Doctors in Performance Festival Conference

The Doctors in Performance Festival Conference (DIP) was established in 2014 at the University of the Arts Helsinki. Since then, it has been organized by the following institutions: The Royal Irish Academy of Music (2016, Dublin), The Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (Vilnius 2018), The Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (Tallinn, 2021) and The Royal Academy of Music (London, 2023).  

The core idea of DIP is to promote performance and research, especially artistic research, by giving performers, composers and researchers the opportunity to present their research projects. DIP places the emphasis on performance itself and we particularly encourage recital and lecture recital submissions, although paper presentations on relevant fields of artistic research are also warmly welcome. 

DIP 2025 will take place in Helsinki, at the Helsinki Music Centre between 3–5 September, 2025. The conference language is English and all presentations should be in English.

DIP2025 is organized by the following units of the University of the Arts Helsinki: Sibelius Academy doctoral schools DocMus (Department of Classical Music) and MuTri (Department of Music Education, Jazz and Folk Music), Research Institute´s History Forum Network and the Open Campus.

Keynote speakers

The keynote speakers of the festival conference are Professor of Folk Music Kristiina Ilmonen (Uniarts Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy) and Dr. Inja Stanović (University of Surrey, Department of Music and Media). Read more about the keynote presenters

Programme 3 September 2025

09:30–10:45 Registration and coffee (Lower Foyer)
10:45–11:15  Welcoming address (Black Box)

• Rector
• Anu Lampela, chair of Organization Committee
• Steering Committee

11:15–12:30 Keynote Inja Stanovic (University of Surrey, Department of Music and Media): Grasping the Style: Artistic research and historically informed performance (Black Box, Chair Anne Kauppala)

12:30–14  Lunch (90 min)

14–15:30 Sessions 1a–d (90 min)

1a (Camerata, Chair Anu Lampela)

• Diana Zandberga (Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music): Challenges of the Choreomusical Performance (Lecture recital)
• Liliana Parisi (Conservatory of Milan): Gesture and the Pianist in Contemporary Music: An Artistic Investigation (Recital)

1b (Black Box, Chair TBA)

• Sebastian Dumitrescu (University of the Arts Helsinki Sibelius Academy): Using consonance and dissonance as compositional devices in microtonal music (Lecture recital)
• Marco Ramelli (TU Dublin Conservatoire) and Enrica Savigni (TU Dublin Conservatoire): Time, Touch, and Creativity: Exploring Tactile Perception in Romantic Performance (Lecture recital)

1c (Organo, Chair Anne Kauppala)

• Connor Wilcox (Royal Irish Academy of Music): Reviving Roseingrave: harmony and interpretative opportunities in Thomas Roseingrave’s Harpsichord Suite No. 2 in C minor (Lecture recital)
• Agata Meissner (University Mozarteum Salzburg): Alter Weiber Krieg am Wiener Graben by Alessandro Poglietti (early 17th c. – 1683) – structural and practical questions answered in performance (Lecture recital)

1d (Auditorium, Chair Markus Mantere)

• Erno Aalto-Urantowka (Uniarts Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy): Socially constructed musical gesture at the core of free improvisation pedagogy (Paper presentation)
• Anastasios Zafeiropoulos (Orpheus Institute): “A hint of keyboard magic”: Clementi’s Sensational Fingerings in the Revisions of his Toccata and Sonatinas (Paper presentation)
• Binyan Xu (Royal Academy of Music): Discover The ‘Unconfined’ Hand  The Practical Dilemma of  Small-Handed Pianists  and  Potential Solutions (Paper presentation)

15:30–16.00 Coffee (30 min)

16.00–17:30 Sessions 2a–d (90 min)

2a (Camerata, Chair TBA)

• Julianna Siedler-Smuga (The Grazyna and Kiejstut Bacewicz University of Music in Łódź): Percussion music socially involved (Lecture recital)
• Juho Laitinen (Uniarts Helsinki’s Research Institute): Inhabiting liminal spaces – experi(m)ent(i)al music-making

