Arrival, Registration & Coffee Conversations

Welcome & Opening Remarks

Keynote I – “The Hidden Musicians Revisited” Stephanie Pitts (University of Sheffield, UK)

On amateur musical life, belonging, and place.

Moderator: Peter Peters

Panel I – “Practices of Engagement: From Experiment to Connection”

Reflections on experiments in audience participation, new ways of collaborating, and co-creating with communities.

Moderator: Veerle Spronck

Lunch & Informal Exchange

Research Fair – “New Voices, New Practices”

Musicians, artists and researchers present their projects in an open format.

Tea and coffee break

Panel II – “Unlearning Education”

Teaching, learning and listening

Moderator: Felix Havenith & Ruth Benschop

Symposium Drinks

Dinner: restaurant options provided

Evening Concert

Students from Conservatorium Maastricht perform innovative projects

Morning Coffee & Networking

Keynote II – “Engaging with Audiences and Communities”

Axel Petri-Preis (University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, Austria)

On community engagement and the future of music mediation.

Roundtable – “Elephants in the Concert Hall”

Can classical music be(come) decolonial?

Moderators: Denise Petzold & Jorge Lozano

Lunch & Networking

Workshops

• New Music: Problem or Solution?  — Neil T. Smith. Discussions of new music and living composers are often conspicuous by their absence in attempts to innovate classical music. This workshop will delve into the ways in which composers might help solve some of the issues of relevance raised in this symposium, while also looking critically at the ways in which standard performer-composer-commissioner relations might be holding us back from more equitable ideas of co-creation.

• Classical Music & Storytelling - Jorge Lozano. Recently, programming and educational strategies in orchestras and concert halls also incorporate forms of storytelling in some of their performances to attract and engage audiences, or experiment with concert formats. This workshop offers participants an opportunity to explore different approaches to the convergence of classical music and storytelling, and invites to adapt them and incorporate them in their own practice, even outside programming or education roles in an organisation.

• Open(ing) Rehearsal - Ruth Benschop. Open rehearsals are often seen as a playful way of lowering barriers and including audiences that require little extra effort: only the unveiling of the musicians before the concert commences. But what are the intrinsic qualities of backstage or at home rehearsal practices? What does it take to open up rehearsal? How might practices of practicing change, and how to assess such changes? In this workshop we will explore these questions by rehearsing together. We will collectively open up our own heterogeneous rehearsal practices (by rehearsing and documenting) to articulate existing qualities, explore new skills, as well as foster critical reflection on the performance of rehearsal.

Tea and coffee break – Walk to Aula, Minderbroedersberg 4-6

Farewell Lecture Peter Peters – “New Variations: on innovating classical music”

Aula Minderbroedersberg, Maastricht University

Farewell Reception