Jornades ab Sentits VIII: Music and Representation
Rolf Bäcker, musicologist, philologist, historian, and professor at ESMUC, during his lecture on String Theory at previous editions of the conference.
On April 9, 10, and 11, 2026, ESMUC will host the eighth edition of the Jornades ab Sentits, dedicated to exploring the field of musical hermeneutics under the theme “Music and Representation.” The aim of this meeting is to foster dialogue as well as to encourage critical and innovative research into the multiple ways in which music functions as a form of representation — musical, cultural, philosophical, and aesthetic.
Music hermeneutics, rooted in the philosophical tradition of interpretation, invites us to rethink how music can be heard as meaningful, beyond mere sound. How does music represent rhetorical gestures, emotions, ideas, cultural identities, or dramaturgical forms? How do performers, listeners, and scholars engage in the act of musical representation and
interpretation?
We welcome proposals addressing but not limited to the following topics:
● Theoretical foundations and methodologies of music hermeneutics
● Music as a form of linguistic, symbolic, or dramaturgical representation
● The role of the performer in the hermeneutic process of music representation
● Historical and contemporary case studies illustrating music’s representational capacities
● Philosophical perspectives on music, meaning, and representation
● Music and its relationship to other arts and media in representation
● Hermeneutic challenges in cross-cultural musical interpretation
● The impact of technology and digital media on music representation
● Ethical and political dimensions of music hermeneutics
● Interdisciplinary approaches linking
Please complete the online form by January 31, 2026.
Oral presentations will last 20 minutes, followed by a 10-minute discussion period. Commented concerts may last up to 40 minutes, including questions.
Rolf Bäcker, Joan Grimalt, Marc Heilbron and Alejandro Mateo.