SOLO research

Research collaboration: Aalborg Universitet

In 2025, ROSA initiated a research collaboration with Aalborg University and postdoc in Music Therapy Julie Ørnholt Bøtker to investigate various aspects of the SOLO project under the initial heading Vulnerability as an artist in the meeting with vulnerable audiences.

The research collaboration runs from 2025-2026 and has been made possible by support from Augustinus Fonden.

The research examines, among other things, roles, responsibilities, communication and collaboration, as well as boundaries and overlaps between different professional disciplines. What happens when artists' vulnerabilities meet other people with vulnerabilities through music? What can these encounters create for an audience, for artists and for artists' communication? And what ethical perspectives and challenges exist in the concert format?

Research collaboration: Aarhus University

The project has previously been researched by the Department of Anthropology at Aarhus University, where research was conducted to find new knowledge and similarities with the research results from Musikalske Besøgsvenner.

"With Musikalske Besøgsvenner, we found that the alternative concert format increased the physical and social accessibility for many elderly people at risk of experiencing loneliness. Similarly, the research in SOLO investigates accessibility and well-being effects of intimate concerts for mentally vulnerable young people. This has resulted in a comparative study of the two concert formats with a careful focus on the different target groups and social contexts in which the concerts take place," says Scientific Assistant Amalie Bakkær Munk Andersen from the Department of Anthropology at Aarhus University.

The questions researchers ask revolve around the type of access – to the music, the artist, and between the participants – that an alternative format like SOLO enables, the capacity they potentially experience in encountering the music, and whether the concert experience can contribute to community and dialogue among the young participants. Additionally, the research will focus on the professional skills that the musician draws on in the encounter with the young people.

In summary, Conny Jørgensen, Director of ROSA, says: - It can be truly unique to share a concert experience with others – whether you know them or not. The feeling embeds itself in the body, and for a moment, you are part of a larger community. With SOLO's special format, we aim to contribute to even more young people experiencing live music and the strong experiences it can provide.

The report was published in May 2024. It is titled "Trivselsfremmende og adgangsskabende potentialer af hybride koncertformater: En komparativ analyse af Musikalske Besøgsvenner og SOLO" and draws on the scientific and comparable data from the research on Musikalske Besøgsvenner

and SOLO.

You can read all the four anthropological reports on Musikalske Besøgsvenner here.