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.
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 has been closed.
Conference schedule
Tuesday, 2 June 2026
- 8:00-9:00 Registration desk is open (Lobby)
- 9:00-10:00 Opening of the congress (Concert hall)
- 10:00-10:15 Break
- 10:15-11:30 Keynote 1: Márta Grabócz: Invariants in music (Concert hall)
- 11:30-11:45 Opening of the exhibition (Lobby)
- 11:45-13:00 Lunch
- 13:00-15:00 Sessions A
- 15:00-15:30 Coffee break (Café Feeniks or Lobby)
- 15:30-17:00 Keynote 2: Mark Reybrouck: Music listening is an action verb: An experiential approach to musical sense-making (Concert hall)
- 17:00 – 18:00 Congress reception (Lobby)
- 17:30 – 18:30 Peter Salvucci Workshop on Turkish makam music (Chamber music hall)
- 18:30 – 19:00 Transition to Helsinki Music Center (350 metres, meet at the lobby if you want to walk together)
- 19:00 – 20:00
- Doctoral concert by Line Johannesen (trombone & chamber music, Organo Hall, Helsinki Music Center), or
- Doctoral concert ”A journey to the underworld and back” by Kukka Lehto (folk music, global music, Camerata Hall) or
- Visit to Electroacoustic sound diffusion course by Alejandro Montes de Oca (Black Box Hall)
Wednesday, 3 June 2026
- 8:00-9:00 Registration desk is open (Lobby)
- 9:00-11:00 Sessions B
- 11:00-11:15 Break
- 11:15-12:45 Keynote 3: Lina Navickaitė: “Performer hero”: Meanings of gestures in musical performance (Concert hall)
- 12:45-14:00 Lunch
- 14:00 – 15:00 Workshop with Jorma Panula and the Panula Academy Orchestra. Conducting students rehearse with prof. Panula
- 15:00 – 15:30 Discussion with Jorma Panula
- 15:30-16:00 Coffee break (Café Feeniks or Lobby)
- 16:00-17:30 Keynote 4: Lauri Suurpää: Amoroso Jeopardised: Mozart’s Adagio from Wind Serenade, K. 361, and Andante from Piano Concerto, K. 467 (Concert hall)
- 17:30-18:00 Snack break (Café Feeniks or Lobby)
- 18:00-20.00 Sessions C
Thursday, 4 June 2026
- 8:00-9:00 Registration desk is open (Lobby)
- 9:00-11:00 Sessions D
- 11:00-11:15 Break
- 11:15-12:15 Special plenary 1: David Lidov: Music and General Semiotics in a Time of Distractions (Concert hall)
- 12:15-13:30 Lunch
- 13:30-16:00 Sessions E
- 16:00-16:30 Coffee break (Café Feeniks or Lobby)
- 16:30-18:00 Keynote 5: Joan Grimalt: Integrating Semiotics and Hermeneutics: A Framework for Musical Performance (Concert hall)
- 18:00-19:00 Break
- 19:00-21:00 Conference dinner near the conference venue (separate registration required)
Friday, 5 June 2026
- 8:00-9:00 Registration desk is open (Lobby)
- 9:00-11:00 Sessions F
- 11:00-11:15 Break
- 11:15-12:15 Special plenary 2: Robert S. Hatten: Textural Subtleties in Three Late Bagatelles by Beethoven: A Lecture-Demonstration and Performance
- 12:15-14:00 Lunch
- 14:00-16:00 Sessions G
- 16:00-16:30 Coffee break (Café Feeniks or Lobby)
- 16:30-18:00 Keynote 6: Ivanka Stoïanova: Luciano Berio (1925–2003), Master of Music as Meaningful Art (Concert hall)
- 18:00-19:00 Break
- 19:00-21:00 Informal get-together at the congress venue, the Sibelius Academy ”R” building
Saturday, 6 June 2026
- 8:00-9:00 Registration desk is open
- 9:00-10:00 Special plenary 3: Eero Tarasti: How We Tried to Understand Music: Varieties of Musical Meanings (Concert hall)
- 10:00-10:15 Break
- 10:15-12:15 Special session: The first 40 years and the next 40 years of ICMS (Concert hall)
