IAMIC Conference 2026
This year our conference coincides with the 40th anniversary of our host organisation, the Contemporary Music Centre. We are thrilled that our IAMIC community gets the chance to be part of these celebrations.
The theme of our conference will be “The Future of Music in a Changing World” and we are planning a four-day programme designed to immerse you in the vibrancy of the Irish musical ecosystem while tackling some of the most urgent challenges facing the global music community.
The registration deadline for 2026 has passed.
Programme
Date
Item
Event Planning
Date
Item
8 Sept Registration and Welcome Reception
Time
Item
17:30–20:00 Registration and Welcome Reception
Venue: Contemporary Music Centre (CMC) (19 Fishamble St, Dublin)
17:30–18:30 Registration
18:00–20:00 Opening reception
19:00–19:30 Showcase: Isabelle O’Connell
Programme:
a movement of Rhona Clarke’s ‘Cocteau’;
Sam Perkin’s Prelude (premiere);
Karen Power’s ‘deafening silence’ – piano and field recordings.
9 Sept Conference Day 1
Time
Item
9:30–16:00 IAMIC Conference
Venue: IMRO (Pembroke Row, Lower Baggot St, Dublin)
9:00–9:20
Arrival and coffee
9:20–9:30
Opening remarks
9:30–11:10
Sustainable Futures & Supports for Artists:
- Annette Clancy (UCD): Paying Artists, Fixing the System? Presentation followed by a panel discussion with Hannah Darroch (SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music) and Regin Petersen (Art Music Denmark)
- Keith Fennell (CMC): CMC Artist Development
- Chris Duncan (SMC): Living Music Trust
11:10–11:30
Coffee
11:30–13:20
Understanding the Irish Context:
- Laura Watson: gender representation in Irish music
- Garrett Sholdice (CMC) / Paul Scully (KIrkos) / Karen Dervan (New Music Dublin): presentation and discussion on DIY venues for artists in Dublin
- Molly Newell: ethical AI, and big tech in Ireland
13:30–14:30
Lunch
14:30–16:00
Afternoon Session: Fail Better!
An open session for delegates to share projects, ideas, or approaches that didn’t go as planned – and to explore, as a group, what can be learned from them. Facilitated by Ethan Davies from Tŷ Cerdd Music Wales.
18:00–19:30 Visit to Irish Traditional Music Archive
Venue: Irish Traditional Music Archive (ITMA) (73 Merrion Square S, Dublin)
19:30–21:00 Dinner
10 Sept Conference Day 2
Time
Item
9:30–16:00 Public Symposium: The Future of Music in a Changing World
Venue: TCD Long Room Hub (Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin)
9:30–10:00
Registration
10:00–10:20
Opening remarks: Official conference opening
10:20–10:30
Opening Performance: Larissa O’Grady (violin)
Jane O’Leary: fingers of the wind (premiere)
10:30–10:45
Keynote: Jane O’Leary: A Life in Music – Reflections on 40 Years, and What Comes Next
Composer Jane O’Leary reflects on a changing world of music in Ireland and beyond, from her early days studying piano and composition in the USA to her arrival in Ireland in the early 1970s. Celebrating 40 years of CMC supporting composers, she considers what composers, performers, and listeners might want to hold onto as we move into the future.
10:45–11:00
Keynote (TBA)
11:00–11:20
Presentation: Stephen Graham: Canary in the AI Coalmine – New Music and Authorship in the Age of AI
Stephen Graham (UCC) explores authorship and creative agency in new music in the context of generative AI, arguing that historical and emerging authorial practices – where chance, collaboration, algorithmic composition, coordination and curation have all been commonplace – tell a unique story of human agency and creativity, instructive for how we think about creativity and consciousness in relation to AI.
11:20–11:50
Panel discussion: Whose Future? Sustaining and Protecting Music Creators in a Changing World
What does support for creators actually look like now, and what’s still missing? Panelists Catherine Martin (The Ivors Academy), Stephen Graham (UCC), Evangelia Rigaki (TCD), with moderator Evonne Ferguson (CMC).
11:50–12:15
Coffee
12:15–12:25
Performance: Larissa O’Grady (violin)
Judith Ring: Swept through the Floods
12:30–12:45
Presentation: Karen Power: environments speak, listen
Karen Power explores environmental listening – field recording, sound, and how she brings these experiences into artistic contexts, often paired with musicians. Focuses on her ongoing development of ‘aural scores,’ an alternative to the traditional score for merging field recordings with live performers.
12:45–13:00
Presentation: Nick Roth: ‘Coming to Know’ through Music
Exploring vortical flow patterns in water, the mathematics of a starling murmuration, forest canopy ecologies and the evolutionary genetics of the orchid, this session explores how music can function as a form of translative epistemology – a ‘coming to know’ of our world fundamentally different to language, data or visual symbol.
13:00–13:30
Panel discussion: The sound of silence: the role of new music in climate and political activism
Panelists Karen Power, Judith Ring, Nick Roth, with moderator Helen Shaw, explore the role new music can play in responding to climate and political urgency.
13:30–14:30
Lunch
14:30–14:45
Performance: Jonathan Nangle performance
Tessellate (2016), version for 8-Channel Electronics and
Pre-Recorded Cello
Cyclic Supercell (2026), 8-Channel Electronics
14:45–15:30
Panel discussion: Music Centres of the Future
Catherine Haridy (Australian Music Centre), Deborah Keyser (Tŷ Cerdd Music Wales), Regin Petersen (Art Music Denmark), Vanessa Rose (New Music USA), with moderator Signý Leifsdóttir (Iceland Music) discuss whether music centres are still built for the job, and what’s needed to support artists and music sectors in future.
15:30–15:45
Presentation: Brian Irvine: Things That Don’t Belong – Creating new musical worlds through collision, contradiction and incompatibility
In the closing presentation, Brian Irvine explores the composer’s changing role – from creator of fixed musical works to designer of situations and systems where music can happen – drawing on work spanning opera, film, video games, installation, and improvisation.
18:00–19.30 Dinner
20:00–23.30 Concert
20:00–20:40
Concert Part 1: Roth / Mattrey / Kaupinis
Vernon Hall, RIAM (Westland Row)
Featuring Irish-based artists Nick Roth and Joanna Mattrey, along with Lithuanian artist and IAMIC delegate Simonas Kaupinis, marking CMC and IAMIC’s 40th years by incorporating 40-second audio clips submitted by delegates representing the music of their own countries and regions. The performance will last for 40 mins.
21:30–23.30
Concert Part 2: Roth / Mattrey / Kaupinis + Kirkos Ensemble
Kirkos Space (Smithfield)
Optional late night concert for delegates at Kirkos Space, joined by members of the Kirkos Ensemble, continuing the thread of delegate audio clips woven through the evening.
11 Sept Conference Day 3
Time
Item
09:30–12:45 IAMIC Sessions
Venue: IMRO (Pembroke Row, Lower Baggot St, Dublin)
9:30–11:00
Morning Session 1: IAMIC Luck Circle
Friday’s programme opens with a small-group, member-led session where members take turns sharing a professional problem, challenge, or issue, with the group discussing it and offering feedback within a set time. Coordinated by Richard Greer (Scottish Music Centre).
11:00–11:30
Coffee break
11:30–12:45
Morning Session 2: IAMIC Committee presentations and discussion
Uses a “World Cafe” format where participants move between committee tables to discuss topics and provide input, helping committees recruit new members and gather member input. Led by Deborah Keyser (Tŷ Cerdd Music Wales) and Ward Bosmans (Kunstenpunt).
