The year is slowly coming to an end and gives us time to take a look back at 2015. It was a year filled with many fruitful cooperations and fantastic events. We want to thank our partners and musicians for shaping 2015 together with us and making it a year to remember. We look forward to an exciting 2016 – thank you all for your support!
HIGHLIGHTS 2015
January 2015 started off with five Austrian acts performing at Europe’s most important showcase festival, the Eurosonic Noorderslag in the Netherlands. This time the lucky candidates selected for this opportunity were Bilderbuch, Bulbul, Gods, Moonlight Breakfast and Ogris Debris. In addition to Austria’s performing artists, Klangkarussell were announced as a winner of the prestigious European Border Breakers Awards (EBBA) 2015.
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Later in January, the Austrian music scene showcased its outstanding musical qualities on the international stage at Kulturbörse Freiburg. The international trade fair for stage productions, music and events (January 26 – 29, 2015) featured world music and jazz artists with a large-scale focus on Austria. Performing acts from Austria: 5/8erl in Ehr’n, Federspiel, Madame Baheux, Diknu Schneeberger Trio, Duo Bartolomey/Bittmann, Die Strottern & Blech, Playbackdolls, Martin Spengler & die foischn Wiener, Das Grossmütterchen Hatz Salonorkestar, and Saedi.
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In February the new music showcase festival MENT (February 4-6, 2015) in Ljubljana brought together music, art, creativity and media technology. Part of the line-up from Austria were Dorian Concept, Elektro Guzzi and Manu Delago Handmade.
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ADVANTAGE AUSTRIA, the Austrian foreign trade organization of the Austrian Economic Chambers, commissioned Comrades GmbH with the execution of a joint booth at the trade show SXSW 2015 in Austin, Texas, from March 13 – 22, 2015. Entrepreneurs from Austria were invited to be a part of the Austrian booth and benefit from the services to market their product or service. This year the Austrian band NIHILS joined the festival line-up and served as musical ambassadors for Austrian music.
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The seventh edition of Tallinn Music Week took place from March 25 – 29, 2015 in Tallinn, Estonia. Presenting over 200 acts from the Baltics, Nordic countries, Russia, and across Europe, the acts Moonlight Breakfast and Polkov represented Austria in 2015.
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From April 23 – 26, 2015, the international jazz music fair and showcase festival jazzahead! in Bremen offered a rich and diverse program that gave music agencies, labels, media representatives, producers and event organizers the opportunity to establish new contacts and expand their networks. The German showcase festival featured top-notch jazz acts from around the world, including several Austrian acts: Patrick Dunst: Tribal Dialects, Edi Nulz, BartolomeyBittmann, Laura Winkler & Wabi-Sabi Orchestra, Marina & The Kats, and David Helbock’s RANDOM/CONTROL. As every year at jazzahead!, Austrian Music Export participated at the festival and conference with a joint Austrian booth. The delegation also premiered a brand new publication on “Jazz in Austria”, which features a host of useful information and resources.
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After the success of the first publication of the music travel guide in 2014, Austrian Music Export once again teamed up with the publishing company Verlag für Moderne Kunst and design agency 3007 to release a new extended edition of the well-known “Austrian Heartbeats – A Contemporary Musical Travel Guide to Austria“. The publication was released just in time for the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest, which the Austrian capital city of Vienna played host to.
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The second edition of the CD series “Austrian Heartbeats” was dedicated to contemporary music and curated by the Austrian composer Georg Friedrich Haas. For this compilation, he selected works by four young up-and-coming Austrian composers Marco Döttlinger, Peter Jakober, Hannes Kerschbaumer, and Manuela Meier. The recordings on this album were produced by the Austrian broadcaster ORF, and include performances by members of Klangforum Wien, the stadler quartet, the Phace Ensemble, the Trio Amos, as well as the A Cappella Choir Tulln.
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This CD was first presented at the Showroom of Contemporary Sound (Izlog Suvremenog Zvuka) in Zagreb, which provided a platform for contemporary artists to showcase their work and increase opportunities to connect and share their experiences with fellow musicians. The third edition of this festival (May 6 – 9, 2015) was supported by the Austrian Music Export and highlighted contemporary music from Austria.
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The young music festival The Great Escape (May 14–16, 2015) in Brighton, UK, showcased emerging artists from all over the world. Performing acts from Austria were Bad Weed, Bulbul, Chili & the Whalekillers, Mile Me Deaf, and Okmalumkoolkat with Cid Rim & The Clonious.
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The 10th edition of the Europavox festival took place on May 23 – 25 in Clermont-Ferrand in the heart of the Auvergne, France. As a global project dedicated to the promotion of European musical diversity, it featured the acts James Hersey and Steaming Satellites from Austria.
