AEC - European Association of Conservatoires

22/09/2026

The Call for proposals for Classical:NEXT 2027 is open!

Classical:NEXT is an international meeting point for innovators in classical and art music, and a great place for the higher music education community to connect with the wider sector.

The 2027 edition will take place in Katowice, Poland, from 11 to 14 May, with a programme that includes sessions, project pitches, showcase concerts, film showcases, an expo and the Innovation Award.

The programme is built by the community itself. We warmly encourage conservatoire staff, students and ensembles to consider submitting their ideas and projects!

The deadline for conference sessions, project pitch and showcase proposals: 9 October 2026

More information and submissions on the Classical:NEXT website: https://classicalnext.com/update/the-call-for-proposals-is-open-2/

21/09/2026

Hamburg, here we come! 🎶

Registration is now open for the AEC Annual Congress and General Assembly 2026, taking place at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg from 4 to 7 November.
Under the title From Institution to Interaction, we'll explore how conservatoires can connect more closely with society, the profession and a fast-changing world.
Expect workshops, co-creation, discussions and poster presentations, along with live music and good company.

📅 Register by 12 October (places are limited)

👥 Up to 5 representatives per institution, including at least one student

💶 Erasmus funds, Travel Bursaries and Green Travel Incentives available

⚠️ Register only through the official AEC website. Be cautious of unsolicited offers by email.

All the details: https://aec-music.eu/event/aec-annual-congress-2026/

18/09/2026

🎶 IMPACT 2027 is coming to Tallinn!

The fourth edition of IMPACT – IMProvisation and Creativity In and Through Performing Arts will take place from 11 to 13 February 2027 at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in Tallinn.

IMPACT is organised through a partnership between the Eesti Muusika- ja Teatriakadeemia / Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (Tallinn), the ESMAE - Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espetáculo (Porto) and the LMTA Lietuvos muzikos ir teatro akademija (Vilnius).

This year’s symposium, Territories of Negotiation: Exploring Trends in Interdisciplinary Improvisation will explore how encounters between disciplines can involve collaboration and transformation, but also tension, misunderstanding, asymmetry and questions of power.

The programme will bring together researchers, artists and practitioners through paper presentations, performance-as-research presentations and facilitated discussions, with contributions invited across disciplines and approaches to improvisation.

📣 The call for proposals is open until 1 November 2026.

👉 Find out more and submit your proposal!

IMPACT, the international symposium on improvisation and creativity in and through the performing arts, returns for its fourth edition in Tallinn, 11–13 February 2027. The call for papers and performances is open until 1 November 2026.

16/09/2026

Saturday at focused on cooperation, exchange and what comes next.

The final morning opened with AEC Talk 3 – Higher Music Education in EU Enlargement Countries: Cooperation, Resilience and Artistic Freedom.

The talk addressed critical reflection and civic engagement, as well as the role of European initiatives and networks in supporting meaningful and reciprocal cooperation.

🗨 Discussion Groups brought participants together around topics including AI in music education and practice, Erasmus+, seamless mobility, transnational academic networks in times of political turmoil and feedback for future editions.

And there is already a next destination to look forward to: the 2027 AEC IRC Annual Meeting will take place in Glasgow, hosted by the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. 🇬🇧

Before heading home, participants gathered one last time around a table filled with food, drinks and flavours from across the AEC community 🍇

📍 Conservatorio di Musica "F.A. Bonporti" di Trento e Riva del Garda
📸 PC Lucio Tonina

15/09/2026

🌐 Throwback to the !

Friday was all about connecting, sharing and looking outward.

The day brought IRCs together around international cooperation, from the AEC Talk on Going Global and the latest ESCI+ updates to project pitches, the Information Market and Match Making.

With posters, project ideas and informal conversations filling the corridors, the networking lunch and afternoon Discussion Groups gave participants plenty of opportunities to exchange experiences, questions and practical ideas.

