New Music – New Audience

How can new music reach a broader audience? Is it just a question of marketing and publicity, or does the question run deeper?

Speakers and Content

MICHAEL FAHRES is a critically acclaimed composer of new music and presenter for NPS radio. He will discuss the state of new music in contemporary radio and offer a composer’s account of working in new music in the Netherlands.

HANS ABBING is a visual artist, economist and author of an exciting new book, Van Hoge naar Nieuwe Kunst (From High to New Art). He will draw a comparison between classical and popular music concerts with the differences being related to long term developments in society and then offer an analysis of developments in classical “new music” and popular “new music” in relation to their respective audiences.

Professor SANDER VAN MAAS holds a professorship in contemporary Dutch composed music at the University of Utrecht and is author of several books and many articles on the role of music today. He will propose a challenge to the urge for new music to reach a broader audience.

HENK HEUVELMANS is head of the contemporary and classical department of Music Center The Netherlands, secretary general for both the International Society for Contemporary Music and the European Conference for Promoters of New Music, as well as a board member of several other organisations. He will offer a first hand account of the role of organisations in developing the relationship between new music and a broader audience with an analysis of the significant impact of space in attracting a particular kind of audience.

Date: 29th May 2009 - 16:00 – 18:30
Location: Amsterdam University Theatre,
Nieuwe Doelenstraat 16
Admission: Free
Language: English

New Music – New Audience is hosted by the department of theatre studies in collaboration with the department of Musicology at the University of Amsterdam.