By Boran Zaza, Director of Communications & Development at Orchestras Canada.
Classical:NEXT (C:N) is the largest global gathering of art music professionals. Traditionally, it has taken place in different European cities each year — as of 2024, C:N has made Berlin, Germany its permanent home. C:N features conference sessions, showcases, meetups and project pitches. Over 1400 art music professionals from 49 countries attended this edition – their biggest gathering yet, after a hiatus in 2023 to consider “what’s next?”
From May 13 to 17, I had the privilege of attending C:N for the first time, thanks to generous funding from the Canada Council for the Arts through the Supporting Artistic Practice: Professional Development for Arts Professionals
program. As someone in the “conference organizing” business, I must say that I was quite impressed by the magnitude of this event, the variety of sessions offered, and the plethora of experiences present at the same space! There is something for everyone at C:N. My main interests were conference sessions focusing on the future of orchestras, of which there were many. Three key orchestra-specific themes emerged from the sessions that I attended:
- Leadership models in orchestras
- Environmental sustainability
- New audiences: How to retain them?
The topic of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging was also present, especially at the global orchestras meetup that I attended. Feminism in classical music was another topic of discussion and interest, about which I attended a fascinating session.
In this first blog post, I will focus on the first theme: Leadership models in orchestras.
No Conductor, No Chairs, No Sheet Music
On the opening day of the C:N in Berlin’s newest concert hall, Saal Pierre Boulez (opened in 2017), five showcases took place. The one that stuck with me the most was Stegreif, the Improvising Symphony Orchestra from Germany. Stegreif is a collective of 30 musicians, who “combine the heritage of classical compositions with improvisation and regard the classical symphony as the starting point for a new concert experience”. Stegreif’s showcase was called “The Symphony of Change”, was based on the works of 4 female composers: Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179), Wilhelmine von Bayreuth (1709-1785), Emilie Mayer (1812-1883) and Clara Schumann (1819-1896). Stegreif started by performing each piece as originally composed, then the original transcription diverged and opened space for improvisation, complemented with choreography.
Photo: twinematics
Their performance was immersive: in the oval concert hall, musicians walked around barefoot between the audiences, all leading and following one another without a conductor. Their energy was contagious… it felt like a big classical music party among friends! Even the cellos had stools with wheels that allowed them to move around. This reminded me of the Montreal-based ensemble Collectif9, which also performs standing up with neither sheet music nor a conductor. Stegreif has taken that concept of having no conductor and the musical freedom while playing to a whole different level to create a truly immersive experience, and their ensemble is made up of about 2/3 classical musicians and 1/3 jazz musicians – I had never seen anything like this before!
The next day, still buzzing from this unique musical experience, I attended a conference session titled Leading and Following in the Orchestra: Models Beyond the Traditional Hierarchy, presented by Stegreif. The three speakers were the Artistic Director, Lorenz Blaumer, the Managing Director, Lorina Strange, and their Jazz Drummer and composer, Hiromu Seifert. In this session, Stegreif spoke in detail about their philosophy, how they work together, their artistic mediation and community outreach efforts, governance, and pay equity, among other topics.
Here are my top learnings from this presentation:
1. Collective leadership happens on-stage, and most importantly, off-stage
The end result that we see on stage when attending a performance by Stegreif is impressive, with musicians leading and following one another on stage seamlessly. Achieving this result requires the involvement of all musicians in decision-making, artistic and otherwise, on and off stage. All the musicians participate in shaping the performance, and rehearsals are led by different people (even for the same work). The musicians also participate in “Future Days,” where they share (and sometimes argue) about their values and artistic goals.
2. Inward mediation is as essential as the outward mediation
You probably know about artistic mediation and community outreach. But what is integrated mediation?
Integrated mediation is the interplay of collective management culture, artistic work, and mediation. It has 2 components:
- Outward mediation, which is one the many orchestras across Canada already do through programs presented at schools, community centers, retirement homes, hospitals and more.
- Inward mediation, which means learning from each other within the orchestra. For this, each musician takes a leadership role in educating their colleagues through a workshop or a seminar on a topic relevant to the orchestra.
