Supported by a director, by the chief conductor and sometimes by an artistic board, the programmer takes care of the creative vision of the orchestra. The programmer develops a coherent programming for the orchestra – often years ahead. Together with the conductor, the programmer decides the repertoire of the orchestra, when it performs what, with which instrumentation and staffing of musicians, for which kind of audience. Developing a balanced program includes taking into account logistics, planning, budgets, the size of the stage, acoustics of concert halls, and much more.

What does audience participation entail from the perspective of an artistic programmer? Developing new concert formats to reach new audiences is part of the work on innovation that a programmer does. Often, such new participatory or experimental concert formats entail collaborations with partners, which means that artistic responsibilities are shared. What are the challenges in this sharing of artistic responsibilities in practice? Moreover, concerts in which audiences play an important role, challenge the existing routines of the orchestra, such as evaluation. Participatory or experimental concerts invite the programmer the develop new criteria and methods for evaluating such concerts.

Choose a theme to continue your journey! Each theme includes etudes (or exercises) to learn about programming in different ways.