The Composer & the State

26 October, 3 pm

The session is dedicated to discussing various strategies for public support of creative activity – individual composers‘ efforts (having in mind that earnings from creative work often constitute less than 50% of the composer‘s total income), institutional commissions system, measures to encourage exploitation of the repertoire in media, community or union-based action. What state support schemes are available for composers in various countries? Can the composer expect to rely solely on earnings from creative work and what influence does it have on the quality of it? What are the principal arguments for the governmental support of creativity and why is it so widely believed to be a positive thing?

The Composer & the Commission

27 October, 3 pm

The session is dedicated to commissions, the most common incentive of creativity. Today new works are commissioned by performers, various arts institutions (festivals, theatres, concert organizations), and media (public radio). Commissioned works and exclusive premieres become a matter of prestige. The festivals hunt for well-known names and create networks for increasingly larger and more expensive projects. Often the composer becomes a hostage of this production machine, where ideas are lost somewhere on the way to their realization. On the other hand, doesn’t the commissioning system serve as a catalyst of overproduction, giving preference to quantity over quality?

The Composer & the Agent

29 October, 3 pm

The session will discuss the representation of the composer and promotion of his/her music, emphasizing two basic models – commercial publishers/agents and not-for-profit organizations/associations working in the field of music information and promotion (such as Music Information Centres). What kinds of services do composers expect from their agents? What is the difference between the ways in which commercial and not-for-profit organizations operate? Can they share their experience and learn new things from each other? What role does the composer play in the promotion of his/her own music today? Or have the performers always been the most important agents of the composer? How much synergy does the relationship between all these parties display?

The Composer & the Critic

30 October, 3 pm

This session is dedicated to addressing the importance of public reflection on the composer’s work. The fragmentation of contemporary music scenes has changed the relationship between the composer and the music critic, as well as the function of music criticism itself. ‘Big ideas’ and the sense of general direction in contemporary music have faded away; often the composer and the critic do not share the same cultural background and experiences anymore. Besides, in the face of the diversity of musical expression, music criticism tends to identify itself with the audience, introducing the latter to new musical worlds and changing forms of perception, rather than with the composer, legitimating his/her artistic ideology. What role does criticism play in creative practice today? How does criticism influence the author’s position in the sociocultural domain and the functioning of composer’s music? To what extent does contemporary musical criticism affect cultural policy and management while shaping critical judgements and configuring strategies of international promotion?