The Radio Music experts met in Leipzig on 21-24 May 2013 at the kind invitation of MDR, in conjunction with the 200th anniversary of the birth of Richard Wagner, a composer who, along with Giuseppe Verdi, also born in 1813, is being commemorated this year by EBU Radio Members’ music channels both in their own productions and through a substantial programme offer from the Euroradio network.

The main topics of this Plenary Meeting covered the complex but lively ongoing relationship between Western Classical music and today’s multicultural society, Classical music and Radio, and, of course, the flourishing presence of Classical music on the Web and social media, taking advantage of a multiplatform approach to spread a language which knows no borders.

The evolution of society and technology is outpacing changes in law and perhaps certain mentalities as well. The problem of securing rights is thus increasingly acute, but the influence of the EBU which, through its Members constitutes the world’s largest employer of musicians, remains strong.

EBU Members spend half a billion euros per year for their Radio ensembles, mostly orchestras, but also choruses and big bands, most founded in the 1930s. Their survival in this financial and economic crisis is linked to an adaptation of their role and up-to-date promotion.

Aside from EBU Members, the meeting featured presentations by such famous personalities of the music world as the conductor Kristjan Järvi, Dominique Meyer, Director of the Vienna State Opera, Simone Dudt, Secretary General of the European Music Council, and Peter Pontvik, President of the European Early Music Network.

Finally, the Radio Music experts paid tribute to the access of 4,000 concerts per year via the EBU Permanent Services, a vital programming source for their channels and a jewel for their listeners as well as an important tool in building bridges between nations and cultures.