‘It's not only musicians in tails playing music by mostly dead male composers’: New interdisciplinary formats to counter the classical concert crisis

The classical concert has been in crisis for decades, characterised by falling audience numbers, an aging audience and a loss of social relevance. An innovative approach to overcoming these symptoms of crisis are interdisciplinary concert formats that combine music with scientific or socio-political discourse. This article analyses the potential of such formats both in terms of their impact on the concert industry and their significance for social exchange. Key findings are presented on the basis of guideline-based expert interviews with organisers of such concert formats: Interdisciplinary formats lower access barriers, open up new audience groups and can embed classical music in a broader social context. At the same time, their implementation requires specific resources as well as a high level of creative and organisational commitment on the part of the organisers. The sustainable development and establishment of such innovative formats in the concert business requires, in particular, the provision of resources, enabling organisational structures and interdisciplinary awareness-raising among artists and music managers (already in educational contexts).