Germany’s Ensemble Resonanz has won the 2016 Classical:NEXT Innovation Award for its project Urban String, which sees classical music set in a club atmosphere. Urban String includes guest soloists, DJs and electronic musicians, and has proved a success with audiences.
‘The special thing about it is that it’s not a jury decision, it’s elected by thousands of delegates, it makes it even more exciting to be one of the finalists and to win it,’ said Ensemble Resonanz managing director Tobias Rempe. ‘It’s fantastic support for the musicians of Ensemble Resonanz to go on with their work to connect classical music culture with the everyday urban in Hamburg.’
The awards ceremony brought the fifth Classical:NEXT to a close, which has been the largest edition so far. 1,200 people attended – a 20 per cent increase on the previous year – with 45 countries represented. The event, held in Rotterdam for a second time, ran concurrently with opera festival Operadagen and featured 150 performing artists and 220 exhibitors.
‘I see the ties between individuals as well as specific groups of community members increasing in number and in strength. These ties can be informal or formal, such as the new Indie-Classical Network, the Global Orchestra Network and the beginning of what will become an annual Asia-Pacific Connection segment,’ said Classical:NEXT director Jennifer Dautermann.
Several companies and projects also announced new collaborations or launches, such as the new partnership between Apple Music and Deutsche Grammophon and the Dutch Ensemble Klang announcing a permanent collaboration with soprano Barbara Hannigan.
