Music & Theatre, student org to resurrect New Music Festival, add symposium

Heidelberg University’s New Music Association and the School of Music & Theatre will collaborate to host the Inaugural Biennial New Music Festival & Symposium March 26-28, 2026. The festival will feature concerts and research presentations by musicians and scholars from across the country, while highlighting groundbreaking contemporary music and scholarship.

The festival is organized by the Heidelberg New Music Association (HNMA), a student group dedicated to the support and advocacy of contemporary music. The event will be led by Artistic Director Dr. Matthew Kennedy, assistant professor of Composition at Heidelberg.

“The festival will feature five concerts that are free and open to the public, including winning selections from our event’s international Call for Scores and Presentations,” said Kennedy. “This unique event for our community will also feature symposium presentations on contemporary subjects in music and pedagogy.”

The School of Music & Theatre at Heidelberg is no stranger to new music festivals over the years. Professor Emeritus Dr. Brian Bevelander was the director of the Heidelberg New Music Festival from 1990-2015. Now, Heidelberg’s students play a major role in planning and executing the festival and symposium.

“Heidelberg’s long history of promoting new music inspired me and my fellow students to form the HNMA and revive this event,” shared HNMA President Cameron “Steeve” Gaietto, a fourth-year music composition and political science double major from Tiffin. “We hope to carry on the new music tradition and share it with a new audience in 2026.”

The festival will include several guest artists, including chamber ensembles Neonautica (New Orleans), Tower Duo (Columbus, OH), andPlay (Brooklyn, N.Y.), and soloists Marianne Parker and Michael Hall (Chicago). The inaugural keynote artist for the festival will be award-winning composer Stacy Garrop.

Information regarding programming times, concert locations, and the event’s Call for Scores and Presentations can be found here.

For more information, email newmusic@heidelberg.edu.