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Annual Reviews

At the beginning of each year, our annual music reviews offer a summary of the latest trends in various genres of German music over the past year. What were the developments in electronic music and pop, in jazz or in classical, new and early music in Germany, what was important, what stood out?

Classical, Contemporary and Early Music

Classical, Contemporary and Early Music 2024

Despite cultural cuts and changing times - music remains political

At the end of 2024, the German Music Council is talking about a "freefall" of cultural budgets. Massive cutbacks are putting the very substance of the music scene at risk, the shock is deep-seated. There have been signs of this crisis during the year, but also innovative developments in opera and concerts.

„Fausto“ Photo (detail): © Philharmonie Essen/Forster Photo (detail): © Philharmonie Essen/Forster

Classical, Contemporary and Early Music 2023

All change for classical music

In 2023 it seemed that many German ensembles seized the opportunity opened up by the classical crisis. New orchestras, new payment models, new experiments with virtual music. From the Bayreuther Festspiele to MaerzMusik: there have rarely been as many new beginnings as we are seeing right now.

“Parsifal” | Photo (detail): © Bayreuther Festspiele/Enrico Nawrath Photo (detail): © Bayreuther Festspiele/Enrico Nawrath Photo (detail): © Bayreuther Festspiele/Enrico Nawrath

Classical, Contemporary and Early Music 2022

Power and Crises

After two years of Covid restrictions, 2022 did not deliver on hopes for a sudden return to normal in the classical music scene. A lot of issues came to a head in the classical, early and contemporary music scenes. And politics became definitively inseparable from the arts. 

Oksana Lyniv conducting the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. Photo (detail): © Co Merz / Münchner Philharmoniker Photo (detail): © Co Merz / Münchner Philharmoniker

Jazz

Jazz 2024

New leaders, new liberties

Diverse, international, underpaid and endlessly creative – jazz in Germany showcased its vibrant spectrum again in 2024, while the anniversary edition of Jazzfest Berlin highlighted this genre’s deep American roots.

Elbjazzfestival 2024 © Jens Schlenker © Jens Schlenker

Jazz 2023

Creative, self-organised, political, international

German jazz is becoming more international. Languages and styles are intermingling, artist-run spaces are encouraging experimentation and musicians are defying the precarity of their situations – especially in the country’s capital.

Saxophonist Silke Eberhard’s Potsa Lotsa XL ensemble performed the piece “Simply Existing Surface” together with Henry Threadgill at Jazzfest. | Photo (detail): © Oliver Potratz Photo (detail): © Oliver Potratz Photo (detail): © Oliver Potratz

Jazz 2022

Increasingly vibrant, diverse, young, female & precarious

The German jazz scene is alive and well. Even after two years of Covid, it’s extremely diverse and innovative. On the other hand, despite various state “support packages”, hardly anyone in the scene made it through this dry spell unscathed. 

Trickster Orchestra Photo (detail): © MWA @ INI MU/Camillie Blake/Deutscher Jazzpreis Photo (detail): © MWA @ INI MU/Camillie Blake/Deutscher Jazzpreis

Pop and Electronic Music

Pop and electronic music 2024

The year of upheaval

Last year’s trend continued: 2024 was the year underground club music officially entered pop mainstream. But while musical and subcultural boundaries have blurred, the economic gap has grown wider than ever. Major brands are thriving, but smaller and mid-sized festivals and clubs are struggling to survive. What does this mean for the future of cultural diversity in Germany?

Roy Bianco & Die Abbrunzati Boys Photo (detail): Leonhard Simon; picture alliance/SZ Photo Photo (detail): Leonhard Simon; picture alliance/SZ Photo

Pop and Electronic Music 2023

Nostalgia on the dancefloor

After three years of pandemic and post-pandemic restrictions, Gen Z have stormed the dancefloors in 2023 – sometimes for the first time. This new generation is developing its own rave culture, wildly mixing techniques, sounds and aesthetics from hip hop and electronic music. Thematically, escapism and nostalgia for a vaguely distant past have dominated the most diverse genres of pop cross-generationally.

15 years after his solo debut, Seeed frontman Peter Fox returns with a new album “Love Songs”. | Photo (detail): © Arkadiy Kreslov Photo (detail): © Arkadiy Kreslov Photo (detail): © Arkadiy Kreslov

Pop and Electronic Music 2022

No More War!

2022 was a year of contradictions. While at festivals and sold-out stadium concerts it seemed as though everything was back to pre-pandemic normal, smaller-scale gigs and tours galore were called off – owing to insufficient demand. Economically speaking, it was an anxious year, and musically speaking, all the more provocative.

Image of the Gaddafi-Gals Photo (detail): © Marcel Moos Photo (detail): © Marcel Moos

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