- 12:15-12:30 Break
- 12:30-13:00 Closing of the conference
- 13:00 – 14:00 Lunch
- 13:30 – 18:00 Visit to Aino and Jean Sibelius’s home Ainola in Järvenpää with afternoon coffee (to be confirmed; busride, separate registration needed)
Sessions
| Group | Hall | Day | Time | Chair | ||||
| 1 | Semiotic theory | A | CH | Tue 2 June | 13:00–15:00 | Ben Curry | ||
| 2 | Existential semiotics, analysis, and performance | B | CH | Wed 3 June | 09:30–11:00 | Eero Tarasti | ||
| 3 | Embodied mind and meaning I | C | CH | Wed 3 June | 18:00–20:00 | Violetta Kostka | ||
| 4 | Embodied mind and meaning II | D | CH | Thu 4 June | 09:30–11:00 | Violetta Kostka | ||
| 5 | Education | D | CMH | Thu 4 June | 09:30–11:00 | Juha Ojala | ||
| 6 | Language and music | E | CH | Thu 4 June | 14:00–16:00 | TBA | ||
| 7 | Composition, interpretation and performance I | F | CH | Fri 5 June | 09:30–11:00 | Juha Ojala | ||
| 8 | Composition, interpretation and performance II | G | CH | Fri 5 June | 14:00–16:00 | Lucy Abrams-Husso | ||
| 9 | Topics I | A | SH | Tue 2 June | 13:00–15:00 | Lauri Suurpää | ||
| 10 | Topics II | B | SH | Wed 3 June | 09:00–11:00 | Olga Sánchez-Kisielewska | ||
| 11 | Sound, pitch, texture, structure, and tonality | C | SH | Wed 3 June | 18:00–19:30 | Markus Mantere | ||
| 12 | Narratives and rhetorics | D | SH | Thu 4 June | 09:00–10:30 | Anne Kauppala | ||
| 13 | Opera | D–E | SH | Thu 4 June | 10:30–11:00, 13:30–15:30 | Anne Kauppala | ||
| 14 | Vocal music | E–F | SH | Thu – Fri | Thu 15:30–16, Fri 09:00–11:00 | Anne Kauppala | ||
| 15 | Pärt and Feldman | G | SH | Fri 5 June | 14:00–16:00 | TBA | ||
| 16 | Semiotic translation | A | CMH | Tue 2 June | 13:30–15:00 | Małgorzata Grajter | ||
| 17 | Intermediality and intertextuality I: cinema, television and radio | B | CMH | Wed 3 June | 09:00–11:00 | TBA | ||
| 18 | Intermediality and intertextuality II: literature, text, gesture, notation, performance | C | CMH | Wed 3 June | 18:00–19:30 | Małgorzata Gamrat | ||
| 19 | Intermediality and intertextuality III: theatre, literature, visual arts and architecture | D | R-510 | Thu 4 June | 09:00–11:00 | Małgorzata Gamrat | ||
| 20 | Intertextuality IV: music | E | R-510 | Thu 4 June | 13:30–16:00 | Oana Andreica | ||
| 21 | Hybridity | F | CMH | Fri 5 June | 09:00–11:00 | Jean-Marie Jacono | ||
| 22 | Holism, hermeneutics and interdisciplinarity | G | CMH | Fri 5 June | 14:00–16:00 | Gabriele Marino | ||
| 23 | Culture, cultural experience, and cultural identity | A | R-510 | Tue 2 June | 13:30–15:00 | Anna Granat-Janki | ||
| 24 | Glocality: local – global | B | R-510 | Wed 3 June | 09:30–11:00 | Rahilya Geybullayeva | ||
| 25 | Ecology, soundscapes, and environments | C | R-510 | Wed 3 June | 18:00–19:30 | Oleksandra Nenko | ||
| 26 | Politics, nationalism, and activism | E | R-510 | Thu 4 June | 14:00–16:00 | Małgorzata Gamrat | ||
| 27 | Artificial intelligence | F | R-510 | Fri 5 June | 09:00–11:00 | Kalev Tiits | ||
| 28 | Culture and technology | G | R-510 | Fri 5 June | 14:00–15:00 | Kalev Tiits | ||
Legend for hall abbreviations: CH = Concert Hall • SH = Small Hall • CMH = Chamber Music Hall • R-510 = room 510, 5th floor
Keynote speakers
Special plenary speakers
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
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 has been closed.
