Guest Feature: 60 Classical
Q&A Interview with Director, Vasco Campos
3/19/2021 • Reading Time: 3min
About 60 Core
My primary task with 60 Classical is making sure we continue to deliver high quality content daily and help musicians share their work. The quality of the content on 60 Classical is extremely important to me and I am committed to keep working on improving it.
Startups are a combination of scientific research, technology development, business administration, and much more. With 60 Core I have my hands in different departments, working with a small team of people from several countries, coming together to create this great service.
Q&A Interview
How did the idea of 60 Classical come about?
I studied classical guitar in Vigo (Spain) and it was during this period that the idea for 60 Classical came up. I wanted to create a community of classical musicians with a specific type of short and high-quality content for social media. The original name was actually 60 Seconds of Classical.
What are your goals & who is your intended audience?
My main goal was to create a community where classical musicians and classical music enthusiasts of all ages could come together, share their music, and create new connections from it.
I believe that some musicians spend too much time inside of the practice room, without hardly ever sharing their music outside of those walls. Our hashtag #60secondsofclassical allowed some of them to share at least their practice videos with the world.
Instagram is popular with younger generations especially. Do you feel this particular demographic getting more into classical music through exposure on Instagram?
We have a significant percentage of "young people" following our content and also collaborating with us. I can say that Instagram definitely helps to spread the word as it has an enormous number of users, so classical musicians should definitely consider sharing their work there too.
From our discussion, it seems like you have a lot of creative projects going on alongside the platform! Could you please share them for my followers, so we can all keep an eye out?
At the moment our team is testing the 60 Core platform, which allows artists to do paid live streams with no upfront costs. I wanted this platform to give musicians a fair share of their earnings, going in the opposite direction of big streaming platforms.
This was possible with the help of 60 Classical partners who I've contacted to see if there was any interest in this, and private investors.
I have partnered with a fantastic company called Livetech to help me achieve the exact idea I had in mind. In a few days 60 Core will be 100% functional so keep an eye on our website 60core.com.
I want my followers to understand that technology & the 21st century can help, NOT hinder, classical music: If it is channeled in the right way. Where do you see Instagram & more generally technology going with such capabilities, given that live performances are currently suspended?
I believe we must embrace the opportunities that technology offers us. Our new platform allows artists to keep creating, connecting with their audience as well as monetizing their shows. As many artists also teach, we are releasing a feature for online classes soon.
The live streams are a solution for the moment we live in. I believe they are here to stay possibly even after the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a lot of work being done in this area in the development of new technologies, for instance, to improve the viewer experience, to reduce the lag, or improve the audio quality, so I believe it's a quite interesting area to be in.
About Maryam Raya
Maryam Raya is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning concert pianist based in New York. Praised for her “Dynamic Stage Presence” by the Union of Excellence, Maryam has performed recitals worldwide, in countries including England, Spain, France, Italy, China, Estonia, Latvia, Finland, and Dubai and has performed at renowned venues across the United States including multiple appearances at New York’s Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, The National Opera Center, multiple international embassies, among others.
Described as a “Complete Artist of the 21st Century” by Info Music France, she has been featured in countless international art, fashion, and music magazines across Europe as well as American news outlets such as CBS news. With an extensive and diverse repertoire, including numerous solo programs and over thirty concerti for piano and orchestra, Maryam is passionate about bringing classical music to younger audiences through her captivating performances and lectures.