30 June 2021 – The German Music Council (Deutscher Musikrat) has announced the latest stage in its long-term sponsorship agreement with Europe’s largest printed music publisher and distributor, Hal Leonard Europe, in support of musical life in Germany.
Deutscher Musikrat operates a great variety of long-term projects and institutions, including the German Music Information Centre (Deutsches Musikinformationszentrum, or miz), the national centre of expertise and contact point for anyone seeking information and data on musical life in Germany. With HLE’s support, miz has embarked on a significant new project: a research initiative collecting data on music in Germany captured in a series of unique infographic posters called Musical Life in Numbers (Musikleben in Zahlen). The beautifully designed posters are available to order at miz.org for the cost of service and shipping only and have been distributed to various musical institutions across Germany.
Musical Life in Numbers
This study aims to celebrate the diversity found within German musical activity while providing statistical data to inform programming and future development. The project began in December 2020 with the publication ‘Opera repertoire in Germany’. 860 operas, 457 composers, 19 million visits across five seasons reflect a richness of the opera repertoire on German stages (before the outbreak of the Corona pandemic). The second poster was published in spring 2021 – a survey of orchestras in Germany showing for the first time how many men and women are in German professional orchestras in each section and in which positions.
In summer 2021, a third poster will be published on the topic of ‘Amateur Music Making’, which will illustrate how many people in Germany make music in their free time, where they do so and which instruments they prefer to play. The poster is based on a study by miz and show that 14.3 Millions of Germans make music in their free time. Even the Corona pandemic has only partially changed this, underlining the hugely important role that music plays in German culture.
Other MIZ activities supported by HLE include:
Musical Life in Germany
In 2019 the German Music Information Centre published its brand new compendium Musikleben in Deutschland, an exhaustive exploration of the many different aspects of Germany’s rich musical culture. The 620-page publication includes background details and data about music culture in Germany describing the structures and developments of musical life in over 20 articles by renowned authors. With HLE’s support, in early 2020 the book was published in English, bringing the product of miz’s immense research to international audiences. This unique publication is now available in libraries, embassies and other institutions involved in musical work and cultural policy-making worldwide.
MIZ Online
Later in 2021, HLE’s support will also facilitate a new English language version of the MIZ website, further promoting and supporting German musical culture.
“We are very excited to expand our partnership with Deutsches Musikinformationszentrum on this important project. Our vision at Hal Leonard Europe is for lifelong music making for everyone; Musical Life in Numbers provides extraordinary insight into facets of German music making and will inform future initiatives to further celebrate and promote diversity in music.”
Tom Farncombe, Business Development Director, Hal Leonard Europe
“The German Music Council is delighted about the ongoing cooperation with Hal Leonard Europe as a strong and globally active partner. The sponsorship of the German Music Information Centre as one of the flagships of the German Music Council gives us new scope to communicate the available information on the depth and diversity of German musical life even more broadly. We are very grateful to Hal Leonard Europe for that.”
Stefan Piendl, Managing Director, Deutscher Musikrat
About the German Music Council
The German Music Council (Deutscher Musikrat, DMR) is the umbrella organisation of musical life in Germany. It represents the interests of around 14 million musicians and enjoys the patronage of the President of the Federal Republic of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The organisation is composed of the Berlin-based association Deutscher Musikrat e.V. and the Bonn-based non-profit project company Deutscher Musikrat gemeinnützige Projektgesellschaft mbH, sponsor of the following projects: National Young Artists Concerts, German National Youth Jazz Orchestra, National Youth Choir of Germany, National Youth Orchestra of Germany, German Choir Competition, German Music Competition, German Orchestra Competition, German Music Information Centre, Conductors’ Forum, Sponsorship Projects for Contemporary Music, ‘Jugend jazzt’ Competition, ‘Jugend musiziert’ Competition and PopCamp.
About the German Music Information Centre
The German Music Information Centre (Deutsches Musikinformationszentrum, miz) is the national centre of expertise and miz point for anyone seeking information and data on musical life. With its online portal www.miz.org, miz operates the leading information platform on musical life and provides information on institutions, structures and developments in central areas: from music education and training to amateur music-making, professional music practice and the event industry, to the media and the music economy. Its goal is to impart greater transparency to Germany’s musical life, to serve as a guide to the country’s rich and diverse musical landscape and to foster the exchange of ideas and experience.
miz is funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM), the Cultural Foundation of the German Federal States (KSL), the Federal City of Bonn and the Collecting Society for Performance Rights (gvl). Its international partner is Hal Leonard Europe.