Announcements

Call for Papers
Vol. 26, No. 1, 2026
Submission deadline: May 15, 2026

Thematic Dossier: “(Re)Orchestrating the Orchestras? – Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Symphonic Music”

Guest editors: Prof. Dr. Fabio Cury (USP) and Prof. Dr. Lucas Robato (UFBA)

Note: For this issue, Revista Música will accept only submissions that fall within the scope of this thematic dossier.

 

The Orchestral Studies Laboratory (LEO) of the Music Department of the School of Communications and Arts at the University of São Paulo (ECA-USP) invites researchers, scholars, and music professionals to submit articles for the thematic dossier “(Re)Orchestrating: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Symphonic Music” of Revista Música.

This dossier aims to bring together academic work in the arts and social sciences dedicated to the study of symphony orchestras. These organizations carry centuries of musical practice, appropriated in various ways across multiple local contexts. Thus, although ensembles around the world share the label “symphony orchestra,” they may produce music and organize artistic labor in potentially diverse ways. The existing literature addresses this universe from multiple axes of inquiry.

A first set of studies lies within the economic sphere and cultural policy, highlighting the tensions between public funding and self-generated income (Galinsky & Lehman, 1995; Schulze & Rose, 1998), the challenges of professionalization and financial difficulties faced by these institutions (Flanagan, 2009; Segnini, 2014), and the effects of managerial transformations on orchestral management practices (Chiapello, 1998). A second axis focuses on the constitution of artistic collectives and their recruitment processes, examining both selection procedures and their effects on gender equality (Goldin & Rouse, 2000) and the internal mechanisms of social stratification and musical hierarchy (Willener, 1997; Lehmann, 2005). These analyses connect with a broad literature on artistic labor, exploring dynamics of cooperation and authority from an interactionist perspective (Faulkner, 1973; Ravet, 2015), as well as the entanglement between institutional processes and artistic practices (Pichoneri, 2016; Nápoli, 2016; Teperman, 2016), including studies dedicated to repertoire innovation (Kremp, 2010; Herman, 2022). A third set of works focuses on artistic practices and collective participation, analyzing the social role of the orchestra (Ramnarine, 2017), audience-engagement strategies (Spronck, 2022; Peters et al., 2022), and the emergence of new forms of mediation and cultural innovation (Tröndle, 2020). This body of research highlights the multifaceted character of the orchestral universe, in which institutions, artistic labor, and aesthetic dimensions articulate dynamically.

In this perspective, the dossier welcomes contributions from different fields of knowledge that analyze how distinct social contexts intersect with the sign of the orchestra in concert music in Brazil, revealing local forms of production, representation, and meaning. As Small (1998) reminds us, these dimensions are present not only in the emitted sound or performed score but also in performance practices, arrangement activity, acoustics and concert-hall architecture, labor relations within orchestras, repertoire planning, public policies for symphonic ensembles, and other developments of this activity — in short, in a broad interdisciplinary range of aesthetic, social, and political discussions.

The title “(Re)Orchestrating” aims to provoke reflection on the current situation of orchestras, which today face contradictions and criticism. Brazilian symphony orchestras experience transformations in labor relations, budgetary challenges, and infrastructural fragilities. At the same time, orchestras have recently been positioned as civilizational symbols of a European-derived high culture — that is, a colonial cultural heritage. How can these musical organizations be critically analyzed in ways that avoid reinscribing colonial practices, considering both public-policy dimensions and aesthetic, analytical, performative, and compositional perspectives?

This broad approach allows for an understanding of the orchestral phenomenon in connection with major contemporary issues such as cultural policy, access to culture, music-education processes, and the sustainability of orchestral institutions in Brazil.

 

Thematic Axes for Submission

In line with the multidisciplinary nature of the Laboratory, the dossier welcomes contributions preferably within the following thematic axes:

• Concert music, orchestras, and their contexts

Studies on the relationships between concert music, orchestras, and the social, political, and historical dimensions of their communities. Includes discussions on audiences and repertoires; historical developments of musical institutions, their repertoires, and audiences; social and cultural inclusion through — or within — the orchestral and concert-music environment.

• Orchestras and institutional frameworks

Approaches to administrative and artistic management, institutional identity, public policy, and strategic planning in orchestras. Includes studies and reports on funding models; development and implementation of public policies; pedagogical projects within symphony orchestras; relationships between orchestras and other institutions; and innovative institutional initiatives.

• Musicians, labor, and creation

Studies on the connections between individuals, their modes of work, and artistic creation in the orchestral context. Includes research and reports on working conditions in orchestras; artistic goals; career-satisfaction perceptions; and performance and compositional practices in the symphonic environment.

• Concert music in contemporaneity: the decolonial orchestra

Studies and reports addressing the relationship between orchestral organizations and contemporary social, political, cultural, and artistic issues. Proposes an expansion of the traditional concept of the symphony orchestra, addressing the challenges posed by contemporary society. Includes research on audience development; diverse spaces and formats of orchestral presentation; the role of Brazilian repertoire in national ensembles; alternative repertoires; and innovative artistic or organizational formats.

• Memories, pasts, and disputes

This axis gathers works addressing historical dimensions of orchestral groups. Includes proposals that historicize orchestras, reveal foundational processes, problematize sociability networks within ensembles, and question memory politics concerning artistic groups.

 

About the Orchestral Studies Laboratory (LEO)

LEO was founded in response to the relevance of the topic and the recognition of a significant gap in the Brazilian research landscape: the absence of research groups dedicated exclusively to the symphony orchestra as an object of study — a contrast to the orchestra’s central importance in the world of concert music.

By filling this gap, LEO aims to investigate the orchestra from multiple perspectives, adopting an interdisciplinary approach that goes beyond a strictly musical analysis. The orchestra is examined both as an artistic representation of musical performance and as an institution that reflects social, economic, and cultural dynamics.