The world in 2011 is a very different place than it was just a few years ago: habits, priorities, what people yearn for have changed. How does classical music fit into this scene, especially among young people?
If new social dynamics lead to the questioning of old commonplaces, they also open countless new possibilities for places for the classics in addition to concert halls.
The VivaMúsica! Institute works on identifying and occupying new territories in which classical music has a place in young people's daily life. We have already developed two projects in this respect:
- in the form of a live chamber music show, with the project called "Democlássicos" at nightspots, which received the Ministry of Culture Prize for the Classical Music Circuit in 2010
- in the media, with the series of radio programs called "Classicamente", directed toward young people between 16 and 25 years of age, which won the Roquette-Pinto Prize of the Association of Public Radio Stations of Brazil (Arpub).
Another area of our work is compiling data and creating reference information for the new territory which classical music has been occupying in an ever more consistent way: that of the social projects which promote the teaching of instrument and the development of orchestras in Brazil.
Our goals and challenges
- To identify new formats and new territories for presenting live classical music to young audiences who do not frequent the concert circuit.
- To promote the understanding of the specifics of the classical universe with arts managers and opinion-shapers for young people who have not yet formed a relationship with the sector
- To compile data and create reference information for the social projects which promote the teaching of instruments and the development of orchestras in Brazil.
Our story
We arose from the activities of VivaMúsica! Edições, which, since 1994, has dedicated itself to increasing visibility for the world of classical music in Brazil.
VivaMúsica! Edições publishes the professional yearbook for the sector, the monthly magazine listing classical music events in Rio de Janeiro, as well as maintaining a site with concert listings for Rio and São Paulo. It partners with radio stations CBN and MEC FM in producing regular programming. Through an initiative on the part of de VivaMúsica!, the National Classical Music Day was established, celebrated on March 5, the birthday of Villa-Lobos. The date was adopted by the federal government in 2009.
We have more than sixteen years of experience in the classical field. We interact daily with musicians, orchestras, concert halls, producers of events, managers in the public sector, cultural administrators and sponsors, and not only are current with their achievements, but are able to note their difficulties in reaching new audiences.
Over time, the question continues: what is needed so that more people can discover the universe of classical music? How can we apply VivaMúsica!'s know-how in identifying new pathways?
The VivaMúsica! Institute is the concrete representation of our desire to look for new audiences for classical music in Brazil, identifying alternative formats and spaces in addition to the concert hall. And also compiling data and creating reference information for the sector of social projects which promote the teaching of instruments and the development of orchestras in Brazil.
Our team
Heloisa Fischer, executive director
helofischer@institutovivamusica.org.br
Journalist and radio broadcaster, she founded VivaMúsica! Edições in November 1994 and since then has been director of content for the publisher. Her blog Pensando Clássicos offers reflections on the classical music market, with a focus on Brazil. Her principal responsibilities at the VivaMúsica! Institute are conceiving and planning execution for projects, as well as relations with partnering institutions.
Luiz Alfredo Moraes, administrative director
lalfredo@institutovivamusica.org.br
Carioca with a career in marketing, is partner, and commercial & operational director for VivaMúsica! Edições. His principal responsibilities at the VivaMúsica! Institute are fundraising, administering and controlling execution of projects, as well as relations with partnering institutions.
Ana Paula Emerich, project manager
ana@institutovivamusica.org.br
Ana has a degree in conducting from Unicamp and with experience in artistic administration for the Symphony Orchestra of the State of São Paulo and for the Petrobras Sinfônica, her principal responsibility at the VivaMúsica! Institute is to manage planning and execution of projects.
First projects carried out
"Classicamente!" Radio Programs
Project included in the category of "Children's programming" for the Roquette-Pinto Prize - First Competition in Support of Production of Radio Programming, under the auspices of the Association of Public Radio Stations in Brazil (Arpub) in 2010.
"Classicamente!" is a series of 12 radio programs directed at young people between 16 and 25 years of age. Each edition addresses a subject of interest to young people. In accord with the theme, personal experiences of composers are presented and their works are played. The programs are each thirty minutes in length.
Concepts, scripts and musical selections are the responsibility of Heloisa Fischer, executive director of the VivaMúsica! Institute. The announcer for the programs is the pianist from Pernambuco Vitor Araújo (photo), 21 years of age. The opening and closing music are sung by singer and actress Letícia Novaes, from the pop band Letuce. The soundtrack for clips on the program is a section from "Aiamguabê, Op. 19", by the composer Dimitri Cervo.
