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Conference: Piano Music of the 20th Century

Interrogating Performance and Research

Submit your proposal
Date
15 December 2025
Time
9am–5.30pm
Location
Royal College of Music, London

This one-day conference aims to promote practice-led approaches to the research of 20th-century piano repertoire and performance practice. Performers, scholars, pedagogues, and students are invited to discuss shared concerns and learn from each other’s perspectives at this thought-provoking event.

About the conference

The conference’s forward-looking rationale stems from the need to re-evaluate current approaches to 20th-century piano repertoire in light of what it means to be a contemporary pianist in the 21st century. It aims to make practice-led research in 20th-century music accessible, discoverable, and relevant for all performers.

The event will include presentations from postgraduate, doctoral, and postdoctoral students, a lecture-recital by renowned pianist Ralph van Raat, and a roundtable panel featuring distinguished performers and researchers Roy Howat, Inja Stanovic and Andrew Zolinsky.

The event is hosted by the Royal College of Music and supported by the Royal Music Association, Music & Letters Trust and The City of London Phonograph and Gramophone Society.

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Proposals

The conference’s programme committee invites proposals from postgraduate research students (e.g. PhD, MPhil, MRes), early-career researchers (graduated in the last three years) and postdoctoral fellows on the following topics, but not limited to:   

  • Historical and contemporary performance practices of 20th-century piano music.  
  • Performance-led research methodologies in 20th-century piano music.  
  • Case studies of significant 20th-century piano works and their performance histories.  
  • Early recordings, such as piano rolls, phonographs, and gramophones, and their analysis for performance practice in 20th-century piano music. 
  • Cross-disciplinary approaches to performance and musicology.  
  • Artistic intersections with 20th-century performance practice (e.g., visual art, dance, theatre, and literature). 

Proposals are invited for academic papers and lecture-recitals of no more than 20 minutes’ duration, to be followed by a ten-minute Q&A session. Proposals should be prepared as follows:

Academic paper proposals: please complete the submission form. This form must contain an abstract (maximum of 300 words) and a biography (maximum of 100 words).

Lecture recital proposals: please complete the submission form. This form must include an abstract (maximum of 300 words) and a biography (maximum of 100 words), in addition to a sample video recording of a recent performance (5–15 minutes) and any special requirements.

All proposals should be submitted no later than 5pm on Monday 28 July 2025 by completing the form. Final decision on the selected participants will be published by Monday 18 August 2025. Further details on the programme for the day will be circulated closer to the event.

Any questions should be directed via email to conference organisers Tal Walker and Nuno Lucas at 20Cpiano@rcm.ac.uk.

The working language of the conference will be English.

Travel bursary (RMA members only):

A limited number of bursaries towards travel costs will be available to RMA members. Travel bursaries will be awarded on the basis of financial need at the discretion of the committee, and only to those who have also been selected to present at the conference. When submitting your proposal please indicate if you would like to be considered for a travel bursary and briefly outline your expected costs to attend the conference.

Please note that we cannot guarantee that the bursary can cover the full amount requested.

Keynote Lecture Recital

Time: 3.15pm–4.15pm

Ralph van Raat has been completely fascinated by classical music of the twentieth century since the age of 14. Although his repertoire ranges from Bach to Boulez, his primary focus has always been on composers dating from Debussy, Bartók and Ives to present day figures. His aim is to convince his audiences of the immense beauty and diversity of music of our own time through solo recitals, lecture-recitals, concerto performances, CD-releases and special projects. He is recipient of a substantial number of national and international awards. Many composers, ranging from Louis Andriessen and Gavin Bryars to Anne-Maartje Lemereis and Heather Pinkham, wrote solo works for him, and he performed over 60 piano concertos with orchestras worlwide such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He has recorded over 35 CD’s. Van Raat teaches at both the Conservatory of Amsterdam and the Accademia di Musica di Pinerolo (Turin).

 

Ralph van Raat: A man dressed in a suit and tie sits next to a piano, suggesting a formal or musical setting.

