Free classical music series performed by students

Wednesdays Concerts (‘Onsdagskoncerter’ in Danish), a classical music concert series, gives everybody a chance to discover classical music around Copenhagen.

Now in its 13th year, the project is organized by Wonderful Copenhagen, the city’s tourism organization. These concerts give talented students from the Royal Danish Academy of Music the opportunity to exhibit their prowess and spread the joy of classical music. The project has been growing in size and becoming more and more popular.

”At first we were happy with 40-50 people, but last week we had over 250,” says Torbern Nielsen, the project manager of Wednesdays Concerts, ”I know this because I personally ran out of all 250 programs I had printed.”

Pairing music with buildings

Nielsen told University Post that the choice of music is not random. Students, professors, and program organizers all put their ideas into a committee that then fits the music to the planned venue, which is different for every concert.

Sound and vision are combined to give the audience an interactive multisensory experience. From week to week, patrons can enjoy everything from the guitars of Fernando Sor to Schumann’s opera lieds, all in unison with their surroundings.

This keeps the returning audience not only interested, but surprised. Not to mention that classical music, often thought as a homogenous bore, gets to showcase one of its many faces.

Educating the audience

This initiative, however, is not just for the public to get introduced to classical music, but also has an important educational function – music students get a stage to exhibit their talents to a greater audience.

”Now they are not just playing for their aunts, but have a chance to shine for more people,” says Nielsen. He also stresses that students explain and give background for the music before it is played.

Aside from different musical programs each Wednesday, the change of venues gives the public a chance to see the interior of many buildings that we see daily, but never from the inside, let alone listen to their acoustics.

Watch the teaser video for Wednesday Concerts below.

universitypost@adm.ku.dk

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