What a nice surprise! I had totally forgotten a manuscript that I had submitted to a Taylor & Francis journal in media and cultural studies in 2021. It had been stuck in the peer review process for months, and months, and months, before I finally received a revision request, and after that everything went pretty fast. Now, I’m extremely happy to announce that the article has been published!

The article Digital performance at the side stage, which appears as open access in the Australian-based international peer-reviewed journal Continuum, deals with the communicative practices of classical musicians and music hobbyists (many would say “amateurs”, but I choose not to use that word here because I’m using it as a part of my theoretical framework described in this book). I described the role of Instagram as a “side stage”, in relation to “stage” and “backstage”, and examined how artistic visibility and aesthetic agency are shaped online.

The study is continuation of my research on digital practices in the field of arts and culture, which I see in my research profile as a counterpart to the study of institutionalized professionalism that I have previously examined in the form of arts/cultural journalism and criticism. I wanted to inquire into how musicians create visibility in the popular visual app as part of their publicity strategies, and in which ways the “digital performance” adds to conventional staged performances that are mostly carried out offline, or at least on the condition of physical onsite appearance.

Originally, the article is based on a keynote talk I delivered in a symposium for musicologists in my favorite musical town of Cluj-Napoca in Romania. I want to thank my dear musicologist friend Cristina Suteu who invited me to the symposium and gave me a reason to conduct this study.

On a personal note, as a former amateur violinist I wonder how my hobby would have turned out if I had had the possibilities of today’s digital platforms to gain inspiration, support and new skills. On the other hand, today, I’m glad to be able to get insights into the everyday practice of musicians like Augustin Hadelich, Hilary Hahn or Agata-Maria Raatz – or even young promises like Lilja Haatainen – by just sitting at home with my mobile. In recordings of home practice we can occasionally catch wonderful moments of deep virtuosity and, at the same time, understand how all mastery is anchored in hard, tenuous work.