Reconfiguring Classical Concert Formats in the Digital Era

This thesis analyses how freelance musicians and small classical music organisations in Germany have adapted their professional practices and concert formats in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic caused unprecedented disruption to the classical music sector, including widespread concert cancellations, financial instability, and the overall collapse of established performance routines. At the same time, the crisis accelerated ongoing transformations related to digitalisation, audience engagement, and the sustainability of freelance artistic careers. This study is based on semi-structured qualitative interviews with nine participants representing different roles within the contemporary classical music ecosystem working primarily on a freelance basis, including performers, ensemble leaders, and cultural organisers. The analysis focuses on several key themes: the pandemic’s immediate impact on professional life, digital adaptation strategies, financial and organisational resilience, artistic reflection and experimentation, changing audience relationships, and longer-term transformations in professional identity and sustainability. The findings show that digital tools played an important role in maintaining communication, teaching, and organisational coordination during the pandemic, but were rarely perceived as a substitute for live performance. Instead, the interruption of concert life reinforced the social and artistic importance of in-person concerts while also encouraging experimentation with more concept-driven, participatory, and interdisciplinary formats. The interviews further indicate that sustainable freelance careers increasingly require a combination of artistic excellence, organisational competence, digital communication skills, and a diverse range of professional roles.