2b (Black Box, Chair Pauliina Syrjälä)

• Elena Mindru (Uniarts Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy): Exploring the second chorus in vocal jazz: a study of Sarah Vaughan’s melodic variation (Recital)
• Niklas Lukassen (Royal Academy of Music): Exploring a novel hybrid instrument: The bass cello (Lecture recital)

2c (Organo, Chair Anne Kauppala)

• Vera Plosila (Leiden University) and Anastasios Zafeiropoulos: The Accompanied Keyboard Sonata on the Early Fortepiano and Traverso – Aesthetic and Practical Considerations from the Perspective of Performing Musicians (Recital)
• Anna-Kaisa Meklin: „Grounding“ – Using historical performance practice to find new ways of composing and improvising for viola da gamba (Recital)

2d (Auditorium, Chair Markus Mantere)

• Lora Kmieliauskaitė (Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre): The Group Genius Seeks an Individual Body (Paper presentation)
• Ivan Moshchuk (Royal Academy of Music): The Edge of Musical Image (Paper presentation)
• Gustavo Afonso (University of Aveiro/INET-md): (De)constructing the Ancient: collaborative experimentation and gender dynamics in the recreation of Medea (Paper presentation)

18.30–19.30  Conference reception, City of Helsinki, Empire Hall. Reception is hosted by the City of Helsinki.

Programme 4 September 2025

9.30–11 Sessions 3a–d (90 min)

3a (Camerata, Chair TBA)

• Emil Gryesten (Royal Danish Academy of Music and Orpheus Institute): Somathemes and the Hammerklavier Sonata (Lecture recital)
• Ettore Biagi (MdW – University for Music and Perfoming Arts Vienna) and Livia Schweizer: phædrus – ecological actions of resonance through uncharted music (Lecture recital)

3b (Black Box, Chair TBA)

• Mercedes Krapovickas (Uniarts Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy): Bandoneon Resonances: Movement, Space, and Extended Techniques (Recital)
• Dario Savino Doronzo (“Giuseppe Verdi” Conservatory of Music – Milan): The progressive didactic approach of Jean-Baptiste Arban in the Military School: Grande Méthode Complète de Cornet à Pistons et de Saxhorn composée pour le Conservatoire et l’Armée (Lecture recital)

3c (Organo, Chair Pauliina Syrjälä)

• Emilia Lajunen (Uniarts Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy) : Musician embodied knowledge and simultaneous playing and dancing as a method following silent voices of archive recordings
• Arja Kastinen (Uniarts Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy): How the unrecorded becomes reality through experience and why it matters (Recital)

3d (Auditorium, Chair TBA)

• Seonhwa Lee (University of Music in Freiburg): A Performer’s Perspective on Interpreting Emilie Mayer’s Cello and Piano Sonatas (Paper presentation)
• Blake Proehl (Orpheus Instituut and KU Leuven): A Tangible Difference: Defining a Classical Clavichord Idiom Amid the Rise of the Piano (Paper presentation)
• John Yaffe (Ipsilon Music Press): Reviving the Robert De Cormier Yiddish Folksong Arrangement Archive: an examination of the question of ‘authenticity’ in modern-day performance of folksong arrangements (Paper presentation)

11:00–11:30  Coffee (30 min)

11:30–12.45 Keynote Kristiina Ilmonen (Uniarts Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy): Expanding Inwards – Being in music without a tune (Black Box, Chair Pauliina Syrjälä)

12:45–14  Lunch (75 min)

14–15:30 Sessions 4a–d (90 min)

4a (Camerata, Chair TBA)

• Elisa Rumici (Hochschule für Musik Freiburg): Piano virtuosity in the 20th century: the Etudes on intervals by C. Debussy and E. Rautavaara (Lecture recital)
• Marianne Abrahamyan (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland): The Role of Dexterity in György Ligeti’s Piano Etudes, Trio, and Concerto (Lecture recital)

