The AEC Congress 2023 provided a great opportunity to celebrate AEC’s 70th Anniversary with various initiatives.   

Exhibition

The AEC Office put together a special “70th Anniversary Exhibition”. The exhibition was located at the Royal Conservatoire The Hague and included: 

  • A 1953-2023 timeline, showcasing historical milestones for the association, 
  • Documents such as statutes, event programmes and project leaflets from the 60s-70s-80s-90s and 2000s,

  • Memorabilia from AEC events, 
  • Posters showcasing pictures from the AEC’s Congresses throughout the years as well as the AEC platforms (the International Relations Coordinators Meeting, the Pop & Jazz Platform and the European Platform for Artistic Research)
  • A poster with a tribute to AEC’s honorary presidents;
  • A screen playing selected videos of AEC’s projects and activities throughout the years;
  • A wishing tree for AEC members to leave their personal thoughts and wishes for AEC’s future.

 

Opening Brainstorming 

The session took place on Thursday afternoon as one of the Congress opening brainstorming and involved around 25 participants. It constituted a form of open dialogue, with a chronological approach to the development of the AEC from the early 1990´s till today. Many of the session’s participants have been active within the AEC over the last 3 decades. 

The session participants remarked how the AEC has served as a remarkable advocate for the sector, obtaining significant EU funding to support its ongoing working groups. AEC has developed platforms in early music, pop & jazz, traditional music, artistic research and international relations. It was observed how over the last 30 years, the organisation has become more inclusive, integrating more musical genres, and including students, staff and teachers as well as representatives from conservatoires on other continents in its working groups. AEC has supported curriculum development, and staff training, notably through the ”artist as teacher” course and ongoing training for evaluators in MusiQuE while also addressing sustainability, digitisation, power relations, diversity and inclusion. The participants also commented on how the AEC has facilitated collaboration and offered a space in which to reflect and imagine the future together. In so doing, AEC has helped provide a philosophical, artistic and educational framework for HMEI.

The members perceive that the strength of the AEC derives from the engagement of its members. In turn, the fact that many members have often been involved over decades provides continuity as the association continues to grow.

We thank Keld Hosbond, Gretchen Amussen and George Caird for taking notes and reporting about the discussion.

 

Opening Fanfare “AEC” by Martijn Padding

The composer says:
“AEC is composed on request by Martin Prchal in honour of the 70th anniversary of the European Association of Conservatories. It is written for the KC trombone class of my colleague Sebastiaan Kemner.
The work is a homage to the Dutch-Flamish composers of the 15th and 16th centuries who went by foot to Venice to the San Marco Cathedral to sing and compose there. They were called the white men from over the mountains and were important in the development of the typical Venitian double choir style which involved spatially separate choirs opposite of each other singing or playing in alteration.
The abbreviation AEC was just too tempting for me to not use in this piece and simply explains why there are many minor chords in this score.”

Video #AECturns70