Settle down kids, and let me tell you a story. The story of one of the biggest classical music industry conferences in the world. Like a phoenix, risen from the ashes of a dream, C:N has returned: bigger, better, and less focused on innovation than ever before. What follows is a day-by-day, blow-by-blow detailed synopsis of my experiences there: why? Because when you go to review things, you get a free ticket. Also, because maybe someone, somewhere (like Xani Kolac in the lead up to this year) in a country far, far away like Australia might be able to experience vicariously through the depictions; or perhaps some of my fellow delegates will get a kick out of reliving what was a [SPOILER ALERT] fantastic week, truth be told. At the very least, let it act as a testament to a week in the life of a classical musician in Berlin.

Coercing conductors to talk from the stage to their audiences also won’t do much, unless they happen to be predisposed to doing so naturally. But luckily these venues tend to have more than a handful of concerts per year, and with the exorbitantly large team behind the production and programming, wouldn’t it benefit those making decisions to directly involve the artists gracing the stage into the experience design aspects of the concerts?