"into a New World": Remixing the Past, Composing the Future

In 2013, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin announced an unusual competition. Participants would create their own symphonic remixes by downloading and arranging “loops” recorded by the orchestra, excerpted from the third movement of Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World.” The contest’s title, “Into a New World,” points to a future in which traditional European culture is transformed as it becomes increasingly global and digital. Even the choice of source material comments on this future: a work in a European classical form by a Bohemian composer, inspired by his visit to North America, was performed by a German orchestra and remixed by DJs from France, Canada, the US, and around the world. But in addition to encouraging global exchange, the contest also raises political and ethical questions common to many contemporary online music projects. The orchestra provided a space for artistic creation, but also asked for free labor—prizes, however generous, are not compensation—and in return profited from the promotion and content fueled by the work of hundreds of participants.

This competition and similar projects offer a distinctive vision for the future of European classical performance and composition, one in which international dialogue, collaborative authorship, and the interchange between classical and popular forms reshape our understanding of classical music culture. Using the DSO-Berlin competition as a case study, this paper explores some ways in which the internet can function as a site of innovative musical engagement—as well as the challenges and questions that arise from this function.