MCICM hosts symposium Rethinking Relevance: Breaking the Classical Frame
The Maastricht Centre for the Innovation of Classical Music (MCICM) will host a symposium on 15 and 16 April 2026. The symposium titled ‘Rethinking Relevance: Breaking the Classical Frame.’
Rethinking Relevance: Breaking the Classical Frame
Classical Music, Communities and Connections
MCICM International Symposium — April 15–16, 2026 | Opus 9, Maastricht
Unlearn. Listen differently. Reimagine the future of classical music.
Classical music is at a crossroads. Around the world, artists and institutions are reimagining what relevance means in a time of social fragmentation, climate anxiety, and digital transformation. How can classical music still matter — and to whom? What does it mean to perform, teach, or listen in ways that connect rather than exclude?
This two-day symposium is not just an academic gathering, but a meeting ground for those who want to shake up inherited traditions and recompose the role of classical music in society. During two days of keynotes, performances, workshops, and radical listening sessions, we will explore how music can build bridges, challenge hierarchies, and create spaces of belonging.
The symposium builds on eight years of research by the Maastricht Centre for the Innovation of Classical Music (MCICM) — a collaboration between the classical symphony orchestra Philzuid, Conservatorium Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, and Maastricht University. Combining artistic and academic inquiry, the MCICM investigates how performance, education, and audience participation can be renewed in artistically and socially relevant ways. This edition focuses on communities and connections: how can classical music empower, include, and create spaces of shared meaning through collaboration and co-creation.
We would like to invite you to share your projects, performances or research through short pitches and poster presentations. Abstracts (max. 200 words) should be submitted to mcicm-fasos@maastrichtuniversity.nl by 2 February 2026. More details can be found in the program.
For questions, please contact us at mcicm-fasos@maastrichtuniversity.nl. To register, please visit www.mcicm.nl.
To see the full program, please click here.
About MCICM
The Maastricht Centre for the Innovation of Classical Music (MCICM) explores how classical music can evolve through collaboration, imagination, and experimentation. Founded by PhilZuid, Conservatorium Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, and Maastricht University, the centre brings together musicians, researchers, educators, and audiences to rethink classical music as a living, social art — one that connects people, places, and ideas.
