The new audience musician

Today community engagement through music is becoming more and more widespread in many countries and this creates important new professional opportunities and challenges for musicians. Often this type of work is part of a portfolio career, combined with for instance a part time job in an orchestra or a music school, or with freelance activities as a chamber musician. Having a career with overlapping activities in the multi-faceted professional music practice requires musicians to exercise many roles at the same time, which extend beyond their artistic skills. Musicians need to be innovative, entrepreneurial and communicative, to be able to create sustained partnerships, and collaborate with an eye for the contexts they relate to. They must be reflective, aware of what is needed in order to generate their work and to produce it with high quality. This includes being aware of their individual needs for learning and development. This is in particular highly relevant for the community musician who wants to engage with new audiences in society, beyond those in the concert hall, school or church