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Mentee: Alexandra Gorton

PhD Candidate;Artist-researcher/PhD candidate, Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University

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Alexandra Gorton is a Meanjin/Brisbane-based musician, educator, and doctoral candidate at Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University. Alexandra’s research considers the phenomenology of music performance and equity, exploring interfaces between performance environments and ethics of care.

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Mentor: Sunniva Hovde

Music Researcher and Musician

Sunniva Skjoestad Hovde is an Associate Professor in Music at Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on music, arts education and philosophy of science and methodology, and is particularly interested in diversity, marginalisation, education and traditional music in a global context. In a wider perspective her work explores posthumanism, rhizomatic analysis, decolonizing processes, arts based research and performativity. As musician she works mostly within improvisation-based music, traditional music and folk-jazz.

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Mentee: Alexandra Karamoutsiou

Post Doc Researcher, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Research center for the Humanities

Alexandra hold a PhD from the School of Music Studies of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and she is a postdoc researcher at the same department. She is interested in the historical, political, and sociological mediations of musicking and the formation of urban music communities. Her research is focused on the DIY music studios of Thessaloniki and the networks that are formed around them. She is a founding member of the “Critical Music Histories” (CMH) study group and of the “Popular Music in Greece International Research Collective” (PMGIRC). She is currently working as an adjunct lecturer at the School of Music Studies of Aristotle university of Thessaloniki.

Mentor: Julia Eckhardt

Musician and organiser in the field of the sonic arts

Julia Eckhardt is a musician and organiser in the field of the sonic arts. She is artistic co-director of Q-O2 workspace for experimental music and sound art, and of Oscillation festival in Brussels.

She has performed and released internationally, and has been engaged in a number of artistic collaborations, among which extensively with composer Éliane Radigue.
Julia is (co-)author of books such as The Second Sound – Conversations on Gender and Music, Grounds for Possible Music, and Éliane Radigue – Intermediary Spaces/Espaces intermédiaires, among others.

She is a researcher at the philosophical faculty at VUB Brussels, and has been teaching and lecturing on topics related to sound, music, gender, and space.

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Mentee: Daniel Fong

PHD Candidate, University of Oslo, Department of Musicology

Daniel received his Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees from the Royal Academy of Music (London). He was the recipient of the Leverhulme Trust Postgraduate Entrance Scholarship. Daniel also received the Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music (LRAM) and further graduated with the Post-Graduate Professional Diploma in Song and Lieder in 2016.

Daniel was an adjunct Academic Lecturer at Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore (YSCTM-NUS) and adjunct Voice and Academic Lecturer at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore (NAFA).

When in Singapore, Daniel continues to promote Art songs, and art songs of past and contemporary Singaporean and Southeast Asian composers through his affiliation with ‘The Sing Song Club’ (Singapore). Daniel’s current research project is titled “Sing like a ‘real’ man!” – negotiating masculinity and gender identity as gay men in vocal education. The project aims to examine the experiences of gay singers in classical vocal education and investigate how masculinity is performed, regulated and negotiated in Norwegian higher musical education institutions.

Mentor: Daniele Shlomit Sofer

Assistant Professor of Music Theory & Music Technology at University of Dayton

Dr. Daniele Shlomit Sofer (they/them) is Assistant Professor of music theory and music technology at the University of Dayton and co-founder of the LGBTQ+ Music Study Group. Dr Sofer’s scholarship examines various means of electronic mediation, exploring how gender cuts dynamically across current social justice activism, postcolonial resistances, as well as historical and systemic constitutions of race and sexuality.

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Mentee: Georgia Nicolaou

Composer, Performer, Educator, PhD Researcher – University of Antwerp & AP University of Applied Sciences and Arts Antwerp

Georgia Nicolaou is a Cypriot composer, musician, researcher and educator based in the Netherlands. She is a PhD candidate at the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp – AP University of Applied Sciences and Arts and the University of Antwerp. Her research focuses on Community Music and Movement, Embodied Music Pedagogies and Collective Creativity for (vulnerable) children. She previously studied Composition (BMus & MMus) at Codarts Rotterdam, the Utrecht Conservatory and the Ionian University in Corfu, Greece. Besides, she is currently enrolled in the Certification Program of Laban/Bartenieff Movement Studies at EMOVE Institute and she works as a music and movement teacher at the Belgian organization Musica Impulscentrum. Moreover, she is an acclaimed composer, pianist, and singer. Her works have been performed in prestigious music festivals, such as Operadagen Rotterdam, November Music, Transit and Gaudeamus among others.

