Program 2020

European Forum on Classical Music

26 November, 2020

BACH TO THE FUTURE aims

to connect and inform institutions and related professionals about the upcoming trends in the classical music field
to keep up with all the rapid changes of the digital era
to learn about and be inspired by new methods and best practices from all around the world.

Preliminary programme

10:00 – Session 1: All Our Streams Come True – Classical Music & Online Streaming Solutions

chair: David Zsoldos (HU) – CEO of Papageno, VP of JM International

10:00 Gábor Egri (HU) – Director of Marketing and Development, Müpa Budapest
~~10:30 Till Janczukowicz~~ ~~(DE) – Founder & CEO of IDAGIO~~ Till Janczukowicz needed to withdraw due to illness.
10:30 ~~11:00~~ Sonja Greiner (DE) Secretary General of ECA-EC & Tobias Hegemann (DE) Project lead of Digital Stage
11:00 ~~11:30~~ András Csonka (HU) – Program Director, Liszt Ferenc Music Academy
11:30 ~~12:00~~ Razvan Popovici (RO) – Executive Director, SoNoRo Festival

Gábor Egri
The mission of a leading performing arts centre doesn’t change even in the unexpected times of a pandemic. What’s more, we have to keep focusing on the core values of the institution. We believe that the Müpa Budapest experience knows no boundaries: we have been broadcasting some of our programmes in HD since 2012, also we have given the opportunity for loyal audience members to enjoy videos on demand from our archives. However, 2020 is a challenging year for Müpa Budapest as well: in this extraordinary situation, our objective has been to offer online programmes of the same diversity of genres that has become the institution’s trademark over the years. How could we react on the current challenges and the rapidly changing demands with the help of innovative digital tools in such a short time? What was our solution to avoid to be a ’one in a million’ streaming service? How is it shaping our perspective on online content and our audience’s viewing attitude now and in the future? A brief introduction to Müpa Home and beyond.

Sonja Greiner & Tobias Hegemann
The digital-stage.org is a non-profit initiative and is developing an online conference service that allows art, music and theater ensembles to connect, rehearse and perform live on the Internet from different locations. The solution is optimized for artistic applications, minimizes transmission delays for images and sound, and creates new spaces on the Internet for artistic ensembles to rehearse, teach or perform paid performances despite the restrictions imposed by CoViD-19. New, digital or hybrid concert and theater formats can also be developed. digital-stage.org is a project of !KF – Institute for Artistic Research Berlin and the German Centre of the International Theatre Institute ITI, which was initiated in the context of the #WirVsVirus-Hackathon of the German government at the end of March 2020.
Sonja Greiner (Secretary General of the European Choral Association – Europa Cantat, who are a partner in the project) and Tobias Hegemann (Project lead @ Software-Development, Digital Stage) will describe how these solutions will work and how Digital-Stage.org can become a useful tool for musicians and other artists.

András Csonka: To stream or not to stream?
How the classical music business will survive the age of streaming? Is it enough just to play a normal concert and make a stream or shall we serve something more? The experience of live streaming in Zeneakademia.

Razvan Popovici: How To Make The Impossible Possible
The impossible things are easier than difficult things – ways to make (almost) everything possible in an impossible year.

12:00-13:00 – Classical Cafe 1 – breakout rooms for the presenters and participants

14:00 – Session 2: Never Stop Reaching Out – International Choral Strategies in 2020 and Onward

chair: Gábor Móczár (Hungary) – Vice President of IFCM, former President of ECA-EC

14:00 Urska Bittner-Pipan & Mihela Jagodic (SI) – EUROPA CANTAT XXI Ljubljana 2021
14:30 Martine Spanjers (NL) – Treasurer of ECA-EC, Leading Voices Utrecht 2022
15:00 Ki Adams (CA) – Co-Founder and Co-Director of Singing Network, President of World Youth Choir Foundation

Urska Bittner-Pipan & Mihela Jagodic: Unforgettable experience for anyone!
A lot of singing will take place in Ljubljana the next summer. Between 16 and 25 July, the capital of Slovenia will host the international Europa Cantat Festival 2021 – one of the largest international music festivals worldwide. The organisation of such a complex event during the Covid-19 epidemic is similar to riding on a roller coaster 🙂 We depend on things we have no influence on. This means constantly adapting, changing, creating new and new scenarios. The precarious situation is forcing us to postpone the dates (application deadline…) and to new communication strategies, to renegotiate for financial resources, etc. But our team never runs out of motivation and energy and we invite you to register at the festival from 15 December 2020 to 15 February 2021. We will take care for everything – great music, food, health and atmosphere. There are more than 40 venues, almost 200 music events, ateliers under the direction of world-class mentors, collective open-air singing, performances of invited groups from abroad, live choral singing and figure skating, singing of families and the youngest participants, concerts in gardens, terraces, courtyards and living rooms of Ljubljana … waiting for you. Learn more about the 21st edition of the festival, its treasures and the difficult conditions that surround it! Join us on FB, IG & YT and scroll through the presentation page of the festival to check out the programme and all the conditions. See you in Ljubljana! https://europacantat.jskd.si/

Martine Spanjers: Heading for the future
What could be the relevance of collective singing in the future? How will society impact the field and how can collective singing address the challenges of tomorrow’s society? How can conductors and vocal leaders be trained accordingly? ECA-EC is looking for answers with the SingTank and Leading Voices 2022.

Ki Adams: Necessity is the mother of invention: Using the pandemic to unlock creativity
It is clear that there will be a ‘new normal’ in the post-pandemic world. For many, the pre-Covid choral tradition was comfortable and secure, but it may have been limited in its vision and purpose. The pandemic has provided an interlude with extraordinary possibilities if we are willing to embrace change and find new ways of and reasons for singing together. From local to international, this session will highlight innovations and experiments undertaken by local, national, and international choirs and organizations including the World Youth Choir, The Singing Network, and Choral Canada.

15:30 – Classical Cafe 2 – breakout rooms for the presenters and participants

16:30 – Closing thoughts

The conference will be free of charge for registered participants.

Contact: [email protected]