BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
In 2020, Adele Schonhardt and Chris Howlett founded the Melbourne Digital Concert Hall. They offered a lifeline to performing artists: a way to continue working in a pandemic. During those early years of COVID, this goal was difficult to reach as concert cancellations and lengthy lockdowns saw many musicians reassessing their desire to stay in the industry at all.
Adele and Chris’ idea for a live streaming platform survived through this challenging time. Then it went national. Now known as the Australian Digital Concert Hall, their initiative has so far raised more than $3 million for arts workers across the country. They have hosted more than 550 concerts, and supported 3,000 musicians — all without raising their modest ticket prices for audiences, despite pressures of inflation.
One of the ADCH’s newest ventures is the launch of Festival Weekends, a 2023 concert series that will this month focus on piano. They’ll give audiences the choice to stream the concerts online, or head along to Federation Square to hear it all in person.
We chat with Chris about the extraordinary success of ADCH, and why now’s the time to introduce this new range of concerts. The next weekend in their series is the Kawai 88 Keys Festival on 27-28 May, and it features an all-piano program spanning four concerts.
Chris, it’s been three years since the launch of what’s now known as the Australian Digital Concert Hall — and you have achieved so much in this time. How would you say ADCH has changed the game for classical musicians in this new environment?
Over the past 10 years, streaming audio and video content had been slowly building in the classical world, becoming a vital part of the artist or arts organisation’s tool box. Spotify and iTunes led the way, and curated playlists had been slowly replacing the physical CD. Many classical artists, venues, etc. had discussed it, but it wasn’t until the catalysis of COVID that, out of necessity, streaming evolved a decade in just a few months.
ADCH, of course starting at Melbourne Digital Concert Hall, so was part of that expedited evolution. I think it’s unlikely that Adele and I would have started a streaming platform to support Australian artists without COVID.
In Australia, I believe that ADCH has had a couple of major influences on the nation’s digital [trajectory] – the initial influence of major financial support of independent artists, the introduction for so many concert attendees to experience Australian artists online through our platform, and thirdly to now give the nation a single collective arts platform.
If I’m not mistaken, your ticket price hasn’t increased since you launched — just $20 per ticket, and now $50 per monthly subscription. Why has it been important to you to keep ADCH events affordable, even as we see costs rising in so many other areas?
The ADCH ticket price hasn’t changed since conception back in March 2020, and still 100 per cent of the single ticket price goes directly to the artist or arts organisation. In some cases, the ticket price has actually gone down as we are now offering $10 tickets to some youth and community concerts.
As the company moves from the ‘save the artist’ start-up to curating a high quality Australian streaming platform, more of the company ethos focuses on enabling all Australians access to high-quality performances.
With the price of living going up for everyone, and discretionary household income diminishing, the socioeconomic barriers to attending, in person, a classical concerts increases. Now more than ever, it is important that we keep the digital ticket price accessible.
During the pandemic, there was a great deal of debate about live versus digital performances. Now, concertgoers are physically returning to venues. Where do you see the ADCH fitting in this space?
I have just returned from my Winston Churchill Fellowship, talking to many of the major orchestras, venues, and streaming platforms throughout Europe, and this is a regular topic of conversation.
Throughout Europe, orchestras and venues are investing substantial finances into producing high-quality video and audio content – up to $50,000AUD for an orchestral performance alone, in some cases! This is because streaming builds live audiences through brand trust, awareness of artists, and an emotional connection between the artist and the listener through music.
Streaming is such an important way to enable everyone to connect and discover that I don’t believe it should be a ‘versus’ situation — rather, a live ‘and’ digital music.
Your ADCH Festival Weekends are a big celebration of the arts in Australia. Why was 2023 the right time to launch your own weekends as if you weren’t doing enough already?!
In 2023, we are producing less concerts ourselves — concerts where we book the venue, the artist, and then livestream. We did this the Atheneum Theatre from 2020 – 2022, and produced over 450 concerts ourselves.
As venues have reopened, the need for these extra concerts has diminished, and we want to really focus on being a streaming platform.
That being said, we always want to stay connected with our roots — so these weekends at Federation Square enable us to see the musicians and many of our regular digital concert attendees face to face, which is lovely.
What drew you to the idea of an all-piano festival?
The combining of different artists, discovering new repertoire, and seeing the reaction of the audience to these different combination — it’s like artistic match-making, I just love it.
An all-piano festival stemmed from the partnership we had with Kawai, the large presence of piano music on ADCH — piano recitals were very COVID-safe! — and my love of the breadth of repertoire in the genre.
As with all festivals, there are works that I wanted to showcase, but it’s equally important for the festival artists to have input and make suggestions. A really collaborative approach enables, in my opinion, the best and most positive environment for a festival.
Why are you excited about these particular artists being showcased in the festival?
The choice of artists, at any festival, is an incredibly important part of the puzzle. Each artist this weekend showcases friendships, personalities, and styles.
Tamara Anna-Cislowska and Elena Kats-Chernin have long history together, collaborating together regularly, with a regular focus on Elena’s extraordinary Australian music.
Dear friends Stephen McIntyre and Stefan Cassomenos not only showcase the rarely played two piano genre, but the very special teacher and protégé bond. I’m looking forward to this concert immensely as, although close friends, I have not seen them perform together before in this arrangement.
Aura Go’s concerto playing is world class, and Hoang Pham is the ultimate recital entertainer. I feel the combination really showcases the piano, the genres, and the depths of the Australian pianists.
Why should people attend the Kawai 88 Keys Festival, whether in person or online?
We hope everyone can come along in person or online to this very special weekend of pianistic treats. It will be a celebration of the repertoire, Australian music, and of course everything that we have done at ADCH.
Book a full festival pass to the Kawai 88 Keys Festival this 27-28 May. Choose to listen through the Australian Digital Concert Hall platform, or attend in person at The Edge, Federation Square.
Images supplied.
