarding how an art form that has been constantly evolving and developing for at least 600 years: this was the setting for an entourage of creative individuals representing Australia on the global stage. 

Whilst we’re quiet achievers, we’re also an impressive bunch. Growing up in Australia with ambitions to become a professional classical musician is a tough road: we’re mocked by a not insignificant percentage of the public who don’t treat culture as a valuable commodity when compared to our national celebration of sport; we’re humiliated by our governments no matter who wins elections by their consistent devaluing and defunding; we’re occasionally overlooked by the international arts community who have forgotten the contributions of Nellie Melba and Joan Sutherland amongst so many others. Australian artists seem to succeed in spite of all the challenges thrown at us - and it should come as no surprise that at an event that celebrates innovation and creative thinking, the Australian contingent do us all damn proud. The Australian delegates present at C:N this year call various points across the globe home, including Berlin, Geneva, New York City, London, and Los Angeles in addition to the representation from home soil, and are out there representing Australia every single day on the international stage. 

What follows is a brief overview of these artists, in the form of reviews of their presentations, or brief portraits of their work and their experiences at the conference.

Tamara Kohler - Concert Flautist, Entrepreneur, Director of CoMA (Contemporary Music for All - London) and founding Co-Director of Rubiks Collective (Melbourne).

Attending C:N on a Fellowship sponsored by the Australian Music Centre; Kohler is here representing both CoMA (a platform for amateurs and professionals to perform contemporary music together based in London) and Rubiks Collective (a quartet putting on interdisciplinary multimedia concerts in Melbourne). Kohler was originally selected to attend the 2020 conference, when she was still based full-time in Australia, with the pandemic delaying her attendance to the 2022 version. From her point of view however, this has allowed the experience to be far more dynamic, with her life and circumstances changing dramatically in the two years since receiving the original Fellowship. Her initial intention in 2020 was to integrate herself with the European scene whilst eyeing off a potential move, but now she finds herself deep within it after moving to London during the pandemic. The conference has allowed her to forge professional links with a lot of people sharing similar goals and journeys; but mostly she’s enjoyed connecting with like-minded folks from around the globe. As the newly appointed director of her organisation, being at the conference has proven both validating and inspiring; and leaves Hanover with a lot of work to follow up: contacts to reach out to, reflections on experiences, and deciding what artistic moves lie next - attending C:N has definitely inspired some thought processes.

Rae Howell (Composer-Performer, Lecturer, Director of Sunwrae) - Project Pitch for ‘Bee-Sharp’ - Multimedia concert experience shining a light on the climate crisis.

Day 3: Konferenzraum 27. These Project Pitches are really popping - a lot of viewing audience are present even though ostensibly they are directed at festivals and venues; it seems those in the know from previous conferences are preferring this content as opposed to the actual presentations going on elsewhere. As the pitches are the practical demonstration of cool new ideas as opposed to the theoretical discussion about it, this makes sense for musicians who spend their life creating, whilst simultaneously avoiding theory lessons like the plague. The people presenting are no joke as well - following presentations from Anna Meredith’s Agent Manager, the internationally-acclaimed 1to1 Concerts, and New York’s Bang on a Can Festival, our very own Rae Howell jumps on stage. Hard acts to follow perhaps, but she’s got the audience onside as soon as she begins. The project - Bee Sharp - perfectly combines multimedia, music, and messaging, in a compelling presentation with the piece aiming to communicate the issues surrounding climate change, specifically around failing bee populations. The music is influenced by scientific research, and the presentation has a direct point, with a Scottish composer I’ve made acquaintances with already hoping to collaborate with a work of his dealing with melting ice caps - an example of how this conference can bring quality people with similar ideas together from across the world.

Burke Turner (Artist Manager for Belle Chen, Eito Music Label Manager)

Speaking on the final day, I ask him his original intentions and expectations leading in: London-based Brisbanite Turner is typically open and honest, stating he came primarily to reconnect with friends and contacts he’d made at the 2018 and 2019 iterations of the conference; whilst on a more personal level needing to force himself back into the ‘real world’ after a long, slightly-self-imposed isolation due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In this sense, the conference definitely achieved what he was looking for. A general learning he took away from the week was that ‘great music trumps all needs to wrap itself up, or juxtapose itself with any other distractions and visual noise: the best music never had a problem in the first place, quality speaks for itself without requiring excess packaging on top.’ Another observation: ‘the younger audience remains an enigma, which is sad because many of the proponents of the music are younger people.’ - a fascinating insight which hints at the opportunity for younger people to be better represented in these events, and therefore take more of a leading role in the discussions.


