The Cité around the world

Programming at the heart
of the dialogue between cultures

See the diaporama of the Cité 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

The most unique thing about the Cité de la Musique’s project is its programming that plays with all musical genres, combining western and eastern music, art music and so-called popular genres in a dialogue between cultures, while touching all the major historic periods, from the Middle Ages to today.

With two concert halls, the Cité de la Musique hosts some 250 concerts every year, with world-renowned artists and ensembles from France and abroad. It also welcomes rare ensembles and unique creations from around the world. This year, for example, 24 hours will be dedicated to Raga and Indian musical traditions, with a number of concerts presenting Ramayana, a tradition from India and Southeast Asia, as well as Aztec myths.

Our dedication to presenting non-occidental cultures is also seen in our educational proposals. Musical practice workshops for children and adults take a hands-on look at gamelan from Java, Arabic music, and music from India, the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa, while our regular programme of conferences covers different styles of music and all cultural aspects.

Our Museum hosts a collection of over 4,000 instruments, presenting a heritage that is not only ancient but also focusses on the cultures of the world which are in constant motion.

Finally, our media library offers numerous digitalised documentary resources on western and non-western music.

The Cité and the Europe
of culture

Participation in European networks

ECHO

The Cité de la Musique is a member of the ECHO network (European Concert Hall Organisation), supported by the European Commission. This network unites Europe's largest concert halls. 
The primary goal of this network is to promote the international careers of young musicians by providing them the opportunity to perform in network concert halls and at Carnegie Hall. So, every year, through the Rising stars 2009 project, new European talents are showcased in concerts across Europe.

Another of ECHO’s goals is to encourage cooperation in Europe in the field of music and especially in the area of musical creation.

Last, through this network, the directors of member halls meet each year to share good practices in programming, communication, public policy, pedagogy, etc.

ICOM

The Museum is a member of the ICOM network

Participation in European cooperation projects

Project MORE (music orality roots europe)

www.music-orality-roots.eu

Coordinated by the Cité de la musique, the MORE project seeks to encourage innovative initiatives in the field of music education based on the intercultural potential of the range of traditional musics active in Europe. Intercultural education develops skills for community life within all participants, seeing cultural diversity as a positive asset. Traditional music is an essential tool of intercultural education because it is key signifier of cultural identity, is open to external influences and its practices are highly collective.

Several European institutions have come together to share experiences and develop new models of practice: the World Music and Dance Centre in Rotterdam (NL), the Sage Gateshead in Newcastle (UK), Sibelius Academy in Helsinki (FI), and En Chordais in Thessaloniki (GR). The Centre for Advanced Studies in Music in Istanbul (TR) is associated to the MORE.

Two symposia and a closing event will report on current research into trans-cultural music practices and innovation in educational methods. Action research will be carried out at two summer schools in the form of workshop targeted at young people and teachers exploring music education from and inter-cultural perspective.

Symposium « Orally transmitted music and intercultural education », les 3^rd et 4 ^thdécember 2009

EDL

TheEuropean Digital Library is a digital library project supported by the European Union, for which France, followed by Portugal and Hungary, was the driving force.

 The objective is to create a European and transnational cultural heritage pool, in a digital form, which is available on Internet and free for non copyrighted works.
European Commission

Concretely, the EDL combines the digital resources of the national libraries of the 25 Member States. The project also calls on European libraries, archiving services and museums or any other institution whose digital resources could enrich EDL’s content.

The Cité de la Musique participates in the European Digital Library project as an associate member of the European EDLnet project.

European summer Academy

In July 2007, the Educational Department and Media Library of the Cité de la musique organized a European Summer Academy on orally transmitted music. This Academy is part of a wider multiannual European project, ExTra! – Exchange Traditions, the aim of which is to highlight the multicultural character of today’s Europe, to contribute to mutual awareness and to promote exchanges. The project as a whole, lasting from 2006 to 2009, is supported by the European Union’s Culture 2000 Programme; it is coordinated by the European Music Council (EMC, Germany), in partnership with the Fondazione Adkins Chiti – Donne in Musica (Italy), En Chordais (Greece), the International Yehudi Menuhin Foundation (IYMF, Belgium), the Music Information Centre Austria (MICA, Austria), the National Association for Cultures and Traditions (ANCT, France) and the Cité de la musique.

Designed for young “classical” musicians, this Summer Academy was a chance given to the students to discover other repertoires and ways of learning; thanks to a balanced practical and theoretical programme (including masterclasses, concerts and ethnomusicological lectures), the Cité de la musique’s Summer Academy acted as a mind-opener towards the variety and richness of the diverse musical traditions that exist within Europe and beyond.

The Cité exports its know-how :

Complete and recognised expertise, an experienced and available team

• > Complete technical know-how for the design and performance of concert hall construction projects.
• > Prestigious, leading-edge and varied programming experience.
• > Pioneering and renowned skills in teaching, based on learning the intercultural dialogue.
• > Leading-edge expertise in instrumental heritage and in digitising audio archives
• > Expertise in team recruiting and formation.

Sector expertise

• > Heritage engineering:
  Recognised as a national and international reference in its field, the Musée de la Musique is often called on for ad hoc or greater expertises. For example, it has been cooperating since 2006 in the design of the Museum of Musical Instruments which will open in 2010 in Phoenix, Arizona. (link to future museum).

Digitisation of audio archives: The Cité de la Musique has also acquired experience in digitising audio content making it a leader in projects in partnership with other institutions such as orchestras or musical documentation centres and in its ability to outsource its own content.

• > Educational engineering:
  A pioneer in artistic and musical education, particularly through its teaching of non-occidental musical cultures and practices, the educational teams are regularly consulted and participate in many European projects.

Every year, it also welcomes researchers at the Laboratoire du Musée de la musique.

Global expertise

The teams of the Cité can contribute to any theatre design project from start to finish, and in particular for concert halls, or on one of the following stages:

• > Assistance in the initial programme for the design of a concert hall
  Identify general options as a reference in discussions with architects and firms throughout the entire construction phase. 
• > Assistance to owner
  Assistance throughout the entire project set-up phase, from initial architect studies to construction monitoring.
• > Assistance in cultural projects
  Cooperation in defining programming areas and public policies, teaching focuses, communication and information system management, recruiting and personnel training.

Contact: international@cite-musique.fr

The Cité de la Musique’s
cultural influence

Travelling exhibits

The Museum regularly organises exhibitions with various institutions (Musée d’art et d’histoire in Geneva, Schloss Neuhardenberg, Caixa Catalunya in Barcelona, Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne, Experience Music Project in Seattle, etc).

Gainsbourg 2008
October-march 2008 : Paris, Musée de la musique
June-october 2009, Sao Palo

Next exhibitions:

We Want Miles

Download the press file of the Miles Davis exhibition.
This exhibition is now in Paris (travel schedule progress).
More info

CHOPIN à paris, L'atelier du compositeur

From march 9th to june 6th, 2010

The exihibition will open in Paris in March 2010, 9th.

Contact: international@cite-musique.fr

Download the press file of the exhibition Gainsbourg 2008