REMAKE-ErcProject

09/10/2026

It was great to be in Stockholm today for Musikforskning Idag organised by the Svenska samfundet för musikforskning and hosted by KMH - Kungl. Musikhögskolan.

Our panel brought together three artistic research projects at the Högskolan för scen och musik , University of Gothenburg, that approach music as a form of knowledge extending beyond notation.

Joel Speerstra’s Hidden Pantheon, uncovering names and symbolic meanings encoded in Baroque music, Karin Nelson, organist on behalf of Unlocking the Art of Composition, exploring the relationship between notation, improvisation and creative practice, and Eleanor Smith-Guido on behalf of the Rem@kers.

Together, these projects address a shared question: how can music be understood when it exists between notation, practice, and interpretation?

Thanks also to Stefan Östersjö for chairing the session and the discussion.

Photos: Andreas Edlund
Photo of Karin Nelson: Stefan Östersjö


European Research Council

Högskolan för scen och musik
University of Gothenburg

02/10/2026

Sometimes, the long hours of research are rewarded by the simple joy of discovering that something works.

"This photograph captures the moment I confirmed that the engineering formulae and measurements I had been developing for harpsichord keylever design produced consistent, replicable results", says Eleanor Smith-Guido, Rem@ke researcher: "It was an important validation of the method, but it also demonstrated something broader: instrument builders possess a sophisticated understanding of engineering principles, even when that knowledge is not expressed through formal equations. Being able to model this behaviour mathematically gives us the opportunity to make changes to an instrument design without taking a chisel to wood, to complement experiments with the physical object".

Much of this expertise can be understood as embodied knowledge—knowledge developed through practice, observation, understanding of the materials, and generations of craftsmanship.

--
Photo credits:
1) Making a breakthrough with calculations (photo Joel Speerstra)
2) Working with keyboard in Gothenburg City Museum (photo Johan Wingborg)
3) Trying test keys in the Göteborg Baroque claviorgan (photo Massimiliano Guido)


European Research Council

University of Gothenburg
Högskolan för scen och musik

25/09/2026

Meet the team – Elia Pivetta

Elia is a musicologist from Pordenone, Italy. He is currently working as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Pavia, Cremona Campus, within the Department of Musicology and Cultural Heritage. His path into musicology has crossed different fields: he graduated in Law and Musicology, and studied Organ at the Conservatory of Udine and at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland. It was especially in Basel that his interest in historical keyboards, their sounds, techniques, and uses, became central to his research.
Elia studies music not simply as artworks to admire in a museum, but as a human practice: something people made, performed, taught, listened to, and shared in the past, and still do today. This approach also shapes his publications, which include two critical editions, articles in scholarly journals, chapters in edited volumes, and papers presented at national and international conferences on Italian eighteenth-century music.

23/09/2026

Did you know?

Bernardo Pasquini’s oratorio Santa Agnese hides a fascinating sonic detail. First performed in Rome in 1677 in Cardinal Benedetto Pamphili’s private chapel, the oratorio survives today in just one manuscript score, preserved in Modena. Alongside its five vocal characters, Pasquini calls for an unusual five-part instrumental ensemble: two violins, two violas, and basso continuo. That extra viola is more than a colouristic curiosity. It points to a specifically Roman practice of the 1670s, later abandoned by Pasquini in favour of the standard four-part string texture. A small scoring choice, revealing an entire musical world to listeners today!

18/09/2026

More exciting coverage of the wider-Stein-microecology from Joel Speersta's studio - and with Hans Davidsson of the Göteborg International Organ Academy providing historical context and some music.

Please note that the video is only available in Swedish.

Ett taffelklaver byggt år 1778 restaureras nu i Göteborg inom ramen för ett internationellt forskningsprojekt. – Det är som att bjuda in byggaren till ett långt samtal, säger universitetslektor Joel Speerstra som leder arbetet.

15/09/2026

We inaugurate the Fall Season of the Rem@ke Permanent Seminar Series on Friday, September 25, from 17:00 CEST/16:00 BST.