Lyle Chan (Composer) - Previous selection panel member for Classical:Next

Day 4: Schauspielhaus Hanover. Nothing wakes up and warms the soul like our very own Lyle Chan receiving the award on behalf of Ngarra Burria. First of all: Lyle is also the winner of most popular bloke in general here, by a country mile. His friendliness and keenness to engage and learn allows him to float through the conference areas making friends like a bee gathers pollen; and in doing so helps the ecosystem of these occasionally dull occasions come alive like a spring awakening (oh hello Rae Howell’s Bee-Sharp project, thanks for the inspiration).

A conversation after the official proceedings have finished demonstrates exactly why Lyle is such excellent company. We sit down for a five minute chat to discuss all things Lyle, but he’s not interested in this. Instead, we start off by agreeing that aspects of biography should come up naturally, and instead of speaking about him we should explore commonalities which are far more interesting. He hasn’t been in a sensory deprivation chamber, but cites anechoic chambers as an inspiration point - a nod to his artistic hero, John Cage, without whom we would never have the permission to come up with any of the projects we’ve heard about this week. We discuss the difference between Eastern and Western philosophy, our shared Asian heritage, differences between language and script; notation and the evolution of literacy; the different types of knowledge, and dance. If you have a chance to talk to Chan for five minutes, please take it. 

Chan was on the selection panel for C:N across the 2020-2021 iterations, originally coming on to the team when the theme focused on Asia. He was heartbroken that it was cancelled due to the pandemic, and is keen to bring dialogues across from Australia as much as possible. He feels like he represented the Australian voice - not championing every project that comes across his desk, but ensuring he was thorough in his work to make sure that what made it across represented the Oceanic region with aplomb. Appreciated how the Selection Panel for C:N was diverse not only racially, but geographically, and covered opinions from the most conservative to the most innovative. See full review for Chan’s perfect explanation regarding the true mission of the conference.

Nat Bartsch - Cross-genre composer attending on a fellowship scholarship.

Nat Bartsch is the stranger you meet at the beginning of the week, and the dear friend you farewell at the end of it. And this is before you encounter her creative side and musical ideas - meeting Nat on the first day, she has two fantastic one-liner descriptions of her music which makes you wish that we lived in a world where genre definitions were less important in comparison with quality. Bartsch is also attending on a Fellowship granted by the AMC, and was also supposed to attend in 2020 - and was now just happy to finally make it over. Bartsch, with two ARIA nominations in the bag,  is really grateful that she’s part of the developing market in Australia, feels lucky that her career has been developing well at home, and is now here to hopefully enter the international market. She’s come along in order to explore opportunities and the pathways that people use in Europe, to do what she wants to do. As a neoclassical artist, she’s aware that it’s a huge growth industry and is keen to find out what the word on the street is on this side of the world; but finds her unexpected issue is the need to develop an elevator pitch to describe her style in a succinct manner - in order to describe her various fascinating projects and interests, one imagines you’d need an elevator ride to the moon and back.

Damien Ricketson (Composer, Associate Professor of Composition at University of Sydney) - Project Pitch for ‘Sound Touch’, Panel Member on the ‘DIY Meetup / Welcome To The New World’ Session

Day 3: Video Conference Lounge. Beginning the sessions on Day Three is a banging panel on DIY Concert Making with our very own Australian royalty Damien Ricketson nailing it. I was speaking with Damien just before the presentation, and at that stage he didn’t have much of an idea of what he was supposed to present; but you wouldn’t know by the naturally weaving narrative he creates which both provokes and comes from a position of experience. It’s people like Ricketson who take Europeans by surprise by showing how we have so many individuals developing new creative concepts (and as we know, in the absence of real popular support); and it’s enough to make one understand the concept of national pride. Ricketson spoke of his work as the director of Ensemble Offspring for a decade before going on to be a part of the revolutionary education reform at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music - specifically the programme that forces students out into the workforce before they’ve graduated (one of the rare examples of an educational institution actually interested in the employability of their graduates). Ricketson was also onstage on Day Two, presenting a project pitch for Sound Touch - an interdisciplinary percussion, electronics, and installation project exploring the integration of touch sensation and music in performance.

Ricketson was primarily in town representing his project, Sound Touch, keen to get it out and give it life beyond the premiere after years of preparing it. Aside from championing this project, he was also just happy to travel post-pandemic and engage with the rest of the world again. He personally enjoyed the Project Pitch sections and the Showcase performances as a snapshot of what is going on around internationally, and learning what is current and contemporary in the musical world. As for the expectations and goals for the conference: is he walking away with an international tour from his pitch? No. But has it opened up discussions and possibilities? Yes. Has he received positive feedback? Yes. An overall positive experience.

