From the niche to the scene
Festivals for new music are increasingly shaping urban cultural life. A project by the Austrian Science Fund FWF describes the emergence and impact of these contemporary platforms using three international examples.
Under the direction of Simone Heilgendorff from the University of Salzburg, musicologists are researching the international scene of new art music across national borders for the first time. Renowned festivals in three European capitals are at the heart of the research project: the Warsaw Autumn Festival, the Paris Festival d'Automne and the Wien Modern Festival.
In addition to reviewing historical material, the international team of researchers is primarily trying to map the changes in the new music scene. Aspects of content are examined, but also factors such as music management and promotion. As a central part of the success of festivals, the actors are also the focus of the analyses: above all the curators, composers and musicians.
The research team analyzes the lives of selected individuals and ensembles in biographical portraits, for example of Jagoda Szmytka, Georg Friedrich Haas, Hugues Dufourt or Helmut Lachenmann and the Ensemble Intercontemporain, Klangforum Wien and Orkiestra Muzyki Nowej.
Finally, the audience is also part of the research project, providing answers to questions about age, education, motivation, expectations, internationality and their own connections to contemporary (art) music in detailed surveys conducted in 2014. The results of the audience survey will be presented at Wien Modern in Vienna on November 22.
More info: uni-salzburg.at/index.php?id=63709
