Classical Futures Europe announces the launch of its 2020 funded projects, a Europe-wide programme of dynamic classical music led events across 15 flagship European concert halls committed to developing and supporting international emerging talent. 82 individual artists are supported by Classical Futures Europe in 2020, from 25 different countries, with over 50% being female artists, and the programme is set to build on the 57,000 live audience members it reached in 2019. Classical Futures Europe is also thrilled to announce two new partner organisations, Sage Gateshead, the United Kingdom’s award winning performance and learning centre and UNESCO world heritage site the Palau de la Música, Spain.

Classical Futures Europe is formed by a partnership of 15 leading European concert halls, joining forces to support international emerging talent, collectively building strategies for innovative audience and artist development through collaboration across Europe: Barbican Centre (United Kingdom), BOZAR (Belgium), Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (Portugal), Czech Philharmonic (Czech Republic), Elbphilharmonie Hamburg (Germany), Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam (Netherlands), Konserthuset Stockholm (Sweden), L’Auditori (Spain), Müpa Budapest (Hungary), National Forum of Music (Poland), Palau de la Música (Spain), Cité de la musique – Philharmonie de Paris (France), Philharmonie Luxembourg (Luxembourg), Sage Gateshead (United Kingdom), Wiener Konzerthaus (Austria).

Digital innovation, inspiring film and video, cross-art collaborations, new performance practices and engaging learning and participatory projects form the focus of projects across 2020, all of which offer international opportunities for exceptional artists under 35 years old. At Sage Gateshead five emerging conductors create a contemporary context for Beethoven in the 250th anniversary of the great composer’s birth through performance and learning projects. The Elbphilharmonie Hamburg will produce a series of performance videos for online audiences featuring artists such as the Dudok Quartet and boundary-pushing accordionist João Barradas. At London’s Barbican Centre lute player Thomas Dunford will be involved in a new Music Theatre piece, working alongside highly established artists and video designers. Audiences will also be involved in performances with emerging young talent through large-scale participatory events in both Hamburg and Vienna with tenor Benedikt Kristjánsson and baritone Ludwig Mittelhammer. In Stockholm conductor Ryan Bancroft will explore topics around LGBTQ representation and equality in the classical music sector at Konserthuset.

Classical Futures Europe continues its close relationship with the Rising Stars programme from the European Concert Hall Organisation, providing selected artists with opportunities to develop relationships with new audiences across multiple venues. In 2020 this includes clarinettist and magician Magnus Holmander (Hamburg, Luxembourg, Barcelona), trumpeter and contemporary music advocate Simon Höfele (Vienna and Budapest) and acclaimed violinist Noa Wildschut (Gateshead, Paris, Lisbon).

Classical Futures Europe, co-funded by Creative Europe programme of the European Union and led by the European Concert Hall Organisation, promotes collaboration between an international partnership of Europe’s leading concert halls; stimulating the creation of forward-thinking projects to actively support the next generation of classical music talent through artistic programming and events attuned to the needs of audiences, with varied approaches to education, learning and participation.



Details of all supported events and partners at https://classicalfutures.eu/
Contact: Andrew Manning, European Concert Hall Organisation, andrew.manning@bozar.be

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CLASSICAL FUTURES EUROPE
Classical Futures Europe supports the promotion of emerging talent, pioneering new approaches to concert presentation and the development of new audiences and community participation in classical music. Working with a network of world-class concert halls across the Europe, Classical Futures Europe provides grants to partner venues for projects that live up to the spirit and ambition of the platform to support young artists and to ensure a thriving classical music scene, driving collaborative exchange and learning between partners and associated stakeholders. Classical Futures Europe is managed by the European Concert Hall Organisation and is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.


EUROPEAN CONCERT HALL ORGANISATION
The European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO) is a network enabling open exchange and shared reflection on the opportunities, developments and shared challenges central to the lives of concert halls in contemporary European society. The ECHO member halls come together to learn from, and be inspired by each other and to initiate ambitious international projects.


CREATIVE EUROPE PROGRAMME OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
The Creative Europe programme aims to support the European audio-visual, cultural and creative sector. The different funding schemes encourage the audio-visual, cultural and creative players to operate across Europe, to reach new audiences and to develop the skills needed in the digital age. By helping European cultural and audio-visual works to reach audiences in other countries, the programme will also contribute to safeguarding cultural and linguistic diversity.