The outcome of both different mediations helps inform artistic decisions of the ensemble.
3. Pay equality doesn’t equal pay equity, but it’s a good starting point
At Stegreif, all musicians are paid equally. This worked well for a while, but as some orchestra members had children, “equal” pay didn’t respond to disparities in living situations. For example, when the orchestra goes on tour, who pays for childcare for those who require it? Everything can be discussed at Stegreif. So now, on tour, the orchestra pays for the accommodation and flight of a babysitter but not the babysitter fees. They encourage the musicians to bring a family member to take care of the kids.
For staff salaries, the board of directors (comprised of 5 musicians) decides how much the staff is paid.
4. Collective leadership is not about one leadership style: It’s about knowing when to use which leadership style
Every musician of Stegreif knows exactly what the 5 leadership models are: Democratic, participative, autocratic, charismatic, and natural (competence-based). By educating all musicians on these leadership models, they understand exactly what strategies are employed when, why they are used, and how to be better followers when a certain leadership style is in use. For example: the musicians are co-creating a new work in a democratic style but conversations take longer than expected, the show is the next day, and executive decisions must be made quickly – the musicians know exactly how to react to this and how to help one another, whether leading or following, to ensure the show is ready on time.
5. The magic ingredient: Having fun together!
The Stegreif team radiates a unique pride in their pertinence, belonging and making a difference for each musician in this orchestra. The trust that has been built over the years among the musicians and their sense of ownership of their orchestra makes it more than a job: it is family and friends. Oftentimes after rehearsal, the musicians will stay to jam together and have fun. One of the topics that came up throughout C:N was how to keep orchestra musicians engaged and inspired throughout their career, and Stegreif is certainly on to something through their leadership model!
You can learn more about Stegreif on their website.
You can see videos of what a Stegreif concert experience is like here.
And What if Orchestras were Owned by Musicians?
The other conference session that focused heavily on leadership models was titled A Vision for the Symphony Orchestra: Transformative Leadership and Collective Innovation in Orchestral Music. Panelists included Simon Webb, Head of Orchestras and Choirs at BBC and Fiona Stevens, CEO of Concerto Köln. The panel was chaired by Karsten Witt, Managing Director of Karsten Witt Musik Management GmbH.
In London, UK, the four main orchestras (Royal Philharmonic, London Symphony, London Philharmonic and Philharmonia) are owned and governed by the musicians. Simon Webb talked about how he, a seventh cellist, found himself in a leadership role as someone on the board without any prior leadership experience.
Fiona Stevens used to be an extra at the Concerto Köln. She changed her career during the pandemic when the job of CEO at that orchestra opened. She’s currently doing an MBA in Arts Innovation at the Global Leaders program to address the gaps in training that did not necessarily prepare her for a leadership position.
Those are two instances of musicians finding themselves in leadership roles with many responsibilities without having formal training or preparation for handling them. Both examples here are thriving, but it took them a lot of courage, time, and hard work. This raises the question: How can we better prepare musicians for leadership roles for which their musical training did not prepare them?
Some of the main discussion points of this panel included the following:
- If musicians are involved in leadership, they should have access to the training and resources needed to be good leaders. Leadership training is not part of musical training, despite the fact that musicians are likely to find themselves in a leadership role, one way or another, at some point in their careers.
- What are musicians in orchestras and ensembles learning from their organizations, and what are their organizations learning from them? Orchestras have long prized compliance and efficiency in the rehearsal and delivery of concerts for the public. But what if we prioritized experimentation and learning – by musicians, by staff, by volunteers – instead?
- Orchestras should open up to communities and stay relevant to them. How do orchestras develop talent within the community? Every orchestra and choir must support learning by the people they serve, so they can participate more deeply in the art form. How orchestras partner with universities, nurseries, and schools is very important to how they stay relevant in their communities.
Additional Reading Resources:
- Global Leaders program
- Models of Self-Governance and Workplace Democracy: a comparison of select orchestras in Germany, the US and the UK by Erin V. Lehman
In my next blog post, I will cover environmental sustainability in orchestras. In the meantime, to get a taste of the Classical:NEXT experience in video format, check out the Instagram stories I posted while in Berlin!
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
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