How the 43rd Dresden Music Festival Went Virtual With Cloud Production

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A few weeks ago, a virtual version of the 43rd Dresden Music Festival took place by streaming live to homes across the globe. The annual festival, which typically takes place in Dresden, Germany from May to June, has assembled world-class musicians for a series of live performances in historic venues throughout the city since 1978. Spanning genres across contemporary classical music, jazz and world music, the event draws thousands of visitors to enjoy open-air concerts.

This year, however, the Covid-19 pandemic forced the organizers to cancel the festival and search for innovative ways to keep the tradition alive. Back in March, festival director and cellist Jan Vogler launched an initiative known as Music Never Sleeps NYC--a 24-hour live-streamed music marathon to benefit artists affected by Covid-19. Using the power of music to bring people together, the event proved to be a success as thousands of people tuned in to watch artists perform intimate, acoustic sets from their homes.

In order to ensure the Dresden Music Festival carried on its over 40-year tradition, Vogler decided to take the idea of the 24-hour music marathon to the festival team. The lineup brought together 80 leading classical, jazz and world music artists to perform remotely from their homes and studios.

“In times of crisis like these it is crucial that we think of our audience, our artists and our partners like the City of Dresden, the Free State of Saxony as well as our sponsors and celebrate the 2020 Dresden Music Festival intensely - at least for 24 hours, “ stated Vogler.

Using CloudCast’s remote production platform, the artists were able to easily stream their performances and sets in high-quality video and audio directly from their laptops. Vogler also used social media to integrate real-time conversations with audiences and host live Q&A sessions throughout the marathon.

Jazz singer-songwriter Jamie Cullum kicked off the event while other artists like violinist Gil Shaham unveiled a world premiere of a new song. With surprise guest appearances by Eric Clapton, Rufus Wainwright and other world-renowned artists, over 200,000 viewers tuned in to watch throughout the 24-hour period. The event was simulcast across YouTube, Facebook and DMF’s website in order to reach audiences on the platform of their choice.

With concerts, tours and festivals on hold, we hope to see more artists and performers embrace livestreaming and virtual concerts as an opportunity to continually showcase their performances and connect with fans in a whole new way.

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