The European Music Trails encompassed five different activities that corresponded to the project’s objectives of developing a more diverse and younger audience and ensuring transnational mobility through the exchange of artists.
“European Music Trails” Festivals and Artist Residencies
Each EUMUT country hosted a small three-day cultural festival with young emerging artists from every partnering country. For this purpose, young musicians were
selected for a chamber music artists’ residency of several days prior to the festival. The artists’ residencies prepared them for the festivals with tuition and rehearsals. In total 18 concerts
were performed, and 28 young musicians participated in the project activities.
Open Forums on National Anthems
Today as well as during the lifetime of E. Grieg, M. K. Čiurlionis and C. Schumann the question of the relationship between national and European identity has
concerned people throughout Europe. National anthems are a symbol of national identity and have a wide range of musical and narrative backgrounds. Each partner followed a different approach in
format – panel discussion and lectures in Lithuania, workshops in Germany, a podcast in Norway – suitable to their audience and interest in the topic, but each partner invited speakers from the
other two countries to share their knowledge and point of view. Through the historical as well as political topics of the open forum, different audiences were reached, who usually but not
necessarily listen to classical music.
Concerts at Unusual Places
Concerts at Unusual Places describes the idea of having a concert at a place that is usually not connected to (classical) music. The chosen venues differ from
country to country and comprise private homes, railway stations, restaurants, churches, embassies, cellars, museums etc. Each country identified its own best locations and event types according
to specific needs, possibilities and circumstances. Due to its unusualness this project activity is also well liked by the media and received a great deal of interest by journalists. 42 concerts
took place in all three countries at as many unusual venues.
Empowering of Multipliers
To grant easier access to classical music and develop audiences in a sustainable way, the EUMUT project sought to empower cultural multipliers and to create music
trails through the project’s cities. The multipliers – teachers as well as amateur and professional tour guides – spread their knowledge and enthusiasm for music history, and the walkable Music
Trails enable a connection between public space, authentic sites and music history.
8 music trails were created, 1 music trail app, 2 didactic publications for schoolteachers and 1 orientation game for schoolchildren.
"Čiurlionis in Vilnius" App, aivalable at Apple App Store and Google Play.
Didactic Material "Travelling Musicians", available here
Touring Exhibition “Travelling Musicians”
The touring exhibition was designed with its own pavilion to reach a wide audience, especially people who are not necessarily familiar with music or with the
history of the three project composers. In order to reduce barriers, the exhibition’s content is picture based with only a small amount of text, so that it is easy to grasp and understandable and
needs only about 10-15 minutes to be explored. Next to large-scale pictures, it contains smaller elements like picture albums and diary entries, as well as music files and videos accessible via
QR code. The pavilion was designed by architectural students of Bauhaus-University Weimar. The exhibition toured through all three countries and stopped at 19 venues. A 3D-model of the pavilion
while it was displayed at Chemnitz main station can be visited here.
Part of the exhibition were two artistic films on Edvard Grieg and Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, as well as a 3D-model of the Schumann-Haus in Leipzig, which can be visited here.
More detailed information on the activities in each country can be found on the project partners’ websites:
Germany: www.notenspur-leipzig.de/Europa
Lithuania: https://mkcnamai.lt/lt/europos-muzikos-takai/
Norway: https://www.o-opus.no/european-music-trails
Or at the Creative Europe Project Results Database: https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/creative-europe/projects/ce-project-details/#project/597327-CREA-1-2018-1-DE-CULT-COOP1