ICMS 16: Music as a Meaningful Art

The 16th International Congress on Musical Signification will be held at the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki, 2–6 June, 2026. Twenty-five years after ICMS 7 and forty years after the first edition in Imatra, the ICMS returns to Finland. Since 1986, the ICMS congress has been organised every 2–4 years to gather together scholars of musical signification, signs in music, and musical meaning – recent developments and future trends in musical semiotics and related fields of research.

The congress is one of the platforms of the Musical Signification Project, launched in Paris in 1984, and directed now for more than 40 years by prof. Eero Tarasti of the University of Helsinki. The International Musical Signification Project has also served as a pedagogical tool educating doctoral researchers in the field.

Under the ICMS 16 title, Music as a Meaningful Art, the congress themes include:

• analytical and historical approaches to evolving and persisting meaning(s) in music
• topics, narratives and gestures as meaningful phenomena in music
• embodiment of and in musical meanings
• mechanisms and processes of music, mind, and meaning
• semiotic and philosophical approaches to the ontology of music and its meaning(s)
• synthesis of cognitive and cultural approaches to the study of meaning(s) in and of music
• locality and globality of music as a meaningful art
• relationship of musical meaning with learning and growth
• relationship of musical meaning with therapy and wellbeing
• music as a meaningful art in the era of technological explosion
• sustainability and music as a meaningful art
• relationship of societal phenomena, structures and policies with music as a meaningful art

Registration

The registration is now open. The registration fees are 150 € (early bird until 15 March), 200 € (until 15 April), and 100 € (students and Uniarts Helsinki participants).

Conference schedule

Tuesday, 2 June 2026

• 8:00-9:00 Registration desk is open
• 9:00-10:00 Opening of the congress
• 10:00-10:15 Break
• 10:15-11:30 Keynote 1 Márta Grabócz
• 11:30-11:45 Opening of the exhibition
• 11:45-13:00 Lunch
• 13:00-15:00 Sessions A
• 15:00-15:30 Coffee break
• 15:30-17:00 Keynote 2 Mark Reybrouck
• 17:00-19:00 Break and transit to the reception
• 19:00-20:00 Conference reception

Wednesday, 3 June 2026

• 8:00-9:00 Registration desk is open
• 9:00-11:00 Sessions B
• 11:00-11:15 Break
• 11:15-12:45 Keynote 3 Lina Navickaitė
• 12:45-14:00 Lunch
• 14:00-16:00 Sessions C
• 16:00-16:30 Coffee break
• 16:30-18:00 Keynote 4 Lauri Suurpää
• 18:00-18:30 Break
• 18:30-20:00 Workshop and discussion with Jorma Panula

Thursday, 4 June 2026

• 8:00-9:00 Registration desk is open
• 9:00-11:00 Sessions D
• 11:00-11:15 Break
• 11:15-12:15 Special plenary 1 David Lidov
• 12:15-13:30 Lunch
• 13:30-16:00 Sessions E
• 16:00-16:30 Coffee break
• 16:30-18:00 Keynote 5 Joan Grimalt
• 18:00-19:00 Break
• 19:00-21:00 Tentative: Conference dinner

Friday, 5 June 2026

• 8:00-9:00 Registration desk is open
• 9:00-11:00 Sessions F
• 11:00-11:15 Break
• 11:15-12:15 Special plenary 2 Robert S. Hatten
• 12:15-14:00 Lunch
• 14:00-16:00 Sessions G
• 16:00-16:30 Coffee break
• 16:30-18:00 Keynote 6 Ivanka Stoïanova
• 18:00-19:00 Break
• 19:00-21:00 Tentative: Informal get-together

Saturday, 6 June 2026

• 8:00-9:00 Registration desk is open
• 9:00-10:00 Special plenary 3 Eero Tarasti
• 10:00-10:15 Break
• 10:15-12:15 Special session
• 12:15-12:30 Break
• 12:30-13:00 Closing of the conference
• 13:00-18:00 Will be confirmed

The conference programme is updating and more details are coming soon.

Keynote speakers

• Márta Grabócz
• Joan Grimalt
• Lina Navickaitė
• Mark Reybrouck
• Ivanka Stoïanova
• Lauri Suurpää

Special plenary speaker

• David Lidov

Honorary committee

• Paulo C. Chagas 
• Jarmila Doubravová
• Constantin Floros
• Márta Grabócz
• Robert S. Hatten
• David Lidov
• Teresa Malecka
• Sokol Shupo
• Ivanka Stoïanova
• Mário Vieira de Carvalho

Scientific committee

• Oana Andreica
• Rimantas Astrauskas
• Elżbieta Błotnicka-Mazur 
• Ricardo de Castro Monteiro 
• Dorian Çene 
• Ben Curry
• Heloïsa de Duarte Valente 
• Július Fujak 
• Małgorzata Gamrat 
• Rahilya Geybullayeva 
• Małgorzata Grajter 
• Anna Granat-Janki 
• Joan Grimalt 
• Xavier Hascher 
• Julian Hellaby 
• Jean-Marie Jacono 
• Małgorzata Janycka-Słysz 
• Rubén López-Cano 
• Costantino Maeder 
• Dario Martinelli 
• Lina Navickaitė 
• Małgorzata Pawłowska 
• Mark Reybrouck
• Paolo Rosato 
• Mathieu Schneider 
• Toomas Siitan 
• Paulo de Tarso Salles 
• Bernard Vecchione 

Organising committee

• Juha Ojala
• Robert Fleitz
• Paul Forsell
• Aleksi Haukka
• Anne Kauppala
• Markus Mantere
• Mikko Metsälampi
• Laura Wahlfors

Venue

The congress venue is the traditional building of the Sibelius Academy, located at the heart of the city of Helsinki, at Pohjoinen Rautatiekatu 9. The venue is situated in the vicinity of e.g. Helsinki Music Centre, Helsinki Central Library Oodi, and the Helsinki Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma. The area is abundant in options for hotels and restaurants, and is readily accessible by public transportation e.g. from the Helsinki-Vantaa airport.

Contact information

For more information, contact icms16helsinki@uniarts.fi