Creative Crisis? Performing Artists in Vienna’s Live Music Scene in the Age of COVID-19

Authors

  • Magdalena Fürnkranz Department of Popular Music, mdw - University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna

Keywords:

Live Music Research, COVID-19 Pandemic, Vienna, Performing Artists, Intersectionality

Abstract

Cultural workers are affected more than many other working populations by the pandemic COVID-19. Especially, live music as an antidote to crisis highlights the benefits of performing art in times of isolation; a practice that risks normalizing the idea that musicians are performing for free. This article discusses the intersection of live music with social and cultural issues, focusing on Vienna’s popular music scene. I begin my inquiry with an insight into the area of live music research, based on the works of Philip Auslander and Simon Frith. Throughout the text, I turn a critical eye to the broad impacts of the pandemic on music-making, the ways in which the potentials of emerging communities are leading to changed forms of appreciation, and emphasize the “sense of community” (Auslander) by way of three case studies. Ultimately, I aim to shed light on the strategies through which musicians deal with the crisis.

Author Biography

Magdalena Fürnkranz, Department of Popular Music, mdw - University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna

Magdalena Fuernkranz is a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Popular Music at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. As co-leader of the project "Performing Diversity" and leader of the project "Female Jazz Musicians in Austria", her recent research has focused on performativity in popular music, gender and queer studies, Austria’s popular music scene, and European jazz cultures. She is co-editor of Performing Sexual Identities. Nationalities on the Eurovision Stage (2017) and author of "There is no queen". Elizabeth I on Film. (forthcoming in 2018).

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Published

15-10-2021