MCICM Symposium 2021

Towards 2040: Creating Classical Music Futures, 21 & 22 April 2021

The Maastricht Centre for the Innovation of Classical Music arose from the need to reflect on and actively shape the future of classical music. This conference sought to engage with the different ways that practitioners are constructing this future, while considering critically the process of ‘futuring’ itself. The aim was not to simply imagine a distant future over which we have no control but to show how imagining the future of classical music informs our work today.

The MCICM symposium offered diverse presentations and casual networking moments to engage in meaningful discussions. Below are some of the sessions from the two-day digital symposium that took place on 21 and 22 April 2021. We would like to thank the speakers, moderators, and participants for coming together in this digital space.

For more information about the event and the sessions, you can see the program here.

Maastricht Centre Innovation Classical Music (MCICM)

Maastricht Centre for the Innovation of Classical Music

Wednesday 21 April 2021

Session 1a Musicians of the Future

^{Moderator: Joachim Junghanss, Conservatorium Maastricht, the Netherlands}

^{Becoming a classical musician of the future: the effects of training and experience on performer attitudes to innovation}
^{Speakers: Stephanie Pitts, University of Sheffield, UK; Karen Burland, University of Leeds, UK; Tom Spurgin, Manchester Collective, UK; Adam Szabo, Manchester Collective, UK}

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Session 1b Future Performance formats

^{Moderator: Denise Petzold, MCICM, the Netherlands}

^{Experiences of live vs online performance

Speaker: Michelle Philips, Royal Northern College of Music, UK

Audience Experience in Film-with-Live-Orchestra Concerts: Towards a Theory of Liveness

Speaker: Sureshkumar P.Sekar, Royal College of Music, UK

Classical Music and Contemporary Visual Art: Innovative Performance and Listening in the Works of the Artist Anri Sala

Speaker: Noga Rachel Chelouche, Tel-Aviv University, Israel}

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Session 2a Musicians and Professional Development

^{Moderator: Peter Peters, MCICM, the Netherlands}

^{Orchestrating Positive Change Leaders on (and off) Stage: supporting the best to become even better

Speakers: Jane Booth, Guildhall School, UK; Trudy Wright, Guildhall School, UK

The Rise of the Individual: Leveraging Social Currency and Personal Branding in the Future of Classical Music

Speaker: Jenny Maclay, Brandon University, Canada

Meaningful Music in Healthcare: Classical musicians inside hospital wards

Speaker: Krista de Wit, Prince Claus Conservatoire, Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen, the Netherlands}

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Session 2b Curation and Concert Formats

^{What Could Curatorial Practices Mean for the Future of Classical Music?

Speakers: Ed McKeon, Goldsmiths University of London, UK; Brandon Farnsworth, Zurich University of the Arts, Switzerland; Mirjam Zegers, ArtEZ, the Netherlands; Annemarie Reitsma, ArtEz, the Netherlands}

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Keynote lecture

^{Moderator: Stefan Rosu, philharmonie zuid, the Netherlands}

^{Producing futures: how futures matter in the present

Harro van Lente, Maastricht University, the Netherlands}

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Thursday 22 April 2021

Session 3a The Promise of Technology

^{Moderator: Ties van de Werff, MCICM, the Netherlands}

^{Artificial Intelligence and the Orchestra

Speaker: Robert Laidlow, Royal Northern College of Music, UK

Gameful Music Performances for Smart, Inclusive, and Sustainable Societies

Speakers: Micha Hamel, Royal Academy of the Arts, the Netherland; Annebeth Erdbrink, Delft University for Technology, the NetherlandsRemote Collaboration: Communication, Creativity, and Latency

Speaker: David Cotter, University of Cambridge, UK}

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Session 3b Opera Futures

^{Moderator: Joachim Junghanss, Conservatorium Maastricht, the Netherlands}

^{Händel goes Tinder: Reimagining opera for a 21st-century audience

Speakers: Channa Malkin, OperaBitchesand Stichting Gooisch Klassiek, the Netherlands; Anastasia Kozlova, OperaBitchesand Stichting Gooisch Klassiek, the Netherlands

“Alice in the Pandemic” An opera for the Pandemic and the Promise of New Possibilities

Speakers: Cerise Jacobs, Founder, Creator and Librettist, Producer, White Snake Projects; Jorge Sosa, Composer and Electronic Sound Artist; Tianhui Ng, Conductor and Music Director

The Fish’s Letters: A Facebook-Opera?

Speaker: Maia Sigua, VanoSarajishvili,Tbilisi State Conservatoire, Georgia}

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Session 4b The Future of the Concert Hall new

^{Moderator: Neil Smith, MCICM, the Netherlands}

^{Monsieur Croche -Concerts at Eye Level

Speaker: Tal Walker, Royal College of Music, UK

Creating futures: the shifting practice of the Composer-performer in the Lockdown era

Speaker: Josh Spear, Norwegian Academy of Music, Norway

SaffronHall Faces the Future

Speakers: Angela Dixon, CEO Saffron Hall; Barry Ife, Chairman of the Saffron Hall Trust}

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Session 5b Politics and Inclusion

^{Moderator: Peter Peters, MCICM, the Netherlands}

^{The Voice Party: Participatory Principles and the Future of Musical Performance

Speaker: Lore Lixenberg, University of York, UK Bringing the political into Western classical music Speaker: Hanna Grześkiewic

Bringing the political into Western classical music

Speaker: Hanna Grześkiewicz, ‘The Hermes Experiment’ and Alternative Classical, Germany

Can performance techniques make the future of classical music more inclusive?

Speaker: Ilona Sie Dhian Ho, Royal Conservatoire, the Netherlands}

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Keynote lecture

^{Moderator: Peter Peters, MCICM, the Netherlands}

^{Future challenges: Can art make constructive contributions to solving current civil society challenges and what roles can classical concerts or opera performances play in this?

Helmut Seidenbusch, Director for Cultural Education atStiftung Mercator, Germany}

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Round table and closing

^{Moderator: Neil T. Smith, MCICM, the Netherlands}

^{Whose Future?

Speakers:Kirsteen Davidson Kelly, Schottish Chambre Orchestra, UK; George E. Lewis, Columbia University, USA; Maria Hansen, ELIA European Art School Confederation, the Netherlands

Closing remarks by Peter Peters, MCICM, the Netherlands}

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