For a workshop on cooperative ensembles (1770–1890), taking place on 12/13 September 2025 at the Université de Genève, we are calling for short presentations followed by open discussions covering topics such as governance, administration, financial management, inclusion/exclusion of members, their social position, rehearsal practices, artistic leadership, or stage plans. Participants are invited to present source material such as minutes of meetings, statutes, reports on cooperative decision-making processes, annotated sheet music, or images of ensembles, which will form the basis for discussions.

A cooperation of Hochschule der Künste Bern with Université de Genève and Haute école de musique de Genève.

Presentation

For a workshop on cooperative ensembles (1770–1890), taking place on 12/13 September 2025 at the Université de Genève, we are calling for short presentations (ca 10 minutes, in English or French) followed by open discussions covering topics such as governance, administration, financial management, inclusion/exclusion of members, their social position, rehearsal practices, artistic leadership, or stage plans. Participants are invited to present source material such as minutes of meetings, statutes, reports on cooperative decision-making processes, annotated sheet music, or images of ensembles, which will form the basis for discussions.

During the workshop, a visit to the library of the Haute école de musique de Genève will provide an opportunity to discover the archives of local orchestral societies.

For more information on the workshop and the Call, please see on the workshop website.

Submission guidelines

Participants will be asked to submit a short abstract (1500 characters)

by 20 January 2025.

The abstract should describe a corpus of sources and a research question to be discussed. 

By the end of June 2025, selected participants will be asked to submit source material (1–10 pages, photos in high definition and/or transcripts) which will then be included in a reader provided to participants in preparation for the event.Travel and hotel expenses can be covered for invited participants.

The peer-reviewed publication following the workshop will include commented transcriptions of significant source material.

Organising Commitee

• Iseult Andreani
• Rémy Campos
• Martin Danneck
• Annette Kappeler
• Christoph Riedo