For many, summertime is also festival time, but more than three years after the beginning of the pandemic, there are now and again rumors that the industry is still stuck in the crisis. Sure, of course. Inflation, increased costs for energy, personnel, technology and logistics are causing problems for the event scene.
Let’s be honest, even before Corona, a lot was already “sewn on edge”. Now, however, every small, previously unforeseeable increase in costs shakes up calculations, some of which had to be made months in advance. And the audience? A year ago it was still noticeable that part of the audience continued to avoid going to concerts for fear of Corona. That has since changed, but it’s no secret that, given the rising cost of living, everyone has to consider how much culture they can afford.
But the fact is: the audience is back. Whether old, young or somewhere in between, many people have happily rediscovered after months of giving up that, ideally, you never come out of a concert the same way you went in. Sometimes you might be more introspective and enjoy music as a source of strength for reflection and inspiration. Sometimes, like in a symbiotic fusion with the visitors around you, you are literally carried away by the aura and presence of an artist – those are the pounds of a live concert experience that we now have to use to our advantage. Live is real, every evening is new and different.
Therefore, the answer to the initial question of whether music festivals are still in crisis or have overcome it is: neither. Society, politics, oh well, at the end of the day, each and every individual has a say in what path the festival industry will take. Everyone who cannot imagine their life without attending classical concerts is called upon to promote the incomparable concert experience in their own environment as an ambassador.
Because everyone must be clear: Simply increasing the admission prices now to meet the challenges of the present cannot be the solution. That would only serve the cliché that classical music is elitist and unattainable. And also punish those who have found their way back to Corona and thus enable what makes the live experience so unique: the direct exchange between artists and audience.
To person
Thomas Albert
has been director of the Bremen Music Festival since it was founded in 1989. Born in Bremen, the 70-year-old was a violinist in various ensembles and a professor of early music at the University of the Arts in Bremen.
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