All of the broadcasters affiliated with Arpub will broadcast the series, on dates and with a frequency of their choosing. MEC FM of Rio de Janeiro was the first to broadcast "Classicamente", beginning on Jan. 15, 2011, on Saturdays at 3 PM.
Program 1 - Theme: "Choices & crossroads". BEETHOVEN - Symphony no. 5. TCHAIKOVSKY - Waltz of the Flowers. VERDI - Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves.
Program 2 - Theme: "Dealing with differences". CARLOS GOMES - Quem sabe? and Burrico de pau. MAHLER - Adagietto from Symphony no. 5. ELGAR - Pomp and circumstance.
Program 3 - Theme: "Family influences". MOZART - Gran partita. PAGANINI - Capriccio N. 24. MENDELSSOHN - Concerto for violin.
Program 4 - Theme: "Sexuality & affect". LEONARD BERNSTEIN - Overture to Candide, Somewhere and Tonight. PUCCINI - O mio babbino caro and Nessun dorma. BRITTEN - Peter Grimes and Young person's guide to the orchestra.
Program 5 - Theme: "Finding your perfect match". CHOPIN - Ballade N. 1. SCHUMANN - Concerto for violoncello. BRAHMS - Symphony no. 2 and Hungarian Dance N. 5.
Program 6 - Theme: "Night life". SATIE - Gymnopedie N.1. SCHUBERT - An den Mond and Octet. VILLA-LOBOS - Trenzinho do caipira and Bachianas brasileiras N. 5
Program 7 - Theme: "Insecurities". RACHMANINOV - Concerto for piano N. 2. DUKAS - The sorcerer's apprentice.
Program 8 - Theme: "Innovation and determination". GLUCK - Orpheus and Euridice: Che faro senza Euridice. HAYDN - "Emperor" Quartet. WAGNER - Overture to "The Flying Dutchman".
Program 9 - Theme: "Going around the world to find one's self". CHOPIN - Grande valse brillante. VILLA-LOBOS - Prelude N. 1 and Study N. 2. GOTTSCHALK - Fantasia triunfal sobre o hino brasileiro.
Program 10 - Theme: "Beginning early in life". VILLA-LOBOS - Impressões seresteiras. ALBENIZ - Asturias. LISZT - Concerto for piano N. 1 and Concerto for piano N. 2.
Program 11 - Theme: "The search for a place in the sun". BACH - Goldberg Variations - Aria, Orchestral Suite N. 1 and Concerto for two violins. BERLIOZ - Symphonie fantastique and Les nuits d'Éte .
Program 12 - Theme: "The end of all things". MOZART - Passages from the 'Requiem".
Circuito "Democlássicos"
The goal is to introduce classical music to young people who go to nightclubs, are interested in new sounds, but do not go to concerts. A chamber music group plays in the kind of environment in which young people are accustomed to hear live music.
The project was included in the Ministry of Culture Prize for the Classical Music Circuit in 2010. It took place between Nov. 1 and Nov. 8, 2010 in nightclubs of cities in the Northeast, Center-West, Southeast, and South.
The quartet of Carlos Prazeres (oboe), Felipe Prazeres (violin), Ivan Zandonade (viola) and Marcus Ribeiro (violoncello) played works by Mozart, Britten, Radamés Gnattali and Wagner Tiso. As encore, "Paranoid android", by the English rock band Radiohead.
The nightclubs working with "Democlássicos" were: Cidadão do Mundo (São Caetano do Sul), Studio SP (São Paulo), Casa Fora do Eixo (Cuiabá), Espaço Mundo (João Pessoa) e Beco (Porto Alegre). All of them belong to the Brazilian Association of Independent of Nightclubs - Associated Clubs, an institutional sponsor of the project.
"Democlássicos" maintains a blog at http://democlassicos.blogspot.com. There you can find press clippings, with articles from newspapers, television, radio and internet - as well as video-releases, electronic flyers and press photos.
You can find Democlássicos also in:
Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Democlassicos-Concertos-na-pista/143267315718115),
Myspace (http://www.myspace.com/democlassicos)
Twitter (http://twitter.com/democlassicos)
Contact
The search for new audiences for classical music is worldwide. We need to stimulate discussion of successful experiments in this area.
Email: contato@institutovivamusica.org.br
Phone: (55 21) 2233-8393 e 2296-8245
Fax: (55 21) 2233-8393 e 2296-8245
Caixa Postal 21.004
CEP 20081-971
Rio de Janeiro – RJ - Brazil
