Home Groups Classical Music Group
Expert group

Classical Music Group

Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Victoria Hall, Genevarts.ch

The EBU Classical Music Group’s work aims to align radio classical music activity with radio organizations’ needs and wishes in various areas; showcase the value of the broad spectrum of classical music produced and broadcast by EBU radio organizations, including outstanding archives; and enhance current activities while proposing and developing exciting joint projects and knowledge sharing opportunities.

It is made up of one Chair, one Vice-Chair and 9 members who are elected for a two-year term at the annual Music Plenary Meeting. The present group was elected at the 2024 Music Plenary Meeting, on 29-31 May in Brussels. They meet twice a year in person and once per month online. 

The Classical Music Group supervises the curation of the Euroradio Package, which consists of the ever popular Summer Festivals as well as the Euroradio Season. The Season offers a wealth of content, such as Premium Concerts, the Metropolitan Opera, the Christmas Music Day as well as projects promoting young artists, like the Top Young Performers series.

It oversees three subgroups with a practical focus on Advocacy and Marketing, the Digital World, and Music Rights and Contracts.

The Classical Music Group also places great emphasis on the sound quality of its live and recorded concerts, as reflected by its support of the Concert Evaluation Initiative and its collaboration with the Euroradio Contact Engineers on the Sound Engineers Scheme.

The Classical Music Group also promotes the Notturno night-time user-pay programme of interchangeable modules of classical music produced by the BBC.

Have a look at the EBU Music workplan in the EBU Strategy & Media 2024 Strategic Plans.

Documents

Classical Music Group meeting – Bari, 6-7 October 2022 (report)
Classical Music Group meeting – online, 11 November 2022 (report)
Classical Music Group meeting – online, 19 January 2023 (report)
Classical Music Group meeting – online, 10 February 2023 (report)
Classical Music Group meeting – online, 17 March 2023 (report)
Classical Music Group meeting – online, 12 May 2023 (report)
Classical Music Group meeting – London, 20-22 September 2023 (report)
Classical Music Group meeting  online, 19 January 2024 (report)

Group Members

Gail Henry

Chair

Producer, lyric fm, RTÉ (Ireland)

Michael Blees

Vice-Chair

Head of Opera & Concerts Dept., Ö1, ORF (Austria)

Cristina Comandasu

Manager, Radio Romania Muzical, Romanian Radio (Romania)

Marco Di Battista

Editor and Producer, Vatican Radio (Vatican State)

Holger Hettinger

Head of Music, DKU/DLF (Germany)

Jessica Isaacs

Head of Production, BBC Audio Radio 3 (United Kingdom)

Stéphane Grant

Head of Programmes, France Musique, Radio France (France)

Jakob Marstrand

Editor of live classical music & EBU, P2, DR (Denmark)

Giovanna Natalini

Producer, Rai Radio 3, Rai (Italy)

Dávid Ottmár

Music Editor, Radio Bartók, MTVA (Hungary)

Huw Robinson

Chair's guest

Operations Manager, Music, BBC Audio, BBC (United Kingdom)

Julia Wellershaus

Chair's guest

International Relations Coordinator, NDR (Germany)

Andrea Zschunke

Head of Music, WDR 3, WDR (Germany)

Community events

Group meetings