Mentor: Maja Ćurčić

Music teacher and composer, Director of Art Aparat

Maja Curcic is a music educator and composer from Belgrade, Serbia. After graduating at the Faculty of Music Arts in Belgrade, she worked as a music teacher in formal music education for years but was always interested in how music can be used for raising important topics in the community.

During the last seven years, through the organization Art Aparat that she co-founded, Maja led many projects that use music as a tool for intercultural learning, psycho-social support, social inclusion and organized trainings for artists, teachers and youth workers on the topic.

As a composer, she created music for film, theater, dance performances, TV, animated videos and o audio-visual installations.

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Mentee: Késia Decoté Rodrigues

Marie Słodowska-Curie Action Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Bergen

Késia Decoté is a Brazilian pianist specialising in contemporary music and in interdisciplinary practices. Késia is interested in exploring innovative ways to present piano music, looking for creating unique and deeply immersive artistic experiences for her audience. Késia holds a PhD in Arts & Music and MA (Distinction) from Oxford Brookes University, Masters Degree and Undergraduate (Cum laude) in Piano from the federal university of Rio de Janeiro. Késia is a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow at the University of Bergen developing a research project on new forms of participation of women and girls in classical music performances.

Mentor: Lorenda Ramou

Concert pianist, musicologist and curator

Lorenda Ramou is a concert pianist, musicologist and curator, with a keen interest in the 20th and 21st century repertoire. She appears in concerts and festivals in Europe, USA and Chile, records for BIS, ECM, NAXOS, Spektral a.o., and lectures at international musicological conferences. She is Associate Professor (Piano/20th c. music) at the Music Department of University of Ioannina (Greece) and teaches an annual workshop at the Athens Conservatoire on contemporary piano repertoire.

Since 2015 she curates an annual concert series and a joint program between Stegi Onassis and Panteion University (Athens), featuring young musicians and composers, promoted by Arts Management students. She studied at the National Conservatoire of Athens, Conservatoire de Paris (CNSMDP), City University and New England Conservatory, holding a Ph.D. summa cum laude from the Conservatoire de Paris and Sorbonne University.

Her activities have been supported by the Academy of Athens, the French Ministry of Culture, the British Council, the Fulbright, Meyer and Leventis Foundations, and the Center for Hellenic Studies at Harvard University.

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Mentee: Lucy Forde

PhD candidate at the University of Edinburgh

Lucy Forde is a PhD Research candidate in the Reid School of Music at the University of Edinburgh, funded by the AHRC through the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities. Alongside her research work, Lucy has a career as a flautist, creative music leader/community musician, presenter, music educator and artistic director.

Lucy trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, the Royal Northern College of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Lucy has worked as a creative music leader and performer with a wide range of music and arts organisations both within the UK and internationally. She has worked extensively with orchestras across the UK and from 2012 – 2106 Lucy was the Director of SCO Connect, the Creative Learning Department of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Her main interests and specialisms are in music and health, music education and outreach, creative music making and cross-cultural and cross-arts collaboration.

Mentor: Rachel Louis

Arts, Health and Wellbeing; Freelance Creative Health Consultant

Rachel Louis has a background in socially engaged arts, devising and delivering creative programmes with arts organisations and festivals in the UK and Norway. She works collaboratively with marginalised communities such as those in hospitals, prisons, refugee centers, drug and alcohol addiction units and with disabled children and adults. Rachel’s mission is to provide opportunities for people to take part in creative projects that are collaborative, adventurous, joyful and inspiring.

