5 years Classical:NEXT – Spotlight on our Exhibitors 2016

Photo by Eric Nieuwland

In less than two weeks we are celebrating the fifth edition of Classical:NEXT. For the last five years, the worldwide movement brought together international innovators of art music.

Labels, publishers, festivals, associations and other formats present their work and projects through an expo stand every year. Together with this year’s exhibitors, we want to look into the future of art music. For our fifth anniversary we asked them five questions about their stand, their work and their future.

Get to know the Classical:NEXT 2016 exhibitors and take a look at the first answers from BPI, DigBit, Musik i Syd, Odradek Records and Sounds Australia. Do you have a stand as well this year? Share your answers to the same five questions with the community - email us at media@classicalnext.com.

-----

BPI – Chris Tams (Director, Independent Member Services):

Who should visit your stand at Classical:NEXT and why?:
Anyone who wants to engage with the varied collection of Classical Music Companies represented by the British delegates

Where do you see yourself, and where do you see art music in five years?:
Composers will continue to break down barriers between classical, pop, jazz and other genres to infuse new music with fresh sound worlds.

Labels will continue to innovate with new methods to ensure Classical Music is given the biggest amount of exposure possible.

What is it you do to innovate classical music?:
BASCA - We support innovation by supporting composers so that they may have everything they need to create exciting new work.

The BPI was formed in 1973 and is the representative voice of the UK recorded music business. It promotes recorded music in the UK and worldwide, including through its overseas trade missions and the Music Export Growth Scheme, and it champions the rights of a broad range of members though its copyright protection work.

PRS for Music’s Classical Account Manager is responsible for supporting its key classical publisher and writer members and promoting the classical genre in the UK and internationally. Over the next five years, PRS for Music seeks to increase its membership and secure greater exposure for its members’ music in the classical genre, with the aim of increasing revenues for its members.

Please name one project you represent as a best practice example:
BASCA presents the annual British Composer Awards which promote the art of composition, recognise the creative talent of composers and sound artists, and bring their music to a wider audience.
www.britishcomposerawards.com

Please name another project you came across that you find so well done, and that you would like to share it with the community:
The winner of the Amateur or Young Performers category of the 2015 British Composer Awards was Alive by Kate Whitley, a large-scale work for children’s choir and orchestra performed at Peckham car park by the Multi-Story Orchestra, Southwark Youth Orchestra, Lewisham Schools Sinfonia and Peckham Chamber Orchestra. It was commissioned by Multi-Story, a project which brings classical music to unexpected places. Alive by Kate

----

Canada Council for the Arts | Conseil des Arts du Canada - Koba Johnson (Program Officer, Audience and Market Development Office):

Who should visit your stand at Classical:NEXT and why?
Anyone who wants to learn more about Canada’s vibrant music scene! At our booths (40 to 43) you can meet with delegates from the Canadian orchestra, opera and composition communities, as well as key managers and agents who represent some of the country’s top classical music artists. They are interested in meeting you and discussing possible collaborations and exchanges. Come find out what is new and next in Canada!

Where do you see yourself, and where do you see art music in five years?
The Canadian government recently announced a historic reinvestment in the arts (an unprecedented $1.9 billion for the arts and culture sector, including a doubling of the Canada Council’s budget by 2021). We believe this sets the stage for artistic renaissance that will benefit Canadians and the world.

What is it you do to innovate classical music?
As Canada’s national public arts funder, we support artists and organizations (creators, performers, composers, orchestras and presenters) through a wide range of grants to help them create innovative, original work, explore diverse collaborations, and to share their exceptional work in Canada and abroad.

Please name one project you represent as a best practice example
Pianist Eve Egoyan’s showcase performance is not to be missed (26 May at 21h15 in the Juriaanse Zaal). In Simple Lines of Enquiry, her work is accompanied by David Rokeby’s slow-capture film of Montréal, Canada. Together, the two works unfold over time and across the city. Be sure to come and experience this outstanding artist!

Please name another project you came across that you find so well done, and that you would like to share it with the community.
One exceptional project is B-Sides: Rusty Musicians with the Symphony, offered by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. The project gives adult amateur musicians the chance to sit “B-Side” a regular member of the orchestra and work through favourite pieces from the repertoire, under the leadership of the Music Director. For the participants it’s an amazing experience to see an orchestra at work and to play along with the pros.

-----

DigBit – Juan Perez (CEO):

Who should visit your stand at Classical:NEXT and why?
Internet music providers that wish to dramatically improve their discovery tools to capture more customers.

Where do you see yourself, and where do you see art music in five years?
DigiBit will be a world leader in computer audio and metadata. Classical music needs to be promoted, sponsored and backed up by governments otherwise concert halls will be empty in 20 years.

What is it you do to innovate classical music?
With huge catalogs being available online, music discovery is the key to capture and retain music lovers. Current selection offered by artist, genre and song is absolutely a joke for classical music.

