upgrade – New.Music.Education

The several-day festival congress “upgrade – New.Music.Education” aimed to promote international exchange and networking among those active in the field of music education and presentation. The congress was open to educators, music instructors, young ensembles, concert organisers, project managers, musicians, and students and lecturers of Composition, Musicology and Instrumental Practice.

Project groups for school children, youth ensembles and the SWR Symphony Orchestra presented their most recent projects in concert. German and foreign organisers and educators, along with representatives of the programme Agents for Creative Schools presented their strategies for working with pupils and young adults, amateur musicians and young professionals. The participants met in workshops to exchange their views and experience with the methodology of education, New Music in pedagogical practice and concert formats. The festival congress included a symposium on the musical and pedagogical quality of New Music presentation in school and in concert performances.

The congress also addressed more fundamental questions, such as: What expectations do cultural institutions have with regard to educational projects, and are these compatible with the pedagogical standards of aesthetic training of children and young people?

In preparation for the congress, students and composers had been commissioned to write new pieces and young music educators had been chosen to participate in developing and carrying out the projects.

The second festival congress “upgrade – New.Music.Education” took place in Donaueschingen in 2017.

A festival congress by the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde Donaueschingen e.V. and the Federal Cultural Foundation in cooperation with the Donaueschingen Festival.

It follows the concluded New Music Network programme and supplements the model project Studio musikFabrik (external link, opens in a new window) funded by the Federal Cultural Foundation.