International classical music community gathers in Berlin
For its eleventh edition, Classical:NEXT, the biggest international meeting and network of classical music professionals, is finally coming to what is arguably the capital of classical music: Berlin. About 1000 professionals from 50 countries from all continents and representing all sectors from live to recorded music and education (label managers, presenters, agents, artists, publishers, institutions etc.) will gather in Germany’s capital for five days (13–17 May). Participants numbers are an estimation from the last editions (Hannover 2022, Rotterdam 2019). The current registration status points at this year’s Berlin edition still exceeding these numbers.
List of delegates already registered: classicalnext.com/takepart/whoscoming/
Their aim will be not only to meet with old and new partners and conduct business but also, mainly, to discuss new approaches for the future of the genre together – across all sectors: Where do classical and, in a wider sense, art music develop from here?
Future of classical on display – in showcases and conference
Apart from the expo and networking areas in Colosseum (a former cinema-turned-
conference-location in Berlin’s city centre), an international conference including 30 sessions (half of them chaired by women!) plus mentoring formats will be a place to co-create solutions and address pressing issues and new opportunities such a AI, genre fluidity, the future oflabels, new income streams for contemporary classical recordings, how to make classical music more diverse, inclusive and sustainable as well as tools to attract more concert goers.
A Berlin-focussed opening in the city’s newest and most state-of-the-art concert hall, Pierre Boulez Saal and 16 showcase concerts mostly in Berlin’s alternative cultural hub Holzmarkt will present new artistic concepts both musically and regarding concert formats and audience interaction. The programme classicalnext.com/programme/
New structure and new local partners to stay beyond 2024
After an online edition during the pandemic lockdowns in 2020/21 and a tenth edition in Hannover, Germany, Classical:NEXT took a break in 2023 to restructure the project. While the community and the basic setup (expo, showcase concerts, conference) have stayed, some of the meetings format have been reinvented and the organisation has updated the team, work processes and financing models. As of 2024 Classical:NEXT will be self-governed as a stand-alone company Classical:NEXT GmbH (with former producers Piranha Arts still represented on the board) and will be supported by the City of Berlin (Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion). New local partners and members of the board include artist/orchestra managers and consultants Andreas Richter and Karsten Witt as well as cultural entrepreneurs Clemens Seemann and Nikolaus Rexroth. The new board, along with the City of Berlin, has agreed to their commitment to supporting Classical:NEXT beyond 2024 with the aim of reinstating the event back into an annual schedule.
Fabienne Krause, who is the old and new managing director of Classical:NEXT, is looking forward to this new, permanent setup:
“We come out of this break reinvigorated. Classical:NEXT is back for good and I am extremely happy to see how our new partners and team are dedicated to taking the spirit and idea of our network to the next level and into the upcoming edition in May this year. But also beyond: together with our community of classical music trailblazers from all over the world we will develop the event and all-year platform further to enable ongoing professional dialogues, changing the genre for the better.”
A new website and registration system bear testimony to the revised structure. Check news and programme details here.
Contact
Paul Bräuer (general communications inquiries)
Birgit Niemeyer (press contact)