“Australia has a new virtual concert hall, thanks to a bold move by the pandemic success story that helped save classical music, the Melbourne Digital Concert Hall,” writes Nick Miller in Wednesday’s (11/17) Sydney Morning Herald (Australia). “MDCH, which set up during the first weeks of the first lockdown in 2020, has since streamed 430 performances and raised well over $1.6 million for musicians who desperately needed it as live gigs were cancelled and salaries slashed. It is now rebranding to become the Australian Digital Concert Hall, announcing 200 concerts for 2022 which will stream from across the country: Perth, far north Queensland, Hobart, Melbourne, Sydney and more. Thanks to a federal government grant … for the next two years the company will continue to pass the entire ticket price on to the performers. Co-founder and co-director Adele Schonhardt said, … ‘It wasn’t just … artists who were inundating us with requests, it was also audience members around the country saying “please keep this going.” ’ … Said [co-founder Chris] Howlett: ‘The more people we encourage into the classical music space and break down those barriers of entry, the better it will be for the recovery of our industry post-COVID.’ ”
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