The dozens of elegant music books and fragments known collectively as the 'Alamire manuscripts' comprise one of the most important and well-known corpora of musical sources from the first half of the sixteenth century.

Nearly thirty years have elapsed since the exhibition and conference that gave rise to The Treasury of Petrus Alamire (ed. Herbert Kellman; Ludion, 1999), a fundamental publication that was the first to bring all the known manuscripts together, synthesized the latest research, and which remains the starting point for work conducted on any and all of the Alamire manuscripts.

In the decades since the publication of the Treasury, research on the Alamire manuscripts has proceeded apace, greatly aided by the availability of high-resolution images of the corpus via the Integrated Database for Early Music. This conference brings together the latest work on these manuscripts, taking stock of recent scholarly developments as well as laying the groundwork for future research, especially in light of new digital-analytical tools.

On 28 and 29 April, the conference will take place at the Alamire Foundation, on the grounds of historic Park Abbey in Leuven, simultaneously with the polyphony festival Voices of Passion 2027. On 30 April, the conference will convene at the Royal Library of Belgium in Brussels for a private exhibition of the Alamire choirbooks in that collection.

Registration will open upon announcement of the programme.

Presentations are expected to be in-person, but the conference will be streamed online. The conference fee for in-person participation is €60 (not including dinner). The conference fee will be waived for KU Leuven students/staff. Online attendance is free of charge.

This conference aims to assemble a wide range of scholarship that touches on any and all aspects of the Alamire manuscripts, including but not limited to:

• Historiography of the manuscripts and their study, before and since 1999
• 'Museum-ification' and 'canonization' of these luxury musical sources
• Material characteristics of individual or groups of Alamire manuscripts
• Paleographical observations and concerns
• Art-historical study of illuminations in the manuscripts
• Repertoire, transmission, and performance
• Patronage, personages, and devotional aspects
• The role of technology—in their production, preservation, and study today and in the future

Please send titles and abstracts for consideration to Brett Kostrzewski by 15 October 2026 (brett.kostrzewski@kuleuven.be)

• Convener: Brett Kostrzewski (Alamire Foundation/KU Leuven)
• Scientific Committee: David Burn (Alamire Foundation/KU Leuven), Anne-Emmanuelle Ceulemans (UC Louvain), Antonio Chemotti (KBR/Alamire Foundation/KU Leuven), Émilie Corswarem (Université de Liège), Brett Kostrzewski (Alamire Foundation/KU Leuven)
• Organizing Committee: Antonio Chemotti (Alamire Foundation/KU Leuven/KBR), Anne-Emmanuelle Ceulemans (UC Louvain), Bart Demuyt (Alamire Foundation/KU Leuven), Ann Kelders (KBR/Alamire Foundation), Brett Kostrzewski (Alamire Foundation/KU Leuven)

Sponsors and Partners: KU Leuven, Alamire Foundation, the Royal Library of Belgium (KBR), and the Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (FWO)

For questions, please contact Brett Kostrzewski.