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Mentee: Marina Marcon Moreira

Freelance sound designer for audiovisual projects such as games; music teacher at the bilingual school Maple Bear in Florianópolis

Marina Marcon Moreira is a Brazilian composer with a degree in musical composition from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and a master’s degree in music from the Federal University of Paraná. She is currently completing her PhD in analytical and creative processes at the Federal University of Minas Gerais. Her research focuses on the intersection between sound design and musical composition, a passion she has pursued throughout her career. With over seven years of experience as a sound designer, Marina combines her love for composition with her technical expertise in creating immersive audio experiences. Throughout her academic journey, Marina has been deeply involved in research, contributing to various research groups and actively participating in music and audiovisual events.

Mentor: Evdoxia Ragkou

Composer / Sound Designer – self employed

Evdoxia Ragkou (she|her|hers) holds an MFA in sound design from Yale School of Drama and is an East Coast-based composer and sound artist. She is keenly interested in the nature of sound, using it as her primary medium for composition, and strongly believes in its storytelling powers. She writes all sorts of music and is oriented towards creative ways to tell stories.

She has worked in theatrical venues in the United States, and participated in various experimental music ensembles, both in the US and in Europe. She also wears the hat of a solo artist, and you can say that she is overall a person of a sound mind.

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Mentee: Natalija Stanković

PhD candidate at University of Arts in Belgrade, Faculty of Music, Music Theory department

Natalija Stanković (Belgrade, 1991) completed her undergraduate and master’s studies in music theory at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade. She is continuing her education at the Academy for Opera in Verona (Verona Accademia Per L’Opera Italiana) in the master’s program in opera directing.

As a directing assistant, she has worked at the Operosa festival in Montenegro, at the Teatro Filarmonico di Verona (Italy), the Abai State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater (Kazakhstan), the Teatro Comunale di Bologna (Italy), the Jerusalem Lyric Opera Studio (Israel), and at the Ente Luglio Musicale Trapanese festival (Italy). She also completed an internship at the Arena di Verona Opera Festival in 2018. She has assisted prominent opera directors such as Marina Bjanki, Lorenzo Marijani, Alesio Picek, Martin Lloyd-Evans, and Latvian actress Rezia Kalnina.
Since 2021, Natalija has been a participant in the “Opera: Past, Present, Perfect!” project organized by the Music and Opera Theater Organization MOTO, where she co-directed the opera “Dečja soba” by Milenko Živković, which was performed at the closing of BEMUS 2021. This opera has become a permanent part of the repertoire of the Duško Radović Little Theater, performed throughout the country, and it has won the “Music Classics” award as well as a special award from MP Duško Radović.

In a co-production with MOTO and the Duško Radović Little Theater, Natalija directed the opera “Let’s Make an Opera/Little Chimney Sweep” by Benjamin Britten, which also received a special award from the Duško Radović Little Theater. She is currently preparing the direction of the chamber opera “Čista voda” by composer Olga Janković. Natalija is a PhD student in the Department of Music Theory at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade.

Mentor: Brigitta Gillesen

Artistic Director Opera Cologne

Studies in opera directing at Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” Berlin (diploma). Assistent director and junior director at Landestheater Linz (Austria), lecturer at the opera class of Anton Bruckner Universität Linz. Freelance director in Düsseldorf and Köln, formation of theatre group “acting up productions”. Since 2014 artistic director at Opera Cologne. Focus on audience development and opera for young audiences, concept development for inclusive and participatice projects.

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Mentee: Olaolu Lawal

PhD in Ethnomusicology NTNU, Norway; arranger and composer of African choral music

Olaolu Lawal is an arranger and composer of African choral music. His works such as Gunugun and Kabiyesi have been performed at several choral events across Nigeria, Africa and in the World Choir Games. Among several choirs at home and abroad that he has directed and conducted, Olaolu has worked with the Chicago Children’s Choir and the Boys´ Choir of St. Andrews Episcopal School, Jackson Mississippi, teaching them Yoruba songs via audio visual resources. He has also worked with the Kor I All Verden? as part of preparation for their Autumn 2019 choral concert in Trondheim, Norway. Olaolu believes in the ideology that typifies the African musician as an ´integrated´ performer; therefore, he regards himself as a percussionist, dancer and singer all at once! He plays the djembe, gangan (Yoruba talking drum), bata, omele bata, cajon, conga and xylophone among other percussion instruments. He is co-convener of ÀRÀBÀ, a band that performs Afrocentric music and has featured in such events as the Trondheim Jazz festival. He is the lead singer of Hunguvha Afrobeat, an afrobeat band that primarily explores the music of the African legend – FELA. Olaolu is also a record producer and a recording artist and is currently recording an album of a collection of Yoruba folksongs that are reproduced via an amalgamation of live and digitally sampled percussion instruments.

