2010-02-17

Creating a mindset for music among young people aged between 15 and 25

Encouraged by the huge success of the first symposium "The Art of Music Education" in 2008 the Körber Foundation in cooperation with the Elbphilharmonie, has invited well- known experts from all over Europe, the USA and Asia to an international symposium to take place in Hamburg from 24 to 26 February 2010 in the KörberForum. This year the theme is »Creating a mindset for music among young people aged between 15 and 25«

What are we hoping to achieve by offering music education programmes to young people? How do they need to be designed to motivate a younger audience to go to a classical music performance? What sort of a world do our potential listeners live in? These and other questions will be discussed by a panel of concert hall managers, directors of education programmes and dramaturges, to exchange ideas about the opportunities and limits of their work with young people..

The following concert halls will give an insight into their activities: Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Music Center. To provide inspiration and a glimpse into other artistic fields, the Thalia Theater from Hamburg and the Tate Britain from London will talk about their own work with younger people. The young target group itself will also be taking part in the symposium and will include pupil managers from the Young Beethoven Festival in Bonn, members of the cast of Der Schrei! (The Scream) a major project of the SWR symphony orchestra of Baden-Baden and Freiburg as well as the media company filmteam hamburg. Representatives from each group will report on their respective projects; others will film or record the conference.

The symposium is being made possible with the help of the »KörberFonds ZukunftsMusik« This donation made by the Körber Foundation to the Elbphilharmonie Foundation has facilitated projects in the field of music education for the last three years and should continue to secure future projects for the Elbphilharmonie. Dr. Klaus Wehmeier, Deputy Chairman of the Körber Foundation, stresses:

»Without doubt the most extensive change of our society will be brought about by those who are young people now. It is therefore essential, also for the future Elbphilharmonie, to pay closer attention to this generation. As a Foundation, it is extremely important for us to offer the experts a platform to exchange their ideas and I am very pleased that the symposium will allow us to learn more about the various ways of accessing music«.

Christoph Lieben-Seutter, General Director of Elbphilharmonie also thinks that concert halls have a duty to approach the young target group: »Actively focusing on music has a positive effect on human development and living together. It is wrong, therefore, to send a signal - particularly to those young people who are open and receptive - that we really do not expect to see them in a concert hall before they are 35. It is hoped that this symposium »The Art of Music Education Vol. II« will change that view and bring together the very rich and varied experience of concert hall directors, dramaturges, music educators and musicians working together with young concert hall audiences.«