The New Lexicon I.
Philosophy of Music History [research group]
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RESIDENCY PROGRAMME FOR MUSIC HISTORIANS
[November 2026 – June 2027]
The New Lexicon is an international research residency devoted to advancing philosophy of music history as a field of inquiry. It convenes music historians who approach historiography not only as the reconstruction or narration of musical pasts, but also as a mode of thought through which evidence, temporality, causality, value, memory, and historical possibility are produced, examined, contested, and reformulated.
Across four online seminars and a culminating public residency, participants will articulate the philosophical grounds of their practices, develop projects through dialogue, and contribute to a shared, plural vocabulary for thinking music history 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 | November 9, 10, 2026
Two online seminars introduce participants’ practices, projects, sources, and research questions, with attention to their premises, methods, and intellectual stakes.
Stage II | Critical Inquiry and Development | February 17, 18, 2027
Two online seminars examine the grounds, methods, ethics, and functions of philosophy of music history while establishing trajectories for research development.
Stage III | Public Presentation and Exchange | June 14-25, 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 history as a field of inquiry. It convenes music historians who understand historiography not solely as the recovery, ordering, or narration of musical pasts, but also as a mode of thought: a practice through which evidence, temporality, causality, identity, value, memory, and historical possibility are generated, examined, tested, contested, and reformulated.
Across four online seminars and a culminating public residency, participants will articulate the philosophical grounds of their practices, develop historical and research projects through sustained critical dialogue, and contribute to a shared yet plural vocabulary for thinking music history anew. The programme offers a setting in which choices concerning sources, archives, periods, narratives, categories, methods, and forms of presentation can be considered not only in terms of scholarly accuracy or explanatory effectiveness, but also in relation to the concepts, assumptions, structures of power, and forms of knowledge they enact.
The residency addresses music historians whose work raises questions that empirical accumulation or method alone cannot resolve. These may concern the accessibility of musical pasts; the status of documents, recordings, testimony, and memory as evidence; relations among event, work, performance, reception, and archive; the construction of periods, traditions, genres, scenes, and canons; the distribution of agency; or the ethical, technological, social, and political conditions within which histories are produced. Participants need not follow a particular philosophical tradition or historiographical school. What matters is a willingness to examine their practice, expose its assumptions to collective inquiry, and engage seriously with different positions.
The New Lexicon is neither a methods workshop nor a seminar applying an established philosophy of history to musical materials. It is a practice-based environment in which historiography and philosophy enter reciprocal relation. Philosophy offers resources for clarifying concepts, testing claims, distinguishing explanation, and examining how knowledge of the past becomes possible. Historical practice, in turn, is approached as inquiry capable of producing concepts, narratives, temporal models, and forms of understanding that may 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 HISTORY
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