Fellowships

The Classical:NEXT Fellowship Programme is an opportunity for young outstanding talents to get together with ‘Insiders’ and engage with the Classical:NEXT community on-site.

Partner Institutions

The very first Classical:NEXT Fellowship Programme took place with great success in 2016. Two institutions helped to facilitate the Fellowship Programme for young composers and performing artists: PRS for Music Foundation and Codarts both selected three outstanding talents and enabled them to visit Classical:NEXT 2016 in Rotterdam to engage with more than 1,000 classical music professionals. Since then, the programme has continued to evolve and will welcome a total of seven partner institutions in 2024.

Each fellow is paired with a seasoned professional who is also a Classical:NEXT “veteran”. These insiders offer the fellows advice and introduce them to individual contacts fitting their line of profession and the Classical:NEXT community.

Australian Music Centre, Ultimo, Australia

Australian involvement in the Classical:NEXT Fellowship Programme is facilitated through the Australian Music Centre. The Australian Music Centre is the national service organisation dedicated to the promotion and support of art music in Australia. At the heart of their mission is a commitment to the representation, advocacy, promotion and support of Australian composers and their music. Their important work covers contemporary classical, contemporary jazz and improvised music, experimental music, and sound art. They provide career support, manage professional development programs and presents annual and biennial awards.

The Australian Music Centre is pleased to continue to participate in the Classical:NEXT Fellowship program. Since 2017, Australian artists/workers have been included in this program, providing participants with an opportunity to expand their networks, and develop an international perspective to the creative and professional work that they are involved in. We are very pleased to continue to be involved in the Fellowship Program and the benefits that it provides for the emerging generation of professionals in our sector.”
– Catherine Haridy, CEO, Australian Music Centre

Fellows

Black Lives in Music, London, United Kingdom

Talent is distributed evenly, opportunities are not! Black Lives in Music addresses the current inequality of opportunity for Black, Asian and Ethnically Diverse people aspiring to be artists or professionals in the Jazz and Classical music industry. Black Lives in Music believes in real equality for Black, Asian and Ethnically Diverse people to learn musical instruments at grassroots level and to allow them to pursue and realise their musical ambitions.

Black Lives in Music is made up of a number of partners who are all working towards the same goal: to dismantle structural racism in our industry. We aim to support the industry in providing better professional opportunities. We also want to achieve equality for Black, Asian and Ethnically Diverse professionals at all levels and in all areas of the UK Jazz and Classical industry. Representation matters, we need to take action together and create a level playing field for everyone to have an equal chance to succeed.

Black Lives in Music stands for equal opportunities – for Black, Asian and Ethnically Diverse people to be able to work successfully in the UK music industry without being the subject of discrimination.

Fellows

Conseil Québécois de la Musique, Quebec, Canada

The Quebec Music Council (CQM) is a non-profit organisation bringing together Quebec’s professional organisations, ensembles and individuals working in the fields of jazz, classical, contemporary and world music. The CQM offers individual and collective services to its community, supporting the music community’s local, national and international presence. The Quebec Music Council promotes concert music by awarding the Prix Opus to Quebec’s best musical achievements.

CQM is happy to take part in the Fellowship program once again. It is very beneficial for the Fellows we accompany and contributes greatly to their international development.”
– Claudine Cinq-Mars, coordinator

Fellows

Evangelische Hochschule für Kirchenmusik Halle (Saale)

The Evangelische Hochschule für Kirchenmusik Halle (Saale) (EHK) is one of six special institutions for church music in Germany. Only about 80 students and 50 lecturers and teachers, among them internationally recognised artists, educationalists and researchers, are committed to teaching and learning a traditional form of music and to find modern ways to interpret and inspire people to take part in it and to educate allround musicians.

Fellows

PRS Foundation, London, UK

PRS Foundation is the UK’s leading charitable funder of new music and talent development. Since 2000 PRS Foundation has given more than £35 million to over 7,300 new music initiatives by awarding grants and leading partnership programmes that support music sector development. Widely respected as an adventurous and proactive funding body, PRS Foundation supports an exceptional range of new music activity – from composer residencies and commissions to a network of talent development partners and showcases in the UK and overseas | @PRSFoundation

Since 2016 we have supported 15 composers to be part of the Classical:NEXT Fellowship Programme to meet professionals from across the industry, make new connections and open up the potential for collaboration. It’s a fantastic opportunity and supporting composers to realise their potential, both here in the UK and overseas is at the heart of PRS Foundation. Classical:NEXT is a vital platform for composers and we’re proud to be supporting the Fellowship Programme.
– Elizabeth Sills, grants & programmes manager, PRS Foundation

Fellows

The Hanns Eisler School of Music, Berlin, Germany

The Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin provides training to approx. 500 students at two attractive locations at the heart of Berlin. Faculty members – among them Nicolas Altstaedt, Kolja Blacher, Claudio Bohórquez, Kirill Gerstein, Hanspeter Kyburz, Sibylle Mahni, Thomas Quasthoff, Christine Schäfer, Markus Stenz and Antje Weithaas – contribute to the school’s outstanding international reputation, as well as its strong appeal for young musicians around the world. Two thirds of the student body comes from abroad. 

The spectrum of subjects offered revolves around the occidental art music and encompasses voice, piano, the stringed instruments, the woodwind and brass instruments, conducting, music theatre direction, musicology, and composition. The school’s ensembles, among them the Symphony Orchestra and the Echo Ensemble, perform at the highest artistic levels. At nearly 300 public events annually, the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin  provides insights into the artistic development of its students. Concerts, opera projects, lecture evenings, and masterclasses take place on the school’s premises, as well as at a number of additional attractive venues throughout the German capital.

As a vital link within the network of renowned cultural institutions found in the capital of the German Federal Republic, the school works closely with the great Berlin orchestras, the city’s three opera houses, and a number of other institutions of various sizes and types. The experience of performing publicly on concert and theatre stages is a fundamental aspect of training at the Hanns Eisler School. Already during their studies, students accumulate indispensable experience in the professional music business, and establish contacts capable of furthering their subsequent careers.

Fellows

University of Music, Drama and Media, Hannover, Germany

The Hannover University of Music, Drama and Media Hannover (HMTMH) is one of Germany’s most renowned artistic-scientific universities. Around 400 lecturers, amongst them numerous internationally recognised artists, educationalists and researchers, are committed to teaching almost 1,600 students from 60 nations. The HMTMH is distinguished by its artistic and educational breadth: The balance between music, drama, education and academic research as well as the commitment to excellence in both top-level and broad-based training form the core of its self-concept. The University’s aim is to maintain and intensify the complementary relationship between the striving for artistic excellence of national and international standing on the one hand and the promotion of relevant skills for musical education on the other. To this end, the University provides a broad but differentiated range of courses and programmes, currently consisting of 33 study programs supplemented by world-class master classes.

Fellows