Blended Intensive Program (BIP)

Concert Design & New Concert Formats

Interdisciplinary Practical Project (Tonnara di Favignana, Sicily)

Artistic Planning & Implementation of New Concert Formats

Erasmus+ BIP Project n. 2024-1-IT02-KA131-HED-000200162-1

Overview

In this Blended Intensive Program, students develop innovative concert formats that rethink location, content, and audience. The focus is on artistic work at a special location where a concert is performed, which the students conceive and perform together. The planned location is the historical Tonnara of Favignana. "Concert Design" considers the entire performance context and places individual or multiple works in new, surprising contexts in the programming. Prof. Folkert Uhde, who developed the theory and practice of concert design as a conceptual approach to the comprehensive redesign of the classical concert form, will "lead" the program and provide artistic direction. As part of the Blended Intensive Program, students learn to think about work selection and interpretation, creation, and performance in a way that is audience- and site-specific, develop them in self-determined contexts, contextualize them discursively, and are able to implement the practical design of a concert experience. The project is aimed at students from all disciplines who are willing to work in an interdisciplinary manner and explore the following topics:

Why do we need new concert formats?
The concert as an experience
Concert dramaturgy and artistic communication
Repertoire in dialogue with place and context
Using different media and musical languages
Dealing with history, space, and audience
Working in a team: conception, technology, communication, performance

Folkert Uhde has developed the term "concert design" for his artistic work and established it in the discourse on new classical music concert formats. He is currently the artistic director of the Köthen Bach Festival and, together with Hans-Joachim Gögl, the founder and artistic director of the Montforter Zwischentöne in Feldkirch, Vorarlberg. Independent artistic projects with a wide variety of partners have an international presence. In addition to his artistic and conceptual work, the topic of regional development through culture has become increasingly important in recent years. Folkert Uhde also teaches at various colleges and universities. In 2009, he was named "Cultural Manager of the Year" for his innovative approach to the Berlin Radial System. Together with Jochen Sandig, he is the founder of the Radial System and remains a partner to this day. Previously, he ran a concert agency and worked as a project manager, baroque violinist, and technician.

Content

The workshop will develop a concert concept for use in various venues or historical sites on-site. Therefore, questions regarding concert design, dramaturgy, logistics, and practical implementation will be addressed. Over the course of the project, students will engage with all phases of the conception and implementation of concert formats and assume their own role in the implementation according to their own wishes and skills (this may include participation as artists, but is not mandatory). To this end, a complex artistic project will be developed and implemented, which, in addition to addressing musical aspects such as selecting the appropriate repertoire, requires, above all, an examination of the context and history of the location and region. Key organizational aspects such as financing, technical issues, and communication before and after the event (inquiries, advertising, documentation, and follow-up, etc.) will also be addressed.

Program objectives

Testing, developing, and applying new concert formats
Artistic design with spatial, historical, and social relevance
Impulse for your own projects, career prospects, and networking
Testing interdisciplinary collaboration on an equal footing

Period

September 2025 (dates tbd) - Virtual meetings and workshops
September 29th to October 6th 2025 - on site Project in Favignana (Italy)

Target group and participation requirements

The preparatory workshops are open to an interdisciplinary group of participants. We are primarily looking for students from the fields of music (all instruments), directing, acting, cultural management, dance, etc. At least 10 students from foreign (non-Italian) universities must be registered for the on-site implementation (including excursions and concert design/supervision). The course is free of charge for the participating students. Travel expenses, accommodation and meals, etc. will be covered by the sending Institutions. Students must check with their home universities on how to get Erasmus BIP-funding and /or BIP-status for this particular BIP (2024-1-IT02-KA131-HED-000200162-1).

How and when to apply

Sign-up by 30th August 2025 by filling the APPLICATION FORM. Students will be informed of their acceptance by e-mail a few days after the application deadline. First priority is given to students who have secured BIP status or grant form their home universities. Check and make sure that your home university is able to send you to Trapani with BIP status, with or without a BIP-grant, and what other conditions are required of you by your International Office.

Info

Prof. Eugenio Catone | Erasmus Coordinator | erasmus@constp.it