Music
What we do internationally
We work to support, promote, and raise the profile of Danish music internationally by coordinating the Danish presence at international music and cultural events and projects abroad.
Find links to Danish music education, institutions, organisations, festivals, operas, and orchestras below
This includes:
- Organising the Danish presence (stands, individual attendance etc.) at international music fairs.
- Coordinating the musical part of official Danish cultural projects abroad.
- Visitors programmes for international journalists and promotors.
We fund the following areas:
We fund Danish music exchange through collaborative projects, international exchange programmes, and information about and promotion of Danish music.
We provide funding for international music exchange and the promotion abroad of Danish classical music. This funding is intended for foreign partners wishing to invite a Danish ensemble, musician, or composer to their country or to present Danish music.
We award grants to cover commission fees, scholarships, etc. We also award grants to foreign institutions, musicians, or ensembles to cover the fees for Danish composers in connection with commissioned works (popular or classical music). As an applicant, you have to conclude an agreement with a composer, who has to accept the task and the commission before applying.
State Grants
The administration of state grants for international musical exchange within the genres of contemporary music, rock, jazz, folk, and world music has been decentralised. The genre organisations for rock, jazz, folk, and world music are each responsible for awarding grants for international exchange projects within their own genres.
Institutions and Organisations
The Danish Arts Foundation provides operating subsidies to a number of other organisations and institutions:
Dacapo, a recording company in the classical field which is amongst other things responsible for establishing a national anthology of Danish music covering all areas of musical history.
Dacapo
Edition S, a state supported publishing house within the contemporary and experimental music field.
Edition S
Live Music in Schools, an association which organises school concerts all over the country, in collaboration with local authorities.
Live Music in Schools (LMS)
MXD
The purpose of Music Export Denmark (MXD) is to promote and support Danish music exports and the international presentation of professional Danish pop and rock music, both commercially and culturally, by:
- providing economic support for Danish music exports
- organising initiatives and concerts
- improving international familiarity with Danish music
- collecting and processing information and know-how.
Operas and symphony orchestras
The Royal Danish Opera (Danish name: Det Kongelige Teater - Operaen)
The Danish National Opera (Danish name: Den Jyske Opera)
The Danish National Symphony Orchestra (Danish name: DR SymfoniOrkestret)
Copenhagen Phil (Danish name: Sjællands Symfoniorkester)
South Jutland Symphony Orchestra (Danish name: Sønderjyllands Symfoniorkester)
Music education
The Royal Danish Academy of Music Copenhagen (Danish name: Det Kongelige Danske Musikkonservatorium)
Rhythmic Music Conservatory (Danish name: Rytmisk Musikkonservatorium)
The Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus/Aalborg (Danish name: Det Jyske Musikkonservatorium)
The Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts Southern Denmark (Danish name: Syddansk Musikkonservatorium & Skuespillerskole)
Music events and festivals in Denmark
Copenhagen Distortion
Has been held in May-June since 1998 and is a tribute to the Copenhagen club scene. DJs are presented from the entire Copenhagen scene. The festival takes place over five days at various Copenhagen locations.
Copenhagen Distortion
Copenhagen Jazz Festival
Founded in 1979 the festival comprises nearly 700 concerts and events in 10 days each year. The festival takes place all over central Copenhagen, indoor and outdoor, in the beginning of July.
Copenhagen Jazz Festival
Copenhagen Opera Festival
An annual opera festival in July creating new space for opera in the streets, canals, churches, halls and homes of Copenhagen, with new initiatives from elitist international talent as well as from established local institutions.
Copenhagen Opera Festival
Copenhagen World Music Festival
An annual world music festival in Copenhagen in September presenting world music from Denmark and abroad. Venues and organisations cooperate in a common festival platform to present the many world music genres.
Copenhagen World Music Festival
G((O))NG Tomorrow
An annual festival in Copenhagen for new experimental and sound art - sound without boundaries. Founded in 2006 the festival features contemporary classical, experimenting popular music and electronica, often in cooperation with other art forms such as dance, architecture and design.
G((O))NG Tomorrow
KLANG Copenhagen Avantgarde Music Festival
Founded as Athelas New Music Festival in 2011 as a contemporary music festival presenting concerts that mix music with theatre, dance and visual art. The festival takes place in May.
KLANG
North Side Aarhus
Rock and pop music festival held in June at Ådalen in Aarhus, held since 2010, growing from a one-day event to a three-day festival. The festival is organized in cooperation with the German concert company FKP Scorpio.
Northside
Næstved Early Music Festival
NEMF presents historically informed period music mainly at the churches Sct. Peders, Sct. Mortens and Herlufsholm in Naestved, Denmark. Artistic director: Peter Spissky.
Næstved Early Music Festival
Roskilde Festival
The largest international music festival in Northern Europe is Roskilde Festival with an audience of 70.000. The festival has existed since 1971 and presents an up to date and progressive music programme plus an extensive programme of events, art and activities.
Roskilde Festival
Smukfest Skanderborg
One of the oldest and largest Danish festivals, presenting Danish and international rock and pop since 1980 in the woods of Skanderborg in Jutland.
Smukfest
SPOR festival
Festival in Aarhus for new sound art and art music. The festival takes place each year in the beginning of May. The programme is compiled every year by a curator.
SPOR festival
Spot festival
Three-day festival in Aarhus presenting up-coming Danish bands and guest bands from the Nordic countries. Including concerts with jazz, world and contemporary music. Organised since 1995 by ROSA – The Danish Rock Council. An important meeting place for talent spotters, festival organizers, etc. from all over Europe.
Spot Festival
Stella Polaris
A nation-wide festival tour in August, bringing electronic music in a one-day festival to Sønderborg, Kolding, Aarhus and Copenhagen / Frederiksberg.
Stella Polaris
Strøm
An annually recurrent and growing electronic event and playground in August, one of the most important electronic music events in Northern Europe.
Strøm Festival
Tinderbox
Rock and pop music festival held for the first time in In June in Tusindårsskoven, Odense. The festival is organized in cooperation with the German concert company FKP Scorpio.
Tinderbox
Tivoli Festival
Scandinavia's largest classical music festival running from May until September, presenting more than 50 concerts each summer with internationally renowned conductors, singers and instrumentalists in the old amusement park Tivoli-Gardens in central Copenhagen
Tivoli Festival
Tønder festival
The major folk music festival in Denmark taking place in Tønder each year in the last week of August. The festival site has a capacity of nearly 4000 in two large tents. Programmes are presented also at several other venues in the town.
Aarhus Festival - all art forms
One of the most extensive and enduring multicultural festivals of Scandinavia. It is an annual 10 day festival which takes place in the late summer and includes a broad spectrum of cultural and numerous other events of every type, size and shape.
Danish name: Århus Festuge
Aarhus Festuge
Aarhus Jazz Festival
International celebrities and local stars are presented in the festival organized in Aarhus since 1989 by Musikhuset Aarhus and other local venues. The whole city is backing the eight days of jazz, more and more venues are added each year.
Aarhus Jazz Festival