New Media and Music Products "Any Place and Any Time": The Digital Concert Hall in a Media Geographical Perspective

The Internet is often associated with “a placeless world, (…) and a form of reality grounded in technology rather than nature” (Adams 2009, 115). Many commentators argue that the combination of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and cyberspace disrupts a number of factors that underpin traditional forms of cultural and social interaction and thus the relationship between place, community and identity.” (Dodge & Kitchen 2001, 33) Moreover, an argument often heard is that media are not able to reproduce a unique moment tied to a particular site; therefore media (no matter
whether they are analog or digital) are not able to transmit cultural events such as a concert without losing its specific “aura” (Benjamin). The case of the Digital Concert Hall (DCH) by Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra challenges these arguments. The DCH is a virtual place and communication platform that offers a “quasi authentic concert experience on a home computer” (Kolbe 2009, 12). However, the DCH is extremely bounded to the concrete place of the concert hall in Berlin mainly due to the technology installed in the hall. In this paper, I will argue that the virtual place of the DCH is a new media initiative
from the classical music scene that is not placeless, neither it is weakening the physical place of the concert hall in Berlin. Rather, the virtual platform DCH is strengthening the physical place as well as the brand Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.