Digital subtitles at a live concert 20. November 2025

#concert experience design

During the Beethovenfest Bonn on September 18, 2025, the Wolfgang App was used for the first time as a digital accompaniment to a concert. The Jerusalem Quartet presented the first concert of its Shostakovich cycle, featuring some of the composer's most striking string quartets: Nos. 1, 5, 11, and 12.

​Use of the Wolfgang App in the Shostakovich Cycle

Supplementary texts were developed for these four quartets in collaboration with musicologist Benedikt von Bernstorff. Accessible live on one's smartphone via the Wolfgang App - like subtitles - these provided precise information on Dmitri Shostakovich's works, including background on each quartet, explanations of musical structure, and notes on key motifs or compositional decisions.

Digital Companion

Feedback highlighted various interesting aspects, from deeper contextual understanding of the quartets to orientation during the concert. The goal was to enrich the live experience with a digital, musicological layer without overshadowing it.

Texts: Benedikt von Bernstorff, Henrike Alscher, Christian Siegmund, Franziska Ritter