Live art music is about communication. All those dots, lines and arcs in a composer’s score carry a message. The conductor and the players mould and interpret the message, infusing it with sound and substance ready to be passed on to the audience. The listener’s response carries back onto the stage, further inspiring the performers. Interaction is afoot, the concert takes flight. This is the objective of all our efforts – the creation of optimum space for music.

Many things in the surrounding also affect the music and how it is perceived. Conscious and subconscious rites and ceremonies, procedures and customs in relation to composing and rehearsing and the external conditions themselves influence us. The choice of concert venue, the audience’s concert habits, how the performers appear on stage, what they wear, how they are seated all matter.

We believe that Western art music is burdened with quite a few rites, some of which prevent the music to feel relevant today. Art music deserves a wider audience and by scrutinizing ourselves and our age-old rites we are intent on finding ways to reach out to the public.
 

The objectives of Rites are

To manage and develop our musical heritage,
musically and in performing habits

To make art music available and appealing to a wider audience

To initiate collaborations between the independent
music scene and the big institutions