Dilettante is a classical music hub built entirely using Drupal. It is a social networking site for connecting musicians and listeners around the world. However, unlike Facebook, this is not somewhere to go to share the mundane details of the day, but rather a place to build a community around a shared love of classical music.

Dilettante was set-up by Canadian journalist and businesswoman Juliana Farha in January 2008. When Juliana approached Blonde to help her redesign and build a new improved Dilettante site with lots of additional functionality, we jumped at the chance.

The site aims to open classical music up beyond its traditional elite confines on Radio 3 and the London concert halls. This is an exploratory space, using Web 2.0 technology to enable fans and musicians to interact with one another. The site is very much part of the user-generated content revolution, with a focus on offering a showcase to musicians, providing an online space where they can allow their music to speak directly to listeners and reach new audiences.

The website is rich in features and functionality. Members can post blogs, profiles and photos, upload their own performances, befriend other users, join groups, write reviews, highlight their teaching and composing skills, and add event listings for professional or amateur concerts. Users can also buy CDs and downloads from the site's partners, DG Webshop, iTunes and Amazon. There is recorded and live music to enjoy and Dilettante Radio allows users to create their own playlists. There are also webcasts of performances. Video tutorials, set to music by performer members, tell you what the site has to offer and how it can be used and shows how friendly and welcoming a site this is.

The site also boasts a sophisticated search engine, which leads you to the most comprehensive information on the net, breaking down the search results into useful categories such as "artist", "works", "events" and "discussions."

Since the site relaunched in May 2009 both membership and site traffic have both increased by 33%.

The site was planned, designed and built by UK digital agency Blonde = http://www.blonde.net