Our next guest speaker, Heike Fricke (musicologist and organologist specialized in musical-instrument provenance), will join us for a lecture titled:

“Tracing Objects, Reconstructing Networks: Provenance Research into Seven String Instruments Formerly Owned by the German Reich.”

In this seminar, she will present and discuss with us her latest research, a provenance investigation commissioned by the German Federal Government into fine historic string instruments formerly owned by the German Reich. Two case studies show how fragmented records, conflicting attributions, and possible alterations to labels or instruments complicate identification and obscure transfers of ownership.The talk argues for an integrated archival, organological, technical, and digital approach to provenance research.

A Q&A session will follow the presentation.

Follow the link in the first comment to register or scan the QR code on the poster.

We look forward to seeing you there!


European Research Council
Dipartimento di Musicologia e Beni Culturali - Cremona
Università degli studi di Pavia
University of York
Högskolan för scen och musik

(Photo credits: Swen Reichhold)

31/08/2026

The oldest piano in Sweden is being restored by PI Joel Speerstra - with documentation support from the Rem@ke team! This was brought to the city in a similar time period to the Stein claviorgan, so will be a useful reference point in this Microecology.

The project is being led by the Göteborg International Organ Academy

SVERIGES ÄLDSTA PIANO SNART ÅTER SPELBART!
Det närmare 250 år gamla tafelklaveret i Gathenhielmska Huset i Göteborg ska restaureras och åter bli spelbart. Instrumentet, byggt i London 1778, bedöms vara Sveriges äldsta piano och står nu i centrum för ett internationellt forskningsprojekt.

LÄS MER:
https://www.higab.se/nyhetsarkiv/sveriges-aldsta-piano-ska-spela-igen/

31/08/2026

WORKSHOP IN FOCUS - Performing Pasquini

Discussions around partimento, improvisation and a new study of Pasquini’s opera Sant’Agnese. We will invite you into a micro-ecology around the Roman composer Bernardo Pasquini (1637–1710) and the legendary harpsichord builder to the royal courts of Europe, Girolamo Zenti (1609–1668), putting Bernardo Pasquini in the context of his relationship to Christina, the newly abdicated Queen of Sweden.

RESEARCH IN FOCUS

The AFTERNOON SEMINAR will be hosted by the ERC REM@KE project team and the Swedish Research Council project: Unlocking the Art of Composition, both based in part at the Academy of Music and Drama, University of Gothenburg.

October 14, 9:00-11:30,
14:00-16:00, Afternoon Workshop

Artisten (University of Gothenburg), Ohlin Hall

REMAKE-ErcProject
Karin Nelson, organist on behalf of
Högskolan för scen och musik
European Research Council

https://www.gu.se/en/research/unlocking-the-art-of-composition
https://remake.unipv.it/

31/07/2026

If you missed the seminar with Tim Ingold, "At the Keyboard: Fingerwork and Digitalization", it is now available on the Rem@ke YouTube channel (link in the first comment), including the lively discussion that followed the talk!

Visit our website: https://remake.unipv.it/permanent-seminar-series/ if you would you like to know more about the Rem@ke Permanent Seminar Series.

This was the last Rem@ke Permanent Seminar before the Summer Break. See you in September!


European Research Council

Dipartimento di Musicologia e Beni Culturali - Cremona
Università degli studi di Pavia
University of York
Högskolan för scen och musik
University of Gothenburg henburg
ISPC CNR Istituto di Scienze del Patrimonio Culturale
Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria

31/07/2026

E-RIHS 3rd Call for Access is now open!

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Discover the services that match your research goals and submit your proposal!

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Deadline for submitting proposals: October 15th at noon!

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CNR Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
ISPC CNR Istituto di Scienze del Patrimonio Culturale
Istituto Nazionale di Ottica del CNR
CNR DSU
Politecnico di Milano
Università di Torino
Università Roma Tre
Sapienza Università di Roma
Università degli studi di Trieste
Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna
Università degli Studi della Tuscia
Università degli Studi di Perugia
DiLBeC Università degli studi della Campania
Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro
Università di Napoli "Federico II"
Università di Catania
Università degli Studi di Cagliari
museitaliani
Centro Conservazione Restauro "La Venaria Reale"
E-rihs.eu