The Treffen junge Musikszene offers young musicians a platform to present their self-written, lyricized or self-produced music.
In addition to public concerts, the meeting creates a creative space where the award winners can further develop their musical signature in intensive workshops, receive tips and knowledge from professionals, and get to know, exchange and jam with each other.
Young artists between the ages of 11 and 21 who express their thoughts, themes and messages through music are invited to participate. Bands, duos or solo artists can apply with self-written songs, electronic music, digital sound productions, voice art or sound experiments in all languages and current music genres. An independent jury will select about 10 participants, duos or bands from the entries, who will be invited to the festival in Berlin.
In addition to public concerts, the Treffen junge Musikszene creates a creative space where the award winners can further develop their musical signature in intensive workshops, receive tips and knowledge from professionals for their work, and get to know each other, exchange ideas and jam together.
The Treffen junge Musikszene is part of the Treffen junge Szene of the Berliner Festspiele and is funded as a national competition by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
An independent jury of seven musicians chooses 10 soloists, duos or bands that are not yet under contract with one song each. The contest closes when the winners are chosen. The prize is an invitation to the Treffen junge Musik-Szene in Berlin. It is not so much the technical quality that counts in the jury’s decision but the quality of the songs’ lyrics and musicality. The jury pays special attention to songs that tell a story or communicate something to the listener as well as the quality of musical arrangements appropriate to the age of the applicants.
All prize winners will play together in front of an audience in the club at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele especially set up for the concert. A full day will be allocated to sound checks and there will professional support at hand from the Berliner Festspiele technicians and musicians in the jury. The concert will be recorded.
The Treffen junge Musik-Szene thrives on the fact that solo artists meet large formation bands, bands meet duos and young meet old; spontaneous collaborations arise, and each person learns from the others. The Campus, specially conceived for the contest in the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, offers practical workshops on themes such as song writing, singing, improvisation, musical arrangement and stage performance. Mutual performance analysis and discussions with experts provide an exchange with jurors and experts. In the evening jam sessions, new constellations are tried out, perspectives are shifted, stylistic prejudices are overridden and habits are discarded. One good habit is that former prize winners drop in on the jam sessions and play along. The Forum is aimed at music educators at schools and music schools by means of a one-day programme. One of the main aims of the Forum is to provide opportunities for collegial exchange.