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Rotura – Journal of Communication, Culture, and Arts

Rotura

URL: https://publicacoes.ciac.pt/index.php/rotura/chamadas-de-trabalhos
Call For Paper Type: Regular
H2 Index: 0
Submission Date: 2026-09-30
Notification Date: 2026-11-15
Final Version Date: 2026-12-31

Humanities, Literature & Arts (General) Music & Musicology Communication Culture

Reconfiguring Musical Performance in the Age of New Media

This issue aims to examine the impact of new media art practices on musical performance among classically trained instrumentalists. It seeks to explore how these practices are reshaping performers’ roles and identities, shifting them from interpreters to hybrid creators engaged with interactivity, algorithms, and generative systems. Rather than solely reflecting on past developments, the issue foregrounds how performance operates within paradigms of co-agency in multimedia creation, where it is understood as a distributed process that reconfigures authorship and modes of agency.

In this context, co-agency refers to the dynamic and distributed interaction between human performers and technological systems, in which agency emerges relationally rather than residing exclusively in the performer.

Performance, particularly in the context of classically trained instrumentalists, is a complex physical and cognitive activity that integrates sound intention (musical intentions conveyed through the emphasis on structures, phrasing, and dynamics), rhythm (the temporal organisation of sound) and articulation (the shaping of sound through attack, duration, and release) (Laukka, 2004; Palmer, 1997). In the process of interpreting a score for an audience (Travasso & Gomes, 2021), this interplay between the physical and the cognitive operates in two complementary ways: (1) consciously planned and executed physical movements; and (2) movements emerging from embodied, often unconscious, practice routines (Nijs et al., 2013).

The score plays a central mediating role between composers and performers, generating interpretative possibilities and new artistic forms (Doyle & Toniutti, 2023; LaBelle, 2006). As argued by Cook (2014), the performance of written Western classical music reflects the interpretative choices of performers, shaped by both their creativity and their knowledge of musical culture. In this sense, instrumental performance can be understood as comprising two interrelated dimensions: the acquisition of technical skills enabling musical interpretation, and the application of cultural and stylistic knowledge to structure and shape that interpretation. Together, these dimensions give rise to the performative realisation of the score.

Another defining characteristic of musical performance is its intricate relationship with technology. The continuous evolution of musical instruments, alongside shifting performative demands, has long required instrumentalists to adapt and expand their practice (Magnusson, 2019). Within the broader context of the digital and information revolution, contemporary performers are confronted with new technical, technological, and aesthetic challenges (Castilho et al., 2021; Ferguson & Brown, 2016). This evolving landscape places increasing pressure on performers to acquire new competencies and to redefine their role. Today’s instrumentalists operate within a complex environment in which traditional musical skills are intertwined with technological proficiency and experimental artistic practices, giving rise to what may be described as the “post-performer”.

This expanded role encompasses not only interpretation but also sound design, composition, and real-time interaction with digital systems. As such, contemporary instrumentalists are required to adopt a multifaceted approach, in which technology extends the physicality of the body and reconfigures the boundaries of musical practice and artistic expression.

In summary, these perspectives highlight the profound and multifaceted impact of technology on musical performance, offering critical insights into the evolving identities and practices of contemporary musicians within new media art contexts.

TOPICS OF INTEREST

We welcome submissions including, but not limited to, the following topics:

Post-performer paradigms and hybrid artistic identities

Co-agency, distributed authorship, and human–machine interaction in performance

New media art practices in instrumental music performance

Instrumental performance and generative / algorithmic systems

Real-time interaction, live electronics, and augmented instruments

Embodiment, gesture, and extended instrumental techniques in technological contexts

The role of the score in technologically mediated performance

Sound design and composition within instrumental practice

Performance as a site of research in artistic and practice-based methodologies

Post-digital aesthetics and experimental performance practices

Artificial intelligence and machine learning in musical performance

Expanded listening and new modes of audience engagement

Deadline for paper submission: September 30, 2026

Notification of acceptance: November 15, 2026

Final version submission: December 31, 2026

Publication: February 28, 2027

References

Castilho, L., Dias, R., & Pinho, J. (2021). Perspectives on Music, Sound and Musicology: Research, Education and Practice. Springer. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78451-5

Cook, N. (2014). Between art and science: Music as performance. J. Br. Acad., 2(March), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.5871/jba/002.001

Doyle, K., & Toniutti, A. (2023). Problem as Possibility: A Dialogue about Performance and Analysis with Lucia Dlugoszewski’s Experimental Notation as Case Study. In Contemporary Music Review (Vol. 42, Issue 1, pp. 100–113). https://doi.org/10.1080/07494467.2023.2193090

Ferguson, J. R., & Brown, A. R. (2016). Fostering a Post-Digital Avant-Garde: Research-led teaching of music technology. Organised Sound, 21(2), 127–137. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1355771816000054

LaBelle, B. (2006). Background Noise: Perspectives On Sound Art. Continuum.

Laukka, P. (2004). Instrumental music teachers’ views on expressivity: a report from music conservatoires. Music Education Research, 6(1), 45–56. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461380032000182821

Magnusson, T. (2019). Sonic Writing, technologies of material, symbolic & signal inscriptions. In Boomsbury Acad. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781501313899

Nijs, L., Lesaffre, M., & Leman, M. (2013). The musical instrument as a natural extension of the musician. In M. Castellengo, H. Genevois, & J.-M. Bardez (Eds.), Music and its instruments (pp. 467–484). Editions Delatour France.

Palmer, C. (1997). Music Performance. Annual Review of Psychology, 48(1), 115–138. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.48.1.115

Travasso, R., & Gomes, J. A. (2021). Evolving Instrumentalist - a continuous trajectory. In I. Guerrero & D. Galindo (Eds.), I Congreso Internacional “Intersección: arte, sociedad y tecnología en la innovación musical" (pp. 186–191). Procompal Publicaciones.

Rotura – Journal of Communication, Culture, and Arts

Reconfiguring Musical Performance in the Age of New Media

References

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