Germany is a land of music – that is shown by the current statistics of the German Music Information Centre (MIZ) in Bonn. According to recent surveys, more than 7 million people are engaged in orchestras and ensembles, rock and jazz groups or choirs, including 3 million children and young people. Attendance at musical events is also as high now as it has always been. To take just the concerts of publicly sponsored symphony orchestras: they were attended by almost four million people in the past year. On the other hand, the number of music groups has gone down from 168 to 135 since 1992, while the number of music festivals has almost doubled in the same period. Similarly, more and more professionally trained musicians are finding their way to the marketplace. The number of musicians qualifying from German universities and academies has risen by about 16 per cent in the past ten years, and at music schools the trend is also upwards. Almost 900,000 children and young adults were undergoing instruction at a public music school in 2004. That is about 20,000 more than in 1997. These details are only a small part of the overall picture of German musical life published by the MIZ, an agency of the German Music Council, on its recently redesigned website. Many articles by well-known authors, a comprehensive music-statistical data collection and a thematically organised documentation of music-policy texts convey detailed background information and debate various aspects of our musical life. Topical fields of discussion, such as the changing structure of the theatrical and orchestral landscape, the boom in music festivals or the place of music in all-day schools are taken into account, as are detailed overviews of public sponsorship for music, the current situation of the music economy and the state of New Music. In all these ways the MIZ provides factual and expert information on all aspects of musical life. The new information portal is rounded off with more than 10,000 basic data on institutions and organisations, which are clearly presented and organised according to descriptions of their activities and their management structures. Simple search and sorting functions make it possible to conduct targeted research and help those interested in music to find the information they need quickly and efficiently. At the same time, the MIZ values transparency and user-friendliness, in order to impart the complex and multi-facetted information potential in the best possible way. The general absence of barriers also makes it possible for people with sight disabilities to navigate the system easily. The centre’s library catalogue with more than 7,000 publications specifically on musical life, a list of websites for more than 800 composers of contemporary music and a broadly structured information system for advanced and continuous education in music with more than 1,800 tips on events, described in detail, is also available in a revised and expanded form. The information portal of the MIZ can be found at: www.miz.org. The MIZ is an agency of the non-profit project society of the German Music Council, and is funded by the representative bodies of the federal government for culture and the media, the cultural foundations of the Länder, the City of Bonn as well as the private sector through GEMA and GVL. Press contact: Margot Wallscheid, Projektleitung Deutsches Musikinformationszentrum Deutscher Musikrat gGmbH * Weberstr. 59 * 53113 Bonn Tel.: 0228 / 2091-180 * Fax 0228 / 2091-280 * Mail: info@miz.org www.miz.org