The New Symposium
INTERNATIONAL FORUM AND RESIDENCY PROGRAM
[for musicians, researchers, pedagogues, producers, and artists from other disciplines]
[2026]
SATURDAY I.: 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM CET/CEST*
coordinator: Urban Megušar
This group is oriented toward discussion and theoretical exploration within the New Symposium program. Participants are composers with established portfolios and professional performers with established artistic trajectories, contributing research cases that are already developed or beginning to take shape as long-term projects. They share essays, references, and composition drafts, while also presenting and reflecting on their individual practices. Discussions move fluidly between texts and participants’ current work, emphasizing exchange, feedback, and collaborative inquiry. Sound, composition, and performance remain central and ongoing points of exploration.
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SATURDAY II.: 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM CET/CEST*
coordinator: Brina Kren
This group brings together practitioners from a diverse range of disciplines, including music, writing and poetry, theatre, and visual art. The sessions emphasise practice as the foundation for discussion and development, with participants regularly presenting their work and sharing the questions, achievements, and challenges it raises with the group. At this stage, several members have established working relationships beyond the online sessions and are preparing projects to be realised at Bled Contemporary Music Week. The group’s ongoing objective is to establish and nurture sustained, long-term artistic exchange.
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FRIDAY I.: 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM CET/CEST*
coordinator: Niki Zohdi
Group is currently in formation and begins with online sessions in May, 2026.
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FRIDAY II.: 3.00 PM - 4.30 PM CET/CEST*
coordinator: Gašper Livk
Group is currently in formation and begins with online sessions in May, 2026.
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FRIDAY III.: 2.00 PM - 3.30 PM CET/CEST*
coordinator: Pia Reš
Group is currently in formation and begins with online sessions in June, 2026.
The group led by Pia Reš, director of the .abeceda Institute is intended for musicians, researchers, and artists interested in developing projects and working behind the scenes, it focuses on the practical realisation of artistic initiatives through discussion, exchange, and feedback. The session is shaped by the concrete ideas and questions of its participants and is open both to beginners and to those with prior experience in artistic and cultural production.
The forum also offers participants the opportunity to gain practical experience by joining the production team of one of the institute’s upcoming projects, including Bled Contemporary Music Week, and gaining reference and first-hand insight into festival production.
Opportunities in 2026/2027:
— enuntiatio.praefatio.formulae
— .abeceda [new music academy]
— Bled Contemporary Music Week
— Young Researchers Youth Music Camp
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SUNDAY I.: 3.00 PM - 4.30 PM CET/CEST*
coordinator: Gašper Livk