Conference schedule
Tuesday, 2 June 2026
- 8:00-9:00 Registration desk is open (Lobby)
- 9:00-10:00 Opening of the congress (Concert hall)
- 10:00-10:15 Break
- 10:15-11:30 Keynote 1: Márta Grabócz: Invariants in music (Concert hall)
- 11:30-11:45 Opening of the exhibition (Lobby)
- 11:45-13:00 Lunch
- 13:00-15:00 Sessions A
- 15:00-15:30 Coffee break (Café Feeniks or Lobby)
- 15:30-17:00 Keynote 2: Mark Reybrouck: Music listening is an action verb: An experiential approach to musical sense-making (Concert hall)
- 17:00 – 18:00 Congress reception (Lobby)
- 17:30 – 18:30 Peter Salvucci Workshop on Turkish makam music (Chamber music hall)
- 18:30 – 19:00 Transition to Helsinki Music Center (350 metres, meet at the lobby if you want to walk together)
- 19:00 – 20:00
- Doctoral concert by Line Johannesen (trombone & chamber music, Organo Hall, Helsinki Music Center), or
- Doctoral concert ”A journey to the underworld and back” by Kukka Lehto (folk music, global music, Camerata Hall) or
- Visit to Electroacoustic sound diffusion course by Alejandro Montes de Oca (Black Box Hall)
Wednesday, 3 June 2026
- 8:00-9:00 Registration desk is open (Lobby)
- 9:00-11:00 Sessions B
- 11:00-11:15 Break
- 11:15-12:45 Keynote 3: Lina Navickaitė: “Performer hero”: Meanings of gestures in musical performance (Concert hall)
- 12:45-14:00 Lunch
- 14:00 – 15:00 Workshop with Jorma Panula and the Panula Academy Orchestra. Conducting students rehearse with prof. Panula
- 15:00 – 15:30 Discussion with Jorma Panula
- 15:30-16:00 Coffee break (Café Feeniks or Lobby)
- 16:00-17:30 Keynote 4: Lauri Suurpää: Amoroso Jeopardised: Mozart’s Adagio from Wind Serenade, K. 361, and Andante from Piano Concerto, K. 467 (Concert hall)
- 17:30-18:00 Snack break (Café Feeniks or Lobby)
- 18:00-20.00 Sessions C
Thursday, 4 June 2026
- 8:00-9:00 Registration desk is open (Lobby)
- 9:00-11:00 Sessions D
- 11:00-11:15 Break
- 11:15-12:15 Special plenary 1: David Lidov: Music and General Semiotics in a Time of Distractions (Concert hall)
- 12:15-13:30 Lunch
- 13:30-16:00 Sessions E
- 16:00-16:30 Coffee break (Café Feeniks or Lobby)
- 16:30-18:00 Keynote 5: Joan Grimalt: Integrating Semiotics and Hermeneutics: A Framework for Musical Performance (Concert hall)
- 18:00-19:00 Break
- 19:00-21:00 Conference dinner near the conference venue (separate registration required)
Friday, 5 June 2026
- 8:00-9:00 Registration desk is open (Lobby)
- 9:00-11:00 Sessions F
- 11:00-11:15 Break
- 11:15-12:15 Special plenary 2: Robert S. Hatten: Textural Subtleties in Three Late Bagatelles by Beethoven: A Lecture-Demonstration and Performance
- 12:15-14:00 Lunch
- 14:00-16:00 Sessions G
- 16:00-16:30 Coffee break (Café Feeniks or Lobby)
- 16:30-18:00 Keynote 6: Ivanka Stoïanova: Luciano Berio (1925–2003), Master of Music as Meaningful Art (Concert hall)
- 18:00-19:00 Break
- 19:00-21:00 Informal get-together at the congress venue, the Sibelius Academy ”R” building
Saturday, 6 June 2026
- 8:00-9:00 Registration desk is open
- 9:00-10:00 Special plenary 3: Eero Tarasti: How We Tried to Understand Music: Varieties of Musical Meanings (Concert hall)
- 10:00-10:15 Break
- 10:15-12:15 Special session: The first 40 years and the next 40 years of ICMS (Concert hall)
- 12:15-12:30 Break
