tuned – network for contemporary classical music

Since 2023, Beethovenfest has been a member of the three-part pilot programme with which the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation) promotes innovative approaches that offer alternatives to the ›classical‹ concert business.

As part of »tuned«, Beethovenfest becomes an experimental platform for experience design and educational work in 2025. This year’s activities include unusual and interdisciplinary concert formats, as well as a wide range of music outreach initiatives, aimed at opening up the festival to a diverse range of audiences and encouraging their participation. In addition to funding from the German Federal Cultural Foundation, funding from the Commerzbank Foundation is also being provided this year.

In 2024, Beethovenfest dedicated itself to the topics of organisational development and artist development with Inside Artists as part of »tuned«. In cooperation with the Liz Mohn Foundation and funded by the network, new forms of co-creative collaboration and project development were trialled together with five selected artists.

In recent years, an innovative independent classical music scene has developed that aims to challenge traditional concert culture with new formats and advocates new performative forms of performance, contemporary dramaturgies, thematic programmes, creative co-responsibility of the musicians in the work and more audience participation in the programme design. Musicians, independent ensembles, concert designers, dramaturges and music managers in this new independent classical music scene are experimenting with musical genres, changing forms of work and organisation, incorporating digital formats and presenting programmes with a historically and interculturally expanded concept of ›classical music‹.

Festivals play a central role in this development as a source of inspiration: they produce and test new approaches to expanding performances of classical music through contemporary forms of performance. Numerous protagonists and players from the national and international classical music scene are committed to an unconventional and experimental music culture.

With »tuned«, a nationwide network was created between festivals that are already testing new concert forms and working methods artistically, programmatically and organisationally, each representing their own innovative approaches, programmatic profiles and production conditions. In addition to Beethovenfest, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern with detect classic festival, Mozartfest Würzburg, PODIUM Esslingen festival, Thüringer Bachwochen and TONALi Hamburg initiative were selected.

Kick-off: tuned / public conference as part of Beethovenfest 2023

The festival partners in the network should jointly and independently develop new models and approaches in concert design, for example in dealing with scores, composition, staging, contextualisation, choreography and canon. The same applies in the area of organisation, for example in the development of sustainable touring and residency models or the establishment of long-term artistic collaborations. New ideas will also be tried out for collaboration with the audience or local music scenes.

In addition to networking with the seven festivals, the Federal Cultural Foundation organises annual nationwide academies and an international ideas congress in 2025. These ensure the exchange and transfer of knowledge about the experiences and findings from the network to the arts and culture scene. In addition, the innovative achievements of classical music festivals are also emphasised in cultural policy and international exchange with stakeholders from the independent and institutional festival and classical music scene is promoted.