And the conversations continued into the evening: after visiting the Conservatoire’s site in Riva del Garda, participants took to Lake Garda for a boat trip: a beautiful setting to keep exchanging, connecting and building new partnerships. ⛵

📍 Conservatorio di Musica "F.A. Bonporti" di Trento e Riva del Garda

📸 PC: Lucio Tonina

14/09/2026

The REMA Early Music Summit returns! 🎶

From 24 to 27 November 2026, REMA - EEMN, the European Early Music Network, is organising the third edition of the European Early Music Summit in Bruges and Ghent, in partnership with Concertgebouw Brugge, Orpheus Institute and Muziekcentrum De Bijloke Gent.

Under the tagline "What we stand for", this edition invites the sector to return to what truly matters: what unites it, and what its values express to the world and about the world.

Conceived as a laboratory of ideas, the programme combines panels and discussions, continuous thematic streams on research, education, repertoire and performance practice, project pitches, masterclasses and participatory workshops, with the 2026 REMA Awards ceremony as its highlight.

Places are limited. Explore the daily programme, venues and partner hotels, and book your ticket here: 👉
https://www.earlymusic.eu/programme-2/

09/09/2026

📣 Call for Venues: Host an AEC Event in 2028!

We are looking for venues for the AEC Annual Congress (450 to 500 delegates, November) and the AEC Pop and Jazz Platform (200 to 250 delegates, February).

Hosting means welcoming colleagues from across Europe to your campus, showcasing your facilities at international level, and helping shape the event itself.

Deadline extended to 1 December 2026. Applications and informal expressions of interest go to [email protected].

All the details here 👉 https://aec-music.eu/event/call-for-hosting-venues-for-aec-event

05/09/2026

🎻 Thursday at the AEC IRC Meeting 2026 in Trento!

Following the Pre-Conference Workshops, the AEC Annual Meeting for International Relations Coordinators officially opened with a warm welcome, including words from Francesca Gerosa, Assessore all’istruzione, cultura, per i giovani e per le pari opportunità, Provincia di Trento.

We then had our first AEC Talk on Building Cross-Continental Collaborations, and a full afternoon of parallel sessions and exchange.

The highlight of the evening was music, with the AEC BIP Choir Trento 2026 and AEC BIP Orchestra Trento 2026 performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major and Vivaldi’s Gloria in D major at the Auditorium of the Conservatorio di Musica "F.A. Bonporti" di Trento e Riva del Garda.

A wonderful celebration of music, collaboration and international exchange. Congratulations to all the performers and to conductors Salvatore La Rosa and Andrea Raffanini! 👏

The day closed with a Welcome Dinner at the beautiful MUSE – Museo delle Scienze, bringing IRCs together for an evening of conversation and connection.



PC Lucio Tonina

03/09/2026

🎶 Good afternoon from Trento! We started the day with four Pre-Conference Workshops:

1⃣ AI in International Relations Offices: Practical Applications, Automation and Responsible Use 🤖
A session that started from the ground up: where the term artificial intelligence comes from, how generative AI entered the conversation, and why concepts like hallucination and bias need to be understood before any tool is put to work. From there, a four level framework for using AI with more structure, moving from simple prompts to projects, connectors and full systems, followed by concrete cases from international offices, including questions of personal data protection and how to deal with institutional resistance to AI.

2⃣ & 3⃣ Project Writing, from first applications to advanced proposals ✍️📊
Two parallel workshops covering the full path of European project development: KA171 and BIPs for colleagues applying for the first time, and Erasmus+ KA220-HED and Horizon Europe (Cluster 2) for those working on more complex proposals, with a focus on award criteria, consortium building and the sections that make or break an application.

4⃣ Lost in Translation? Turning Intercultural Moments into Action 🌍
This workshop brought our participants together to explore intercultural communication through three simple lenses and honest peer dialogue. Participants left with a shared toolkit and one concrete commitment — something they'll do, and something they'll ask of their institution.