Symposium Unlimited Harpsichord

Symposium Unlimited Harpsichord

A moment of sharing of knowledge, experience and passion: Festival artists give lectures and workshops surrounding contemporary music and harpsichord. 2025 Prix Annelie de Man competitors and wide public are welcome!

Jos Zwaanenburg: The harpsichord, a traditional instrument with a live electronic extension.

This workshop will give a general introduction to the development of live electronic extensions, followed by ideas and options for the harpsichord in particular.

Participants will be invited to play and improvise, exploring the set-up that will be available. No advance knowledge needed. Just join and experiment.

Elena Khurgina and Yuri Akbalkan: Notating, tuning and playing a Bohlen-Pierce harpsichord

Elena gives a presentation about practical and artistic aspects of working with the unconventionally tuned instrument, which will also later be shown in practice in the Saturday evening concert, where she will perform Yuri Akbalkan’s work Prooemium praeter rem for the Bohlen-Pierce harpsichord. Yuri will join Elena in this talk to speak more about compositional aspects of working with the instrument.

Jane Chapman: Harpsichord Reimagined

In an open discussion with vibrant young players, Jane Chapman explores the instrument’s increasing significance in contemporary music, inviting a fresh examination of its role not only as a historically rich instrument but also as a dynamic participant in modern performance arts and music technology. The symposium celebrates the publication of this new book coedited with John Palmer, showing how the harpsichord now contributes to contemporary music through electroacoustic music, multimedia performance, and other avant-garde practices.

Kristian Nyquist: Lecture on „Mosaic“ by John Palmer
Palmer and his special relation with the harpsichord, deeper dive into performance practice for Mosaic and new recording presentation