28 students of the Reina Sofía School of Music are taking part in the second edition of the ‘Musical Innovation and Entrepreneurship Programme’ which we are promoting together with the Albéniz Foundation. This is an educational programme that aims to provide students of classical music with the necessary entrepreneurial tools and skills that they need to pursue a career in the world of music and to bring classical music closer to the general public.

In this edition, students presented five projects, which they will be working on throughout the course in teams:

-‘Music-in’, musical education in schools using virtual reality (VR) technology, which aims to help audiences gain a better of understanding of musicians’ experience, and get young children interested in classical music in an innovative way. A key part of this, as one of the members of the project team, Anna Emilova (violinist) explained, is that “the decline in classical musical audiences is making me realise that I need to branch out and develop other skills. Apart from being a violinist I am also a musicologist, and this has helped me see that we need to establish a human link to the public and with this project we aim to create a link between classical music and young people”.

-‘Sens’, a multi-sensory concert that aims to encourage new audiences to enjoy classical music, giving them an experience that will awaken all of their senses. Vanessa Cera (vocals), who is involved with this project, explains that “this Entrepreneurial Programme is important to help us create, organise and achieve impactful projects”.

-‘Feeling the bits’ is an interactive concert for children and teenagers that aims to bring them closer to classical music by having the audience participate in a digital way before, during and after the event. Desislava Vaskova (violinist) explains that “with this idea that involves artistic, social and technological innovation we want to create a project by young people and for young people”.

-‘Just Music’ is a new format for concerts that blends various musical styles in order to change the format of classical music concerts to a format that is influenced by rock festivals, which will help to attract younger audiences. Norberto López (French horn) assures us that “this programme shows other perspectives on how to work with classical music, it is teaching me how to find my own path instead of following everyone else”.

-‘SonArte, un viaje emocionante’, musical workshops for autistic children that aim to complete a cycle of musical activities at the Alenta and Aucavi schools. Joao Barata explains that “this programme teaches musicians that our profession can also have a social side to it. We believe in the social value of music to help certain groups of people like autistic children, in order to develop their emotional communication”.