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In June the new artists selected for the funding program NASOM – THE NEW AUSTRIAN SOUND OF MUSIC 2016/2017 were announced. Ramsch und Rosen, BartolomeyBittmann, Edi Nulz, Schallfeld, Kids n Cats – these are a few of the 25 young Austrian musicians and ensembles selected for this biennal initiative of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs, providing tour support for international performances of young Austrian and Austria-based musicians and ensembles over the period of two years. The young artists were chosen from the genres classical, jazz, pop, contemporary and world music. The selection was made by a jury of music industry experts and in collaboration with the Austrian Music Information Centre mica – music austria.
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The Slovakian music and arts festival Pohoda (July 9 – 11, 2015) mixed alternative, indie, electronica, world music and punk with classical music, alongside literature, dance, visual art, film and theater. Known for its eclectic mix-and-match music vibe and their interesting combinations of artists from various genres, the festival invited Bilderbuch and Elektro Guzzi from Austria to complete the line-up.
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Complementing the extensive concert line-up of the Popfest Wien 2015 (July 23-26, 2015), the afternoon Popfest Sessions again dealt with current and controversial issues of the local pop scene. With special talks and discussions on the German music market, Austrian participation opportunities, and production developments in the analog/digital field, as well as panels on the subject „New Austropop“, the sessions formed a major part of the festival. For the first time before the talk events, the Popfest Sessions hosted a unique theremin workshop for all ages (Kid Cool Theremin School NYC), led by the Austro-New Yorker Dorit Chrysler. The Popfest Sessions were organized in cooperation with mica – music austria.
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From August 27 – 30, 2015, Saalfelden became the center of the European jazz world. Over a period of four days, 32 concerts took place at seven venues. The lineup for the Saalfelden Jazz Festival was stacked with artists represented a large stylistic range of today’s jazz. Festival visitors were presented with a varied program, including performances by Austrian bands Kompost 3 and Christian Muthspiel Trio. This year the festival also featured acts from the world music field and present artists such as Riccardo Tesi & Banditaliana, The Klezmer Connection, Hazmat Modine, Vucciria, Madame Baheux, Özlem Bulut Band, Harri Stojka, and many more.
Maja Osojnik performed a work especially commissioned by the festival directors. The commissioned work was entitled „All.The.Terms.We.Are“ and was performed by Maja Osojnik and her band as the opening act on the main stage.
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This year Incubate took place from September 14 – 20 in over 20 locations across the city of Tilburg (NL). Highlighting the vast spectrum of indie culture, the festival exhibited various interdisciplinary approaches, such as music, visual arts, film, contemporary dance, and a conference. Presenting stellar music in an intimate setting, more than 200 cutting edge artists performed in front of an international audience. The line-up included 8 acts from Austria: A Thousand Fuegos, Dornenreich, Fennesz, Hella Comet, M185, Mia Zabelka, UMA, and Vague.
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This September, 11 Austrian acts performed at the Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg (DE), representing the finest that the current local music scene has to offer. Austrian Music Export hosted a special Austrian night and presented four live acts: Nihils, Lylit, Gods and Mieux. Taking the stage and performing solo slots throughout the festivals were the acts ROBB, HVOB, Wanda, Leyya, Olympique, Sex Jams, and Richard Dorfmeister.
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WAVES Central Europe celebrated its 5th anniversary from September 30 – October 4, welcoming music experts from all over the world to attend the festival and conference in Vienna and Bratislava. The specialty of Austria’s only club and showcase festival is the successful and fruitful exchange between international multipliers, the local music market, new acts, and concert fans of all kinds.
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Amsterdam Dance Event (October 14 – 18, 2015) is the leading electronic music platform and biggest club festival in the world, covering the entire spectrum of electronic sub-genres. This year the impressive line-up included the Austrian acts HVOB, Joyce Muniz, and Camo & Krooked.
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Held for the first time in Budapest (October 21 – 25, 2015), the 21st edition of WOMEX gathered 2,500 delegates from over 90 countries to the world’s largest trade fair for folk, roots, ethnic, traditional and local music. Supported by the Austrian Music Export, the three performing Austrian ensembles Klaus Paier & Asja Valcic, Federspiel and Martin Lubenov’s Jazzta Prasta received raving reviews.
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Taking place from November 20 – 29, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (hcmf//) turned its spotlight on performances by Austrian composers, with a highly anticipated opening concert by the Klangforum Wien. Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (hcmf//) is Britain’s leading international festival of contemporary and experimental music. Celebrating its 38th edition in 2015, hcmf// began with the opening concert by the Klangforum Wien, performing works by Beat Furrer, Pierluigi Billone and Peter Jakober. BBC Radio 3 broadcasted the concert live.
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