IMZ ACADEMY SESSION 2021: "Is anybody out there? Radical new ways to reach audiences in the Performing Arts"

25 March 2021, online
In the course of Karajan Music Tech Conference Online "Moving Music Forward", 22-26 March, Salzburg/Austria

In the past year, digital has become the primary way to connect with audiences, but of course there isn’t just one audience for music and the performing arts, nor is the now almost ubiquitous livestreaming of performances the only way to reach them.

This Session looked at three very different creative and technical case studies on reaching and connecting with audiences:

Hope@Home by Arte
a portfolio of digital projects by Opera North in the UK, and
Laila, a groundbreaking immersive installation by Finnish National Opera and Ballet that received the Fedora Digital Prize 2020.

The Karajan Institute was founded in 2005 to promote the artistic legacy of Austrian conductor Herbert von Karajan. The institute is aiming at managing the huge catalogue of his work with its complex meta data as well as presenting and supporting initiatives in the field of music technology.

Watch the session

HOSTS

PETER MANIURA

Freelance Director + Digital Strategist, IMZ Academy Director

Peter Maniura is an award-winning TV producer and director with more than twenty-five years’ experience in music + arts broadcasting at the BBC and the EBU. He is also a digital media consultant and guest lecturer. His most recent role at the BBC was Project Director, Classical Archive and Orchestras Digital Strategy for BBC Music; opening up the BBC’S unique music archive to the public in new ways. Prior to this he was Head of Digital Development for BBC Arts covering festivals, events and performances across the art forms. He was also commissioner for BBC Arts Online, which he launched in May 2014. Previously he was Creative Director and Curator of the new experimental BBC/Arts Council England digital online arts service ‘The Space’ which launched in May 2012 promoting digital innovation and creativity in the arts.

Kay Meseberg

Head of Mission Innovation at ARTE

Kay Meseberg studied Political Science at University of Potsdam in Germany. He worked since the end of the 90ties on many award-wining digital productions and as a journalist. Since 2013 he is working for ARTE in Strasbourg, France. After his contribution for the world-first VR-documentary Polar Sea 360 in 2014 he is working on immersive media and other innovative forms and charing the ARTE group dedicated to upcoming technologies Mission Innovation. Kay is also a visiting lecturer for the Center of Collaborative Arts and Media at Yale University and Innovation Ambassador for the IMZ.

EXPERTS

DAVID COLLINS

Director of External Affairs at Opera North

DOMINIC GRAY

Projects Director at Opera North

Dominic Gray is Project Director at Opera North, where he leads on new work, partnerships and collaborations, and digital innovation. The 2018 project “Aeons” for Newcastle’s Great Exhibition of the North won an Ivor Novello Award for Sonic Art, and the 2009 installation “Chorus” won a Prix Ars Electronica. Dominic sits on the advisory boards for the AHRC, and the University of Leeds’ Cultural Institute.

ANNASTINA HAAPASAARI

Project Manager Opera Beyond at Finnish National Opera and Ballet

As Project Manager, Annastina Haapasaari is leading the Finnish National Opera and Ballet’s Opera Beyond project that explores the possibilities of emerging technology for performing arts. Within the project, she’s been working on audience experience and several installation pieces, but also developing the workflows and the overall digital strategy of the organisation.

DANIEL HOPE

Violinist

Stefan Mathieu

CEO at Kobalt Productions

Stefan Mathieu founded Kobalt Productions in 1997. As CEO he leads the company with all its productions. Furthermore, he is responsible for and leads the whole concert division.

LILLI PAASIKIVI

Artistic Director of the Finnish National Opera and Ballet

In the past 25 years, Lilli Paasikivi has worked as opera soloist and for the last seven years as the Artistic Director of the Finnish National Opera and Ballet. In 2019, Paasikivi launched Opera Beyond – a project which aims to give new, additional tools to opera and ballet.