Olaolu is also an ethnomusicologist whose research focuses on the documentation, retention, propagation and perpetuity of indigenous musical traditions as they evolve and are reimagined through time and space. He is presently a PhD candidate in the Norwegian University of Science and Technology under the supervision of Thomas Hilder, Abimbola Adelakun and Gediminas Karoblis.

In 2022, he participated as composer and music co-producer on a short film project, as part of the Kazi Moto series for Triggerfish and Disney.

Mentor: Charles Lwanga

Assistant Professor of Music (Ethnomusicology), University of Michigan (USA)

Charles is an ethnomusicologist, composer, and theorist. His research in ethnomusicology focuses on the intersections between music and politics in Uganda. He has published in several journals, including Analytical Approaches to World Music, Journal of the Musical Arts in Africa, Ethnomusicology, and Journal of East African Literary and Cultural Studies.

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Mentee: Ole Kristian Einarsen

Ph.D. Candidate – University of Bergen, Faculty of fine art, music and design

Ole Kristian Einarsen is a PhD candidate University of Bergen, Faculty of Fine Art, Music, and Design. He is associated with the research center in music therapy: GAMUT. There, he is currently working on the project: Music, Health, and Policy – a qualitative research project in music therapy related to youth migration

Mentor: Heather O’Donnell

Founding Director of TGR The Green Room

Heather O’Donnell is a psychologist, Artistic-Systemic Therapist, and former professional pianist with over 25 years of experience supporting artists. As the founding director of TGR The Green Room, she specializes in supporting performing artists in their professional and artistic development, as well as helping them navigate crisis moments. She educates artists on health optimization, maintenance and recovery, advises arts organizations on systemic change, has presented at numerous international conferences and lectured at institutions like Columbia University, the Max Plank Institute and the Eastman School of Music, where she led workshops on musicians’ health and well-being.

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Mentee: Tijs Ham

Independent Artistic Researcher

Tijs Ham (’81, NL) is a sound artist and researcher living in Bergen, working with instrument design, live-electronics, and audio-visual performances. In his work, he explores the complex sounds of chaotic processes, embracing the unstability of the music that emerges. He builds his own electronic instruments based on cybernetics, performing within audiovisual contexts. Ham worked at STEIM as an organizer and artistic board member. As Tapage, he released music on labels such as Moving Furniture Records and Ant-Zen. He is on the boards of PlayDate, nyMusikk Bergen, organizes the noise concert series Bulldozer, and is co-founder of Bergen Future Music.

Mentor: Pedro Rebelo

Director of Research, Sonic Arts Research Centre

Pedro is a composer, sound artist and performer working primarily in chamber music, improvisation and installation with new technologies. In 2002, he was awarded a PhD by the University of Edinburgh where he conducted research in both music and architecture.

His music has been presented in venues such as the Melbourne Recital Hall, National Concert Hall Dublin, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Ars Electronica, Casa da Música, and in events such as Weimarer Frühjahrstage fur zeitgenössische Musik, Wien Modern Festival, Cynetart and Música Viva. His work as a pianist and improvisor has been released by Creative Source Recordings and he has collaborated with musicians such as Chris Brown, Mark Applebaum, Carlos Zingaro and Evan Parker.

His writings reflect his approach to design and composition by articulating creative practice in a wider understanding of cultural theory. Pedro has been Visiting Professor at Stanford University (2007) and has been Music Chair for international conferences such as ICMC 2008, SMC 2009, ISMIR 2012. At Queen’s University Belfast, he has held posts as Director of Education and Acting Head of School in the School of Music and Sonic Arts and is currently Director of Research at the Sonic Arts Research Centre. In 2012 he was appointed Professor at Queen’s and awarded Northern Bank’s “Building Tomorrow’s Belfast” prize.

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