The New Lexicon I.
Philosophy of Music Research [research group]
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RESIDENCY PROGRAMME FOR COMPOSERS
[October 2026 – June 2027]
The New Lexicon is an international research residency devoted to the critical investigation, articulation, and advancement of philosophy of music research as a field of inquiry. It convenes researchers who approach inquiry into music not only as the application of established methods, but also as a practice through which musical objects, evidence, knowledge, interpretation, value, and responsibility are constituted, examined, contested, and reformulated.
Across four online seminars and a culminating public residency, participants will articulate the philosophical grounds of their research, develop projects through dialogue, and contribute to a plural vocabulary for thinking music research anew.
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PROGRAM AT A GLANCE
Program period: October 2026–June 2027
Format: Four online seminars followed by an on-site festival phase
On-site location: Bled, Slovenia (EU)
Public presentation: Seventh Bled Contemporary Music Week
Application deadline: September 30, 2026
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FORMAT
Stage I | Articulation and Presentation | October 2026
Two online seminars introduce participants’ projects, questions, materials, and methods, with attention to conceptual premises, disciplinary locations, and stakes.
Stage II | Critical Inquiry and Development | January 2027
Two online seminars examine the grounds, methods, evidence, ethics, and functions of music research while establishing trajectories for individual and collective development.
Stage III | Public Presentation and Exchange | June 2027
Participants present research, lectures, and discussions at the seventh Bled Contemporary Music Week in Bled, Slovenia.
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RESIDENCY OVERVIEW
The New Lexicon is an international research residency dedicated to the critical investigation, articulation, and advancement of philosophy of music research as a field of inquiry. It convenes researchers who understand the study of music not simply as the application of established methods to pre-existing objects, but as a practice through which musical phenomena, evidence, knowledge, interpretation, value, and responsibility are constituted, examined, contested, and reformulated.
Across four online seminars and a culminating public residency, participants will articulate the philosophical grounds of their research, develop projects through critical dialogue, and contribute to a plural vocabulary for thinking music research anew. The programme offers a setting in which choices concerning questions, methods, evidence, representation, and validity can be considered not only in terms of disciplinary convention or practical effectiveness, but also in relation to the assumptions and structures of value they enact.
The residency is addressed to researchers whose work raises questions that cannot be resolved by methodological procedure alone. These may concern what counts as music or as a musical object; how archives, recordings, scores, performances, memories, testimony, data, and embodied experience become evidence; how interpretation differs from explanation; how researcher position shapes knowledge; how technologies organise perception and analysis; or how institutions authorise particular subjects, methods, histories, and voices. Participants need not subscribe to a single philosophical tradition or disciplinary identity. What matters is a willingness to examine the grounds of one’s inquiry, expose its assumptions to collective scrutiny, and engage seriously with approaches beyond one’s own.
The New Lexicon is neither a conventional academic workshop nor a seminar in which an established philosophy is simply applied to research projects. It is a practice-based environment in which philosophy and music research enter into reciprocal relation. Philosophy offers means for clarifying concepts, testing claims, distinguishing problems, and examining conditions of knowledge. Music research, in turn, is approached as inquiry capable of producing experiences, relations, and forms of understanding that may exceed or transform inherited theoretical language.
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MENTORS
Dr. Alastair White
Urban Megušar, Double M.Mus.
Dr. Niki Zohdi
Dr. Dré A. Hočevar
COORDINATOR
Brina Kren
DATES
MENTORS
PROGRAMME FORMAT
RESEARCH PREMISE
WHY THE NEW LEXICON?
CENTRAL QUESTIONS
WORKING METHOD
PARTICIPANT VALUE
WHO THE PROGRAMME ADDRESSES
TOWARDS MULTIPLE PHILOSOPHIES OF MUSIC RESEARCH
APPLICATION
APPLICATION FORM AND
PARTICIPATION FEES
The New Lexicon program is produced by .abeceda Institute
.abeceda [Institute for Research in Art, Critical Thought and Philosophy], a public-benefit NGO and non-profit organisation dedicated to advancing contemporary artistic practices and critical inquiry. Through its innovative programmes, .abeceda has gained international recognition as one of the leading platforms for contemporary music and artistic research in the Adriatic region and across Europe: www.abeceda.io