School of Music, Theatre and Art

CPMPC 2026 – Contemporary Perspectives on Music Performance and Creation

The Contemporary Perspectives on Music Performance and Creation (CPMPC) symposium will take place on 24–25 September 2026 at Örebro University, Sweden. Bringing together musicians, artistic researchers, musicologists, and philosophers, the symposium offers a platform to explore current issues in contemporary music creation and performance.

With musical practice as a shared point of departure, the symposium provides a space in which diverse disciplines and perspectives can converge, challenge each other, and generate new insights. Through panel discussions, lecture-recitals, and musical performances, participants engage in dialogue and reflection on musical processes—from embodied experience and creative interaction to interpretation, communication, and context.

At its core is the understanding that musical knowledge is multidimensional, encompassing not only sonic outcomes but also the processes through which music is created, experienced, and understood. These dimensions are explored through the interplay of artistic practice, theoretical reflection, and collegial dialogue. The format reflects this, combining academic presentations with artistic contributions and in-depth discussions.

Musical (Re-)Negotiation in Action

This year’s overarching theme, “Musical (Re-)Negotiation in Action,” highlights how creation and interpretation are shaped through ongoing negotiation in practice. Themes include:

  • Tradition in motion

    – renegotiating musical heritage
  • Practices in transformation

    – emerging working methods and processes
  • Improvisation, interpretation, and composition as sites of negotiation

  • Metaphor, language, and understanding in musical practice

  • Meaning-making and interpretation in musical action

The symposium aims both to foster in-depth knowledge exchange and critical reflection within the field of music, and to inspire new research ideas and collaborations. These may lead to research projects, publications, artistic initiatives, and developing international networks.

Welcome and introduction

13:00–13:15 | M354

Session 1: Improvisational Practices and Negotiations

13:15–15:00 | M354

Presentation: Joakim Milder.
“Presence, High-hanging Fruit, and the Singing Self: Developing a Musical Language in Improvisation”.

Presentation: Maria Johansson Josephsson.
“The Subjunctive Room: Improvisation, Uncertainty, and the Emergence of Possibilities”.

Panel: Joakim Milder, Maria Johansson Josephsson, Torbjörn Gulz, and Birgitta Flick.
Facilitator: Peter Knudsen.

Coffee break: 15:00–15:30.

Session 2: Notation as Relation

15:30–16:00 | M354

Session 3: Notation as Relation

16:00–17:00 | M354

Presentation: Alfred Jimenez Romanenko and Duo Signal.
”Notation as Provocation: Presence as Ontology”

Panel: Alfred Jimenez Romanenko, Jon Yu, Duo Signal, and Cecilia Cavalcante Schuback.
Facilitator: Martin Edin.

Concluding discussion - Notation as Relation/Provocation: 17:00–17:20.

Evening Concert

19:00 | Concert Hall | <75 min

Featuring: Duo Signal, Maria Johansson Josephsson, Anders Åstrand, Joakim Milder, Birgitta Flick, and Peter Knudsen.

Session 4: Beyond the Score – Improvisation in Western Classical Music

09:00–10:30 | M354

Panel: Peter Knudsen, Martin Edin, and Bert Mooiman.
Facilitator: Alfred Jimenez Romanenko.

Session 5: Metaphors as Creative Tools and Means of Constructing Meaning

11:00–12:45 | M354

Panel: Melissa Forbes, Martin Edin, Martin Gustafsson, and Ann Elkjär Gustafsson.
Facilitator: Peter Knudsen.

Session 6: Embodied Play and Musical Understanding: Gadamerian Hermeneutics in Theory and Practice

14:15–16:00 | M354

Panel: Cynthia Nielsen, Lena Johnson, Ulrik Volgsten, and Mattias Solli.
Facilitator: TBA.

Wrap-up, Reflections, and Future Steps

16:30–17:30 | M354

Final Concert

19:00 | Concert Hall | <75 min

Featuring: Martin Edin, Bert Mooiman, Peter Knudsen, Lena Johnson, and Jonas Lindgård.

Conference Information

Facilities and Equipment

Our lecture halls are equipped with projectors, sound systems, and wireless networks. 

Questions?

If you have any questions, please contact Peter Knudsen, peter.knudsen@oru.se