The Institute for New Music will discuss “authenticity” from April 8th to 11th
From April 8th to 11th, 2026, the Institute for New Music and Music Education (INMM) invites you to its 79th Spring Conference at the Academy of Music Darmstadt in Darmstadt. The conference, entitled "authentic," will address questions of authenticity, credibility, and verifiability in a media-driven world.
The focus is on artistic projects and compositions that explore ambivalence, opacity, and the tension between revealing and concealing. Art is understood as a space of productive irritation, where uncertainty can become the starting point for insight.
Interdisciplinary kick-off
To kick things off, philosopher Petra Gehring, art historian Henry Keazor, and composer Bernd Leukert will discuss the question of image and representation in the context of current debates surrounding media-driven pseudo-realities. From there, the discussion will extend to alternative forms of perception, physiological and psychological "parallel worlds," and new demands on concert and opera formats.
One section of the program is dedicated to questions of perception in people with disabilities. The music theatre collective [in]operabilities addresses these issues. The deaf pianist and music educator Paul Whittaker explores the idea that musical perceptions are not necessarily dependent on acoustic stimuli. This segment will be interpreted into sign language.
Focus on Rebecca Saunders
Another focus is on the music of composer Rebecca Saunders. Discussions with the artist, as well as contributions from Tina Vogel and Julia Kursell, will present new analytical approaches that consider multiperspectivity as an artistic quality.
The conference also addresses issues in music education. Experts such as Ivo Berg and Lukas Bugiel discuss how plurality, ambivalence, and productive uncertainty can be dealt with in music lessons.
Concerts, workshops and walking tours
The spring conference traditionally combines concerts, lectures, panel discussions, workshops, listening labs and a parcours showcasing projects from schools and universities.
The concert program includes, among others, composer Julia Mihály, who will explore the technique of field recording in a workshop with children. Drummer Rodrigo Constanzo will explain his complex performance formats. A concert installation by Wojtek Blecharz invites the audience to an immersive, embodied listening experience.
With the conference title “authentic”, the INMM does not want to represent an essentialist position, but rather to create an open platform for critical exchange about artistic interpretive possibilities.
The venue is the Academy of Music, Ludwigshöhstraße 120 in Darmstadt.
(DARMSTADT – RED/PM)
Featured image: Goldstein
