PROJECTS OF THE GERMAN MUSIC COUNCIL
Support for Amateur and Professional Musicians
Our Projects and Funding Programs
Ensembles
Competitions
Support
Service
Temporary Support Programs
We Celebrate Community!
The German Music Council is a sponsor of long-term projects as well as temporary support programs. The main focus of our work is the promotion of both amateur and professional musicians, the support of young musicians and contemporary music, as well as the provision of information, statistics, and documents on musical life in Germany.
On any given day in our country, hundreds or even thousands of musicians of all ages and backgrounds take advantage of what the German Music Council has to offer. They benefit from our support programs and rehearse or play concerts together. They experience inspiration and the joy of making music as part of a community."
Managing Director
Ensembles
With its three ensembles for teenagers and young adults, the German Music Council makes a significant contribution to promoting the finest young musicians in Germany.
Founded in 1969, the Bundesjugendorchester(German Youth Orchestra), with around 100 young musicians, is Germany's youngest top orchestra. Every year, three work phases and tours with about 30 concerts take the orchestra through Germany and around the world. Sir Simon Rattle is the orchestra's Honorary Conductor.
The Bundesjazzorchester(German Jazz Orchestra) is the official youth jazz orchestra of the Federal Republic of Germany. “BuJazzO", as it is affectionately known, was founded in 1988 by Peter Herbolzheimer and is currently under the artistic direction of Niels Klein and Ansgar Striepens. As with the Bundesjugendorchester, the top-level promotion of young German jazz musicians takes place in three annual work phases and during national and international concert tours.
The German Music Council founded its third ensemble, the Bundesjugendchor(German Youth Choir), in 2020. This choir supports around 50 young singers aged 18 to 26 on their way into the professional choral music scene. Prof. Anne Kohler was appointed as the first Artistic Director.
Competitions
It has long been proven that musical education has a positive effect on the personality development of children and young people. Making music promotes creativity and the ability to shape and express oneself, as well as stamina, concentration, and dexterity. Making music together strengthens the social skills of young people and thus benefits society as a whole.
The nationwide Jugend musiziert competition is one of the most renowned programs for discovering and promoting musical talent. Since it was founded in 1963, about one million children and young people from Germany and from 35 German schools abroad have taken part in Jugend musiziert.
Germany's talented young jazz musicians meet annually for the national Jugend jazzt competition. Young musicians with their jazz ensembles (up to 10 members) and entire big bands have the chance to demonstrate their skills in front of the jury and the audience. The competitions for combos and big bands take place in alternating years.
The German Music Competition (DMW), founded in 1975 by the German Music Council, is aimed at professional musicians between the ages of 18 and 30 and is held annually for various solo and chamber music ensembles as well as for composition. The competition takes place over four rounds and offers the participants, among other things, the opportunity to design their own programs.
Almost five million people in Germany play music in orchestras and choirs. The German Music Council regularly organizes the German Choir Competition and the German Orchestra Competition as an opportunity not only to compare performances but also to meet and communicate with other musicians.
Support/Funding
![[Translate to Englisch:] Die 5 Mitglieder der PopCamp-Jury 2022](/fileadmin/redaktion/organisation/Projekte/PopCamp_Jury_2022-c_Sabrina_Vrhovac.jpg "[Translate to Englisch:] Die PopCamp-Jury 2022 © Sabrina Vrhovac")
Despite the high level of education in Germany, it is often not easy for young talented musicians to start a career. They often lack self-marketing skills, sufficient stage experience, or simply contacts in the professional scene. On the other hand, organizers are always on the lookout for outstanding young musicians. With four very different projects, the German Music Council accompanies and supports young, highly talented musicians on their way to a professional musical life and builds bridges between musicians, organizers, and the public.
The German Music Competition’s concert promotion program offers chamber music concerts throughout Germany featuring competition prizewinners and scholarship holders. The approximately 250 members of the organizers' association regularly and gladly take advantage of the opportunity to present these highly talented young musicians to their audiences.
The Conducting Forum is the German Music Council's nationwide support program for top young conductors. It promotes young talent in the fields of orchestral and choral conducting and enables the young generation of conductors to engage artistically with nationally and internationally renowned conducting personalities.
The activities of the German Music Council’s Podium Gegenwart are as diverse as the facets of con-temporary music in Germany. The focus is on the Edition Zeitgenössische Musik CD series, the international exchange between young performers in the European Workshop for Contemporary Music, and the promotion of young ensembles and soloists on their way to professional life through the InSzene program.
PopCamp is a high-level support program for newcomer artists. Every year, five artist projects are accepted into the program and receive one year of intensive coaching with top-class instructors from the music world.
Information & Documentation
In addition to promoting active music making, the German Music Council aims to make the music world a more transparent part of cultural life, to facilitate orientation in the dense and diverse musi-cal landscape, and to document the development of our musical culture.
With the German Music Information Center (miz), the German Music Council provides a central point of contact for all questions concerning musical life. The miz documents structures, developments, and trends, and with its services encourages discussion and the development of informed opinions.
Temporary Support Programs
The Corona pandemic put the entire music sector to the test. Four NEUSTART KULTUR (RESTART CULTURE) funding programs of the Federal Commissioner for Culture and Media have been implemented by the German Music Council (DMR). These include the programs
• NEUSTART KULTUR - Digitalization Music Trade"
• NEUSTART KULTUR - Classical Music Scholarship Program (2022 and 2023)
• NEUSTART KULTUR - Free Music Ensembles
