BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 CALSCALE:GREGORIAN PRODID:adamgibbons/ics METHOD:PUBLISH X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VEVENT UID:30317@offbeat.amsterdam SUMMARY:The art of listening DTSTAMP:20261110T215707Z DTSTART:20261203T190000Z DESCRIPTION:Humans are musical animals. From lullabies to laments\, music a ccompanies our\nlives from the cradle to the grave. It is as common as it is remarkable:\nclapping\, dancing or singing take capacities that even ou r closest relatives may\nlack. Step inside the musical mind in an evening with concerts and\nconversations. This evening explores the science of mus ical listening\, in birds\,\nhumans and computers\, but also the art. Talk s and panel discussions are\ninterwoven with live music by Nik Bärtsch and Yuri Honing to let music speak for\nitself.\n\nWhat do we listen for in m usic? To understand how music works\, we need to\nunderstand how we listen . Decades of research suggest that appreciating music\nrequires a special kind of listening. Something as simple as clapping to the\nbeat requires h earing beats that need not even be played. While virtually all\nhumans are musical in this sense\, many species appear to listen differently.\nMusic \, it seems\, is in the mind of the listener.\n\nAcross cultures\, music m arks the moments that matter most. It can carry profound\npersonal meaning \, provide a portal into our emotional lives\, and may hold a key\nto our well-being: musical listening is deeply human. Yet\, for over fifty years\ ,\nmusicians have collaborated with machines that create new music. Now th at\ncomputers are climbing the charts\, have we moulded silicon into a new musical\nlistener?\n\nThe Art of Listening honours Henkjan Honing on the occasion of his retirement\nfrom the University of Amsterdam and his valed ictory lecture on 4 December.\n\n\nSPEAKERS\n\nGeorge E. Lewis is a compos er\, trombonist and musicologist\, and the Edwin H.\nCase Professor of Ame rican Music at Columbia University. He has been a pioneer\nof computer mus ic\, improvising alongside Voyager\, the interactive musical system\nhe cr eated in the 1980s. Lewis has written on the history of experimental music \,\ncomputer music and improvisation\, and how these are entangled with ra ce\, gender\nand decolonisation. Among his many honours are multiple honor ary doctorates and\nfellowships\, including a MacArthur Fellowship. He is artistic director of the\nInternational Contemporary Ensemble\, and was a 2025 Pulitzer Prize finalist for\nhis opera The Comet.\n\nRenee Timmers is Professor of Psychology of Music at the University of\nSheffield\, where she directs the research centre Muses\, Mind\, Machine. She\nstudies emoti onal responses to music\, expression and communication in\nperformance\, a nd music for health and wellbeing. More recently\, Timmers has\ncompared m usical experiences across cultures and studied musical engagement\namong p eople with dementia and the use of music for sleep. She is a former\nPresi dent of the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music (ESCOM).\ n\nW. Tecumseh Fitch is Professor of Cognitive Biology at the University o f Vienna.\nHe studies the evolution of communication and cognition: the me chanisms that\nunderlie the production and perception of vocalisations in birds and mammals.\nFitch’s work on the evolution of language and music ha s stressed the value of\nbroadly comparative research across animal specie s. He was elected to the U.S.\nNational Academy of Sciences in 2025.\n\nEr ic Clarke is Emeritus Professor of Music at the University of Oxford\, whe re he\nheld the Heather Professorship from 2007 to 2022. In his research\, the\npsychology of music\, music theory and musical aesthetics often inte rsect. He has\nwritten on musical meaning\, expressive performance\, the p roduction and\nperception of rhythm\, and music’s relation to language\, c onsciousness and\nempathy. Clarke is a Fellow of the British Academy and a member of Academia\nEuropaea. URL:https://offbeat.amsterdam/event/the-art-of-listening GEO:52.3685931;4.8896879 LOCATION:SPUI25 - Spui 25-27\, 1012 WX Amsterdam STATUS:CONFIRMED CATEGORIES:concert,science,talk X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

Humans are musical animals. From lullabies to laments, music accompanies our lives from the cradle to the grave. It i s as common as it is remarkable: clapping, dancing or singing take capacit ies that even our closest relatives may lack. Step inside the musical mind in an evening with concerts and conversations. This evening explores the science of musical listening, in birds, humans and computers, but also the art. Talks and panel discussions are interwoven with live music by Nik Bä rtsch and Yuri Honing to let music speak for itself.

What do we listen for in music? To understand how music works, we need to under stand how we listen. Decades of research suggest that appreciating music r equires a special kind of listening. Something as simple as clapping to th e beat requires hearing beats that need not even be played. While virtually all humans are musical in this sense, many species appear to li sten differently. Music, it seems, is in the mind of the listener.

Across cultures, music marks the moments that matter most. It can carry p rofound personal meaning, provide a portal into our emotional lives, and m ay hold a key to our well-being: musical listening is deeply human. Yet, f or over fifty years, musicians have collaborated with machines that create new music. Now that computers are climbing the charts, have we moulded si licon into a new musical listener?

The Art of Listening honour s Henkjan Honing on the occasion of his retirement from the University of Amsterdam and his valedictory lecture on 4 December.

Speaker s

George E. Lewis is a composer, trombon ist and musicologist, and the Edwin H. Case Professor of American Music at Columbia University. He has been a pioneer of computer music, improvising alongside Voyager, the interactive musical system he created in the 1980s. Lewis has written on the history of experimental music, compute r music and improvisation, and how these are entangled with race, gender a nd decolonisation. Among his many honours are multiple honorary doctorates and fellowships, including a MacArthur Fellowship. He is artistic directo r of the International Contemporary Ensemble, and was a 2025 Pulitzer Priz e finalist for his opera The Comet.

Renee Timmers is Professor of Psychology of Music at the University of Sheffie ld, where she directs the research centre Muses, Mind, Machine. She studie s emotional responses to music, expression and communication in performanc e, and music for health and wellbeing. More recently, Timmers has compared musical experiences across cultures and studied musical engagement among people with dementia and the use of music for sleep. She is a former Presi dent of the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music (ESCOM).< /p>

W. Tecumseh Fitch is Professor of Cogniti ve Biology at the University of Vienna. He studies the evolution of commun ication and cognition: the mechanisms that underlie the production and per ception of vocalisations in birds and mammals. Fitch’s work on the evoluti on of language and music has stressed the value of broadly comparative res earch across animal species. He was elected to the U.S. National Academy o f Sciences in 2025.

Eric Clarke is Emerit us Professor of Music at the University of Oxford, where he held the Heath er Professorship from 2007 to 2022. In his research, the psychology of mus ic, music theory and musical aesthetics often intersect. He has written on musical meaning, expressive performance, the production and perception of rhythm, and music’s relation to language, consciousness and empathy. Clar ke is a Fellow of the British Academy and a member of Academia Europaea. < /p> BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:DISPLAY DESCRIPTION:The art of listening TRIGGER:-PT1H END:VALARM END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR