International Conference Petrus Alamire: New Perspectives on Polyphony
Exposition Petrus Alamire, Antwerp © Alamire Foundation
The valorisation processes mapped out for New Perspectives on Polyphony resulted in a large-scale, three-part programme focusing on the corpus of manuscripts produced by Petrus Alamire and his workshop: the exhibition Petrus Alamire ‒ Polyphony in the Picture (Antwerp, 19 August - 25 November 2015), the international conference Petrus Alamire - New Perspectives on Polyphony (Antwerp, 19-23 August 2015) and the festival Laus Polyphoniae (Antwerp, 19-30 August 2015).
The results of the research conducted as part of the IWT project or connected with it gave the direct impetus for an international conference. When the exhibition opened in Antwerp and the Laus Polyphoniae festival began, musicologists, performers of polyphony and organizers of early music festivals from all over the world engaged in dialogue about the latest musicological insights into the Alamire manuscripts, their history, meaning, repertoire and so on.
Along with the typical conference papers (26 in total), there were two keynotes (one by Prof. Herbert Kellman and one by Paul Van Nevel, the artistic leader of the Huelgas Ensemble), four lecture performances, three panel discussions and a workshop. The lecture performances, all featuring leading national and international ensembles, were held as part of the Laus Polyphoniae festival and were open to the general public. Debates on the performance practice of late mediaeval polyphony were also part of the programme.
Never before had musicologists, artistic leaders of early music ensembles and concert organizers been brought together for an academic conference attended by almost 100 participants.
The results of this conference were reflected in several issues of the Journal of the Alamire Foundation.