The New Symposium
INTERNATIONAL FORUM AND RESIDENCY PROGRAM
[for musicians, researchers, pedagogues, producers, and artists from other disciplines]
[2026]
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COORDINATORS:
Urban Megušar (1997) is a Slovenian cellist and composer based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. As a cellist, he is dedicated to chamber music and the performance of new music. He has performed internationally at venues and festivals including the Berliner Philharmonie, Konzerthaus Berlin, Wien Modern, Klang Festival, Music Biennale Zagreb, Stift Festival, Festival Ljubljana, Bled Contemporary Music Week, and the .abeceda Festival. As a member of Trio Tempestoso, he won the Boris Pergamenschikow Preis for Contemporary Music in 2019 and received the Dwight and Ursula Mamlok Prize in 2022.
Urban holds Master’s degrees in Music Performance from the Norwegian Academy of Music and in Chamber Music from the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin. During his studies he worked with mentors including Julian Arp, Tanja Orning, Torben Snekkestad, and Martin Spangenberg. His current mentor in composition and performance is Dré A. Hočevar.
Urban began his studies at the .abeceda Institute in 2018 as part of the Young Researchers I programme. Over the past five years, he has taken part in several residency programmes, including FORUM, Re_Humanizacija, and [DISCIPLINA]. Through these residencies, he composed and premiered works for solo cello, string quartet, and vocal ensemble.
Since 2022, Urban has been a member of the .abeceda [New Music Ensemble] and the .abeceda [String Quartet]. With both ensembles, he has premiered more than seventy new works. Currently, Urban is a mentor in the precept.concept.percept programme, coordinator of the infra.norma.meta programme in Amsterdam, and coordinator of the enuntiatio.praefatio.formulae programme for artistic research in music.
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Gašper Livk (1993) is a Slovenian double bassist and composer based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He studied classical double bass at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana with Prof. Zoran Marković and continues his musical and professional development under the mentorship of Dré A. Hočevar. His performance experience includes appearances with the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra as well as in contemporary music contexts such as Neofonia, Container Doxa at ZKM Karlsruhe, Ljubljana New Music Forum, Klangspuren Schwaz, and Darmstadt Ferienkurse.
A central part of his artistic portfolio is Introducing Gašper Livk / System CODA I. II. III. IV. V., a five-part cycle spanning solo, duo, trio, double bass octet, and large-ensemble projects. He first presented the cycle as artist-in-residence at the 65th Jazz Festival Ljubljana in 2024.
Within the .abeceda Institute in Slovenia, he has held the roles of managing director, coordinator, and artistic director of the .abeceda [new music ensemble].
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Brina Kren (2003) is a producer, coordinator, moderator, and editor working with .abeceda Institute. Since 2022, she has contributed to the production and co-production of more than 40 concerts, four international festivals comprising over 80 events, more than 150 podcasts, and over 50 online publications. Her work also includes conducting more than 50 interviews, writing over 30 reviews, recording and editing more than 40 reportages, and moderating over 20 public events for diverse audiences. She is currently engaged in coordinating and supporting more than 350 participants across various .abeceda Institute programmes.
Alongside her production work, she studies composition and performance at .abeceda Institute under the mentorship of Dré A. Hočevar, and philosophy and musicology at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana.
She has been involved with .abeceda Institute since 2019, beginning in the Young Researchers programme with Gašper Livk’s residential ensemble code::source. Since then, she has remained active within the institute in multiple capacities, including as a member of Tobija Hudnik’s ensemble equilibrium as insta_bility (2020), artist-in-residence and leader of the Crucial Encounters ensemble (2021). Her broader artistic practice includes four recorded albums, 15 curated concerts of original and commissioned works, the founding and leadership of a saxophone quartet, two residencies in the Re_humanizacija programme, and hosting 54 podcasts with Slovenian composers as part of the IDEA programme (2024–2025). As a performer, she has appeared in solo, duo, ensemble, and saxophone quartet contexts, including at Jazz Festival Ljubljana and the Zvončki in trobentice festival, and participates in the ongoing performance and research of works by Dré A. Hočevar as a member of .abeceda [New Music Ensemble].