- 12:30-13:00 Closing of the conference
- 13:00 – 14:00 Lunch
- 13:30 – 18:00 Visit to Aino and Jean Sibelius’s home Ainola in Järvenpää with afternoon coffee (to be confirmed; busride, separate registration needed)
Sessions
| Group | Hall | Day | Time | Chair | ||||
| 1 | Semiotic theory | A | CH | Tue 2 June | 13:00–15:00 | Ben Curry | ||
| 2 | Existential semiotics, analysis, and performance | B | CH | Wed 3 June | 09:30–11:00 | Eero Tarasti | ||
| 3 | Embodied mind and meaning I | C | CH | Wed 3 June | 18:00–20:00 | Violetta Kostka | ||
| 4 | Embodied mind and meaning II | D | CH | Thu 4 June | 09:30–11:00 | Violetta Kostka | ||
| 5 | Education | D | CMH | Thu 4 June | 09:30–11:00 | Juha Ojala | ||
| 6 | Language and music | E | CH | Thu 4 June | 14:00–16:00 | TBA | ||
| 7 | Composition, interpretation and performance I | F | CH | Fri 5 June | 09:30–11:00 | Juha Ojala | ||
| 8 | Composition, interpretation and performance II | G | CH | Fri 5 June | 14:00–16:00 | Lucy Abrams-Husso | ||
| 9 | Topics I | A | SH | Tue 2 June | 13:00–15:00 | Lauri Suurpää | ||
| 10 | Topics II | B | SH | Wed 3 June | 09:00–11:00 | Olga Sánchez-Kisielewska | ||
| 11 | Sound, pitch, texture, structure, and tonality | C | SH | Wed 3 June | 18:00–19:30 | Markus Mantere | ||
| 12 | Narratives and rhetorics | D | SH | Thu 4 June | 09:00–10:30 | Anne Kauppala | ||
| 13 | Opera | D–E | SH | Thu 4 June | 10:30–11:00, 13:30–15:30 | Anne Kauppala | ||
| 14 | Vocal music | E–F | SH | Thu – Fri | Thu 15:30–16, Fri 09:00–11:00 | Anne Kauppala | ||
| 15 | Pärt and Feldman | G | SH | Fri 5 June | 14:00–16:00 | TBA | ||
| 16 | Semiotic translation | A | CMH | Tue 2 June | 13:30–15:00 | Małgorzata Grajter | ||
| 17 | Intermediality and intertextuality I: cinema, television and radio | B | CMH | Wed 3 June | 09:00–11:00 | TBA | ||
| 18 | Intermediality and intertextuality II: literature, text, gesture, notation, performance | C | CMH | Wed 3 June | 18:00–19:30 | Małgorzata Gamrat | ||
| 19 | Intermediality and intertextuality III: theatre, literature, visual arts and architecture | D | R-510 | Thu 4 June | 09:00–11:00 | Małgorzata Gamrat | ||
| 20 | Intertextuality IV: music | E | R-510 | Thu 4 June | 13:30–16:00 | Oana Andreica | ||
| 21 | Hybridity | F | CMH | Fri 5 June | 09:00–11:00 | Jean-Marie Jacono | ||
| 22 | Holism, hermeneutics and interdisciplinarity | G | CMH | Fri 5 June | 14:00–16:00 | Gabriele Marino | ||
| 23 | Culture, cultural experience, and cultural identity | A | R-510 | Tue 2 June | 13:30–15:00 | Anna Granat-Janki | ||
| 24 | Glocality: local – global | B | R-510 | Wed 3 June | 09:30–11:00 | Rahilya Geybullayeva | ||
| 25 | Ecology, soundscapes, and environments | C | R-510 | Wed 3 June | 18:00–19:30 | Oleksandra Nenko | ||
| 26 | Politics, nationalism, and activism | E | R-510 | Thu 4 June | 14:00–16:00 | Małgorzata Gamrat | ||
| 27 | Artificial intelligence | F | R-510 | Fri 5 June | 09:00–11:00 | Kalev Tiits | ||
| 28 | Culture and technology | G | R-510 | Fri 5 June | 14:00–15:00 | Kalev Tiits | ||
Legend for hall abbreviations: CH = Concert Hall • SH = Small Hall • CMH = Chamber Music Hall • R-510 = room 510, 5th floor
Keynote speakers
Special plenary speakers
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