Living music
Jahrhunderthalle Bochum / Photo: W.-D. Gericke
Hans Werner Henze is the beating heart of the music programme: inspiring, encouraging, crossing borders, modernising - a visionary figure when it comes to the early involvement of children in the arts. He quickly recognised the future of music as a source of identity and the engine of social change, and provided the impetus for models to counteract the fast-moving and ephemeral nature of the music industry. He incited debate about the methods of cultural education by taking it into his own hands to initiate programmes and measures aimed at developing young people.
The projects make their impact through music but are essentially social undertakings set up within the "Education Community Composition" series in conjunction with the "Henze Project" and the initiative known as "An Instrument for Every Child". The primary goal is not to train youngsters to become professional musicians, but to encourage their development. The projects are taking great strides in promoting aesthetic experiences, exchange and self-expression within a protected, yet semi-public environment.
The European Capital of Culture is a high-impact, far-reaching campaign to transform 53 cities of the Ruhr Metropolis into one huge organism that functions as a transparent urbanised area. Alongside information and commercial centres, the region's opera houses and concert halls, orchestras, festivals and music schools are among the metropolitan nodal points of this conurbation of several million people.
Traditions, trends and traffic are the baseline sound. Wishing to view themselves as a community and be seen from the outside as a unit, the leading players of the music scene have made it their task to work in cooperation, to regard competition as potential and to experiment together - all the while transcending urban and institutional boundaries. With its matrix structure and unpretentious character, the Ruhr Metropolis is extremely adaptable and well equipped for a new successor society, a society in which the arts will enjoy the spotlight as social, public processes.
The !SING singing and choir project is an excellent example of just how successful getting involved and working together to implement inclusive projects and high-calibre cultural events can be. On the centenary of its première, Gustav Mahler's celebrated "Symphony of a Thousand" will bring together the conurbation's orchestras, choirs and opera ensembles. A symbolic and unique event. Or in Mahler's words a vibrant illustration that "What's best in music is not to be found in the notes."
Against this background, exchange and dialogue with Istanbul, another European Capital of Culture in 2010, will offer compelling parallels. For both urban societies, migration and integration are key issues in politics and everyday life. Hence the Turkish composer and pianist Fazil Say has been commissioned by Dortmund Concert Hall to write a new composition.
The entire musical landscape of the Ruhr Metropolis is coming together to form a network of New Music in homage to Hans Werner Henze, composer and musical visionary: the Henze Project. Between January and December 2010, forty partners will present Henze's musical and social projects from the early days to the present: opera, ballets, symphony concerts, chamber music and radio operas. Film retrospectives, an orchestra festival, a symposium and a composition competition will all explore Henze's achievements and influence.