Please name one project you represent as a best practice example
Our SonataDB http://english.digibit.es/index.php/sonata-db.html that incorporates up to 18 fields of metadata information for classical music remains unique in the digital music world since 2009.

Please name another project you came across that you find so well done, and that you would like to share it with the community
Shazam app to discover music from reproduction.

-----

Musik i Syd – Andreas Baur (Producer Chamber Music):

Who should visit your stand at Classical:NEXT and why?:
As Musik i Syd is an importer as well as an exporter of artists and ensembles, both artists, agencies and promoters and festivals should visit us. And of course everyone wanting our Musik i Syd candy...

Where do you see yourself, and where do you see art music in five years?:
In five years, we're hoping to have expanded our international network even further, initiated new collaborations including both Swedish artists performing abroad and international artists performing in our region. As to the state of art music in 2021, it is hopefully relevant to a wider audience.

What is it you do to innovate classical music?:
Above all we're aiming at spreading classical music to a wide audience. New formats is a part of this, for example Musik i Syd CHANNEL, a new exclusive non-commercial digital window for concert experiences.

Please name one project you represent as a best practice example:
In addition to Musik Syd-CHANNEL mentioned above, our newest festival Malmö Chamber Music, or our children production Solisten! (the Soloist!) with renowned classical artists, such as cellist Jakob Koranyi, performing for young audiences at schools all over our regions.

Please name another project you came across that you find so well done, and that you would like to share it with the community:
The young Swedish star cellist Andreas Brantelid with our orchestra Musica Vitae, performing a programme with music by Britta Byström, Haydn, Bloch and Tchaikovsky, has been a great success!

-----

Odradek Records – John Anderson (General Manager):

Who should visit your stand at Classical:NEXT and why?:
Any artist - anyone interested in recording, and anyone with a story to tell (we’ll be announcing a new technology product that will simplify a dreaded part of every musician’s life).

Where do you see yourself, and where do you see art music in five years?:
As a tech company that also makes CDs and concerts.

What is it you do to innovate classical music?:
We start from the roots - to accept projects, we consider just the music, blindly and democratically auditioning the project. Then when we’ve decided to do it, we do everything we can to make it a successful product and major milestone for the artist’s career. Every project is unique for us.

Please name one project you represent as a best practice example:
Yukiko Kojima’s album of Akira Miyoshi’s major piano works. A young and relatively unknown artist performing works by an old and relatively unknown composer. The album was considered the second best of the year by Alto Riot and won many enthusiastic reviews, plus had people searching for more Miyoshi. Good for the artist, good for the composer, and good for the public.

Please name another project you came across that you find so well done, and that you would like to share it with the community:
Music:LX - an institution that doesn’t buy or sell, but exists just to help artists (with networking, logistics, support, artist development, and basic PR). It’s a model that every country should emulate.

-----

Sounds Australia – Glenn Dickie (Export Music Producer):

Who should visit your stand at Classical:NEXT and why?:
Anyone wanting to develop a deeper understanding or further their relationships with Australian artists, industry and their work. People who want to explore collaborations and exchanges, and who are open to explore working with a different perspective on the world. Also anyone who's interested in trying vegemite and cheese jaffles and mimosa’s at our reception on Friday morning stand 22!

Where do you see yourself, and where do you see art music in five years?:
In 5 years art music will continue to diversify, increasingly blurring genres and artforms, and exploring new contexts and modes of delivery to diverse audeinces. And from an Australian perspective, Australian artists will still be globally mobile, and energetically involved in shaping new directions.

What is it you do to innovate classical music?:
Engage with the artform, all aspects, with passion and commitment.

Please name one project you represent as a best practice example:
The next one!

Please name another project you came across that you find so well done, and that you would like to share it with the community:
The last one!

-----

Valverde – Marc Uitenbroek:

Who should visit your stand at Classical:NEXT and why?
All orchestras, organizers and promoters of concert touring and shows should visit our booth, so that we can help them to organize the logistics of their projects the best and most economical way.

Where do you see yourself, and where do you see art music in five years?
In five years time Valverde will be one of the biggest Event Logistic Service providers to handle music events world wide.
I believe that art music will benefit of the increasing importance of multi media and technical developments. of the next five year to come. There will be a larger diversity and wider interest of it.

What is it you do to innovate classical music?
As a Logistic Service Provider we ourselves can not innovate classical music, however we can provide innovative solutions for the logistical chellanges that these music groups are facing.
We communicate with music groups in a much earlier stage how to deal with the logistics prior to finalize the touring schedules. We can provide them time and costs saving advise.

Please name one project you represent as a best practice example
For the Royal Flemish Philharmonic we are monitoring and advising about the fluctations of airline tickets for their upcoming tour to Asia in order to avoid unnecessary high expenses and wast of money.

Please name another project you came across that you find so well done, and that you would like to share it with the community.
There’s no other project that I can think of in my line of business that I can share with the community. Yet, I’m quit certain there will be some !

article posted by:Jim Hickson, Piranha Arts