4b (Black Box, Chair Pauliina Syrjälä)

• Grace Sun Park (Royal Irish Academy of Music: From禪(zen) to 線(line) to仙(transcendence) Rethinking the piano: Avant-garde piano performance as re-creation of artistic identity (Lecture recital)
• Jussi Reijonen (Uniarts Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy): Weaving Connective Threads: Narrative Affordance of Aesthetically Diverse Musical Elements as a Cohesive Device in Transcultural Composition (Lecture recital)

4c (Organo, Chair TBA)

• Tina Gelnere (Jazeps Vitols Latvian Academy of Music): Exploring Authenticity in Contemporary Vocal Performance (Lecture recital)
• Corinna Eikmeier (Musikhochschule Lübeck): Bodyphonics (Lecture recital)

4d (Auditorium, Chair TBA)

• Reetta Näätänen (Uniarts Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy): Culturally informed performance practice: From harmful stereotyping towards cultural intelligence (Paper presentation)
• Pilar Mirailles (Uniarts Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy): Situating artistic practice; An attempt to remain despite the immediacy era (Paper presentation)

15:30–16 Coffee

16–17:30 Sessions 5a–c (90 min)

5a (Camerata, Chair TBA)

• Helga Karen (Uniarts Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy): Practicing out loud: A lesson in exploring the complex simplicities in Stockhausen’s “Klavierstück IX” (Lecture recital)
• Neringa Valuntonyté (Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre): Embodied Stage Persona: Exploring the Interplay of Authenticity and Character Creation in Piano Performance (Lecture recital)

5b (Black Box, Chair TBA)

• Maarika Autio (Uniarts Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy): Approcreations, Subtitle: Exploring the creative freedom of a non-native musician with traditional instruments within riptides of cultural appropriation disputes (Recital)
• Máire Caroll: Merged between East and West: A discovery of influences throughout Unsuk Chin’s work, as explored through her Piano Étude No.5, ‘Toccata’ (Lecture recital)

5c (Organo, Chair TBA)

• Liubov Ulybysheva (Royal Academy of Music): Mieczyslaw Weinberg Sonata for cello solo No.4, Op.140: editorial challenges and possibilities (Lecture recital)
• Sebastian Silén (Uniarts Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy): Sibelius and the Nordic Musical Landscape: Folk Elements, Modal Harmony, and the Evocation of Nature (Lecture recital)

19:00–22:00  Conference dinner (Sokos Hotel Pier)

Programme 5 September 2025

9.30–11 Sessions 6a–c (90 min)

6a (Camerata, Chair TBA)

• Vincenzo De Martino (Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre): Recurring Pianistic Techniques and Gestures in the Work of Lithuanian Composer Stasys Vainiūnas (Lecture recital)
• Dobromir Tsenov (Royal Northern College of Music): The Evolution of Bulgarian Style in L’ubomir Pipkov’s 20th-Century Piano Works (Lecture recital)

6b (Black Box, Chair TBA)

• Libero Mureddu (Uniarts Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy): The Avatars and I’: fostering autonomy and mutual vulnerability in a digitally mediated free improvisation performance (Lecture recital)
• Maija Turunen (Uniarts Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy): Resonating with the Past: AI-Driven Restoration of Historical Singing (Paper presentation)
• Elisa Järvi (Uniarts Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy): Microtones & Resonances – The New Quarter-Tone Piano as a Creative Tool (Paper presentation)

6c (Organo, Chair TBA)

• Harri Saarinen (Uniarts Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy): Bible and piano (Recital)
• Matas Samulionis: Encoding and Decoding the Performance (Lecture recital)

11:00–12:00 Coffee and lunch (60 min)

12:00–13:30 Sessions 7a–b (90 min)

7a (Camerata, Chair TBA)

• Órán Halligan (Royal Irish Academy of Music): The influence of traditional melody on the solo pianoforte works of Johann Bernhard Logier (Lecture recital)
• Yusuke Ishii (Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre): Stylistic Plurality and Performance Practice in Vytautas Bacevičius’s Works for Piano (Lecture recital)