Photo credit: Heather Pinkham

Roundtable Panel 

Time: 4.30pm–5.30pm

Ralph Van Raat will also participate in the roundtable panel.

Professor Roy Howat has been Keyboard Research Fellow at the Royal Academy of Music since 2003, and professorial Senior Research Fellow at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland since 2013, as well as Visiting Professor at the University of Adelaide. He studied at the RSAMD and Cambridge University, where his doctorate formed the basis of his 1983 book Debussy in proportion. He combines international concert performance with research, which has included revelations about musical structure, performing and editorial issues. Among his publications are acclaimed critical editions of major works by Debussy, Fauré, Chopin and Chabrier, the book The Art of French Piano Music, chapters in numerous other books, and a wide range of CD recordings.

 

Roy Howat: A smiling man stands in front of lush green trees, conveying a sense of joy and connection with nature.

Photo credit: Fleur Kilpatrick

 

Dr. Inja Stanović is a pianist and a researcher, specialising in early recordings and historic performance practices. Most recent publications include the co-edited (with Dr. Eva Moreda Rodríguez) volume Early Sound Recordings: Academic Research and Practice (Routledge, 2023), research album Austro-German revivals: (Re)constructing Acoustic Recordings (co-authored with Dr. David Milsom; University of Huddersfield Press, 2023) and the article for Music & Practice, '(Re)constructing Early Recordings: Reviving the Brave Belgians' (co-authored with dr. Jeroen Billiet, 2023). Inja currently works as Surrey Future Senior Fellow and Director of Performance at the University of Surrey, where she directs the Early Recordings Association, a digital platform for historical recording research and practice.

 

Inja Stanović: A woman with glasses is seated at a piano, engaged in playing, with sheet music visible in front of her.

 

Andrew Zolinsky has performed at major worldwide festivals and venues, including the International Piano series (Southbank Centre, London) and at Merkin Hall, Brooklyn Academy of Music and Le Poisson Rouge in New York, Venice Biennale, Musica Festival (Strasbourg, France), National Concert Hall (Dublin), Harpa Concert Hall (Reykjavik) and Tempere Biennale (Finland). He has performed with most of the BBC Orchestras, London Sinfonietta, Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lorraine and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. Andrew is closely associated with the music of Unsuk Chin. He has given the French, London, Irish and Italian premieres of her Six Etudes and the London, Irish and French premières of her Piano Concerto. Other composers who have written for him include David Lang, Michael Finnissy, Simon Holt, Linda Buckley, Lilija Maria Ásmundsdottir and Pavel Zemek Novak. Andrew is professor of piano and contemporary piano at the Royal College of Music.

 

Andrew Zolinsky: A man with a dark shirt, smiling at the camera, with a grey brick building behind him.

Venue and travel

The Royal College of Music in London is easy to reach on foot from nearby attractions in South Kensington, from Kensington High Street and from Kensington Gardens.

Royal College of Music
Prince Consort Road
London SW7 2BS

Transport

   South Kensington: 0.5 miles
   Gloucester Road: 0.6 miles
   High Street Kensington: 0.8 miles

   Paddington: 1.5 miles
   Victoria: 2 miles

   Santander Cycles docking station and public cycle locking facilities adjacent to RCM

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Food & drink

Light refreshments and lunch will be provided to all delegates of the conference. There is also a range of restaurants, cafés and other establishments nearby, most adjacent to South Kensington station.

Access

The main entrance to the RCM has eight steps up from the pavement and two inside the main doors. A lift is available for visitors with limited mobility. The lift is built into the smaller staircase to the left of the main entrance steps. There is an intercom button on the control panel, which can be seen and reached easily from the street. On arrival, press the buzzer to notify a member of RCM staff, who will come out to meet you and operate the lift for you.

All our event venues can be accessed by visitors with limited mobility via the lift at the main entrance.

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Enquiries

If you have any questions, please contact the conference organisers, Tal Walker and Nuno Lucas, at 20Cpiano@rcm.ac.uk.

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