News
REMA meeting lays down objectives for 2010
18 November 2009
The most recent meeting of REMA, the European Early Music Network, on 30 and 31 October 2009 in Louvain brought together around 20 participants, to discuss music and the visual arts. A round table, moderated by Sofie Taes, a musicologist from the Alamire Foundation, brought together Véronique Vandekerchove, Curator of the M Leuven museum, Jean-Marc Aymes, musician and director of “Mars en baroque”, and Björn Schmelzer, musician and conductor of the Graindelavoix ensemble. They discussed the crossovers between music and visual arts, to investigate what music can bring as a new experience to the public when they are contemplating art, and vice versa. A discussion followed concerning the conclusions of the “25 years of Musica” seminar in Neerpelt, Belgium, which took place in August 2009. Kathrin Deventer, Secretary General of the European Festivals Association (EFA), and Eva Nunes, EFA European Project Assistant, presented the civil society platform “Access to Culture”, which REMA has been a member of since 2008. More information about the recommendations presented by this platform on 28 September in Brussels can be found on the EFA website: www.efa-aef.eu/en/activities/european-house-for-culture. Also, REMA’s directions for 2010 were presented: REMA will celebrate its 10th anniversary in July (8-11 July 2010) in York, England, at the National Centre for Early Music (NCEM), with a major European conference on 9 July. The theme of this conference will be “early music in Europe: past, present and future”, with guests including artists, musicologists and philosophers, plus representatives from radio and the record industry. A publication will be released after the conference to mark the event. An initial meeting, with the provisional title of “the REMA Grand Audition” will be sent to European ensembles specialising in early music who wish to be auditioned by an audience of directors of the most prestigious early music festivals in Europe, all members of REMA. This meeting will take place at the CMBV (Versailles Centre of Baroque Music) on 24 April 2010. Our 2010 General meeting will take place on 23 April at the Dutch Cultural Institute, Paris. For December 2010 REMA has been invited to Echternach in Luxembourg by EUBO, the European Union Baroque Orchestra: From 4-5 December, REMA is organising a conference, the theme of which is projects devoted to young musicians by our members – such as academies or other specific projects mobilising young musicians. More information of on the latest REMA meeting and related topics can be found in the REMA newsletter.