Luke Tierney - Founder of Tier 1 Arts; an Australian management label connecting Australian and European artists, attending on a fellowship scholarship

Tierney is the final of the three fellows being sponsored by the Australian Music Centre - and like Barsch and Kohler, were due to attend in 2020. Back then, Tierney had only just then launched his Management Agency, and is similarly glad to have had two further years of professional development, which has positively affected what he was able to gain from attending the conference. Luke was one of the first people I met during the first day, and discussed how he was there to advocate for the artists and projects he represents back at home, as well as learn about the global perspective on music and life from people across the world. We speak again at the end of the conference, where I ask for his thoughts after it all - with his response wonderfully joyous: ‘I wish I could be at a Classical:NEXT every day, it has been a great experience being here and meeting people, and I wish there was an option for this closer to home.’

Philippa Allan (Founder, Real Arts) - Current Selection Panel member of Classical:NEXT

Artist Manager and Founder of Real Arts - a management company based in Berlin, Germany, which focuses on connecting the Australian and European classical music scene. Allan moved to Berlin as a young violinist in 1997 when she was accepted into the Berliner Philharmoniker Karajan Academy (an extremely selective orchestral academy set up to train the next generation of orchestral members), however an injury led her to try out artist management, where she worked for Karsten Witt Musik Management (one of mainland Europe’s largest management companies). Her role in C:N was on the Selection Panel for 2022, which she has found an interesting process - particularly in the post-pandemic world which emerges after artists have had two years to have a long think about creativity. Is a champion of the overall topic on diversity, as well as the Project Pitches, and enjoys being able to reconnect with the Australian delegates after living abroad for so long (without losing a touch of her accent or Australian affability).

Martel Ollerenshaw (Arts Advocate and Creative Producer, representing Genevieve Lacey) - Project Pitch for Lacey’s ‘Soliloquy’ - a concert performance integrating dance and theatre elements.

Day 3: Konferenzraum 27. Running back upstairs during sessions in time to see our next Project Pitch (there are three separate areas in the Congress Centrum, and it’s surprising you don’t need a visa to transfer between them, they’re that far away). Enter Soliloquy and Martel Ollerenshaw, who is jumping in after 1:1 Concerts which took the world by storm during the pandemic lockdowns. Ollerenshaw gets up onstage to present Genevieve Lacey’s project, and she commands the stage with a great level of sage wisdom and experience that makes us all perk up: less a pitch and more like a super interesting mini-podcast where you’re learning whilst being pleasantly sucked into the concept. The video and project are super beautiful - integrating dance as a narrative tool to reimagine the format of a recital; which made her playing of Telemann on recorder far more engaging than any baroque solo period instrument should be. The way Ollerenshaw presents to the audience just makes me want to hang out and become friends with her, knowing she would never feed, nor take your shit. It feels like she’s a person who if she’s on your side, you’ve got a fighter for life. Only afterwards do I find out her job title is as an Arts Advocate, and it shows - even if Lacey’s work seems absolutely capable of standing on its own feet without much support necessary.


Ngarra Burria - Winner of one of three Innovation Awards.

Ngarra-Burria (Dharug words meaning ‘to hear, to sing’), builds bridges for First Peoples musicians to step forward, further develop their composition skills, and connect with the art music sector. Initiated in 2016 by Aboriginal composer Christopher Sainsbury, the programme takes a two-year cohort of composers on a voyage spanning the many realms of art music, including contemporary classical/new music, jazz, experimental, sound art and installations. The award was received on their behalf by Lyle Chan at the final showcase presentation at the conference.

Glenn Dickie - Sounds Australia Export Music Producer, Unofficial Social Mischief Coordinator

Glenn is busy hanging up the wallpaper on the Sounds Australia and Australian Music Centre stand in the Exposition Hall when I meet him on Day One. A figure on the international music scene representing Australian musical interests globally, it is clear that Dickie is an extremely well-travelled and well-respected member at these events. He’s based in Los Angeles, and was most recently in Brighton (Great Escape Festival) and Bremen (Jazz Ahead Conference) as the Sounds Australia representative, with his newborn baby one of our most popular Australian delegates at all of these events (lanyard and all!). Sounds Australia’s role is to support Australians abroad at these types of events, and Dickie in particular is constantly keeping an eye over the contingent at C:N - ensuring everyone feels included and looked after, organising dinners and inviting everyone to a communal WhatsApp chat so they don’t miss anything during the conference.