7b (Black Box, Chair Anu Lampela)

• Mirka Malmi and Tiina Karakorpi (University of the Arts Helsinki Sibelius Academy): Amanda Maier-Röntgen and Musical Professionalism in Marriage in the 19th Century (Lecture recital)
• Jenna Ristilä (Uniarts Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy): A Subtle Activism: Calling for humaneness in the classical music concert institution (Lecture recital)

13:30–13:40 Break (10 min)

13:40–14:40  PRIZE (Mieko Kanno represents the winner) (Black Box)

14:40–15:00  Conclusion remarks (Black Box)

Registration

The registration is open from 2 May to 24 August 2025. The event will be arranged in-person in Helsinki. Register to DIP2025 by paying the Registration Fee. The fee must be paid at the same time as you complete your registration, it cannot be paid later. All registration fees include the daily coffees, participation in all sessions: keynotes and all presentations and Helsinki City`s reception on 3 September at 6.30 – 7.30 PM.

Registration Fees

• 150€ Presenter and participant (including City of Helsinki reception and coffees)
• 220€ Presenter and participant (including City of Helsinki reception, coffees and dinner)
  
• 100€ Student presenter and student (a valid student ID is required, including City of Helsinki reception and coffees)
• 170€ Student presenter and student (a valid student ID is required, including City of Helsinki reception, coffees and dinner)

We accept the following forms of payment:

• Finnish banks (verkkopankki)
• Visa or Mastercard

After registration, you will receive a confirmation e-mail and also the receipt of the payment. You can update your information until the end of the registration time. Please, save your documents.

Uniarts Helsinki staff and students have free access to the conference, but you need to register. The free access option does not include conference coffees, refreshments or the conference dinner.

Practical information

Venue

• Uniarts Helsinki’s Töölö campus, located in the Helsinki Music Centre.

Accommodation

Discounted rates are available for attendees at:

• Sokos Hotel Presidentti, walking distance of both the venue and the central railway station.
• Forenom Aparthotels (10% off).

To request booking codes, please contact: dip2025@uniarts.fi

Transport

• From Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, the most efficient way to reach the city centre is by commuter train (I or P lines), arriving at Helsinki Central Station in ~30 minutes. Tickets for ABC zones are available at station kiosks or via the HSL mobile app. Taxis cost ~40€ and take 20–30 minutes.
• Helsinki’s public transport includes buses, metro, commuter trains, city bikes, and ferries. Download the HSL app for route planning, real-time updates, and ticket purchases.
• The Suomenlinna ferry operates year-round between Market Square and Suomenlinna Fortress.

Additional information

• Check the weather forecast via the Finnish Meteorological Institute.
• Currency: Euro (EUR); major credit cards widely accepted.
• ATMs (e.g. OTTO) and currency exchange (e.g. Forex, Tavex) are readily available.
• Emergency number: 112 (police, ambulance, fire).
• Official languages: Finnish and Swedish; bilingual signage is standard.
• Pharmacies are marked with the sign “Apteekki”.
• Tap water is safe to drink.
• Time zone: Eastern European Time (EET), GMT +2.
• Free public Wi-Fi is available; Eduroam access for academic visitors.
• Helsinki Tourist Information is located at Aleksanterinkatu 24.

Steering committee

• Dr. Anu Lampela, Chair (University of Arts Helsinki) 
• Dr. Sarah Callis (Royal Academy of Music) 
• Prof. Lina Navickaite-Martinelli (Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre) 
• Prof. Denise Neary (Royal Irish Academy of Music) 
• Dr. Theodore Parker (Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre)

Organization Committee

• Dr. Anu Lampela, Chair (University of Arts Helsinki) 
• Prof. Anne Kauppala 
• Prof. Markus Mantere 
• Dr. Pauliina Syrjälä 
• Producer Eeva Hohti 
• Coordinator Johanna Rauhaniemi

Contact

dip2025@uniarts.fi