International Summer School

Chania (Crete, Greece) · 27-31 July 2026

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What is musical time?

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How is it measured, organised, perceived, remembered, transmitted, and embodied? How do performers, composers, listeners, and scholars experience the temporal dimensions of music? How have conceptions of rhythm evolved across cultures, historical periods, and artistic practices?

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These questions lie at the heart of Rhythmologies, an international summer school in music and musicology organised within the framework of Festum π, a festival dedicated to the intersections of music, mathematics, science, and artistic creation.

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Bringing together students, doctoral researchers, performers, composers, educators, and scholars, the school offers a unique opportunity to explore musical time from multiple perspectives. Through lectures, workshops, analytical sessions, artistic encounters, and collective discussions, participants will engage with rhythm not merely as a technical component of musical structure, but as a fundamental human experience situated at the crossroads of cognition, aesthetics and history of music and science, embodiment, and creativity.

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The programme will address topics including:

· histories and theories of rhythm and metre;

· musical time and quantitative thought;

· temporality, memory, and perception;

· rhythm, gesture, and embodiment;

· musical analysis and performance practices;

· composition and creative approaches to time;

· notation, representation, and transmission;

· relationships between music, mathematics, and the organisation of temporal experience.

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Particular attention will be given to the dialogue between scholarly research and artistic practice. The school will therefore combine academic and creative approaches through lectures, seminars, analytical workshops, practical sessions devoted to listening, movement, and rhythm, as well as encounters with artists participating in Festum π.

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Participants will notably have the opportunity to attend a rehearsal and discussion with renowned pianists Katia and Marielle Labèque, exploring questions of interpretation, ensemble interaction, listening, and the construction of musical time in performance.

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Instructors

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· Katerina Fotinaki (musician, singer-songwriter and musicologist, University of Paris 8)

· Claude Ledoux (composer and music theorist, Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris - CNSMDP

· Théodora Psychoyou (musicologist and music theorist, Sorbonne University)

· Lorenda Ramou (musicologist and concert pianist, University of Ioannina)

Additional contributions from:

· Katia and Marielle Labèque (concert pianists)

· Alcyone Malekaki (pianist, music teacher in public schools, Chania and Cairo)

· Dora Manitaki (pianist and music teacher – Mag.Art. Mozarteum · Salzburg)

· Cédric Villani (mathematician, Claude Bernard University Lyon I – Scientific Director of Festum π)

 

 

Participants

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The school welcomes Master’s students, doctoral candidates, postdoctoral researchers, performers, composers, and early-career scholars interested in questions of rhythm, temporality, musical thought, and artistic practice.

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Participants will be invited to present their own research projects, artistic work, or work-in-progress during a dedicated Participants’ Forum, fostering dialogue across disciplines and backgrounds.

Practical Information

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· Participation is free of charge.

· Accommodation and full-board will be provided by the organisers at the facilities of the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania (MAICh).

· Participants are responsible for their travel expenses.

· Working language: English.

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Application Procedure

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Applications should be submitted no later than 1 July 2026 via the online application form:

https://forms.gle/iH8QbEqpTkPNXXbx5

 

Applicants are asked to upload:

· a short curriculum vitae;

· a letter of motivation outlining their academic, artistic, or professional background, their current interests, and the reasons for applying to the summer school.

Successful applicants will be notified shortly after the application deadline. Please note that places are limited.

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Contacts

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Academic coordinator · Théodora Psychoyou · theodora.psychoyou@sorbonne-universite.fr

Practical information and logistics · Photini Papahatzi · ph.papahatzi@festum-pi.eu

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About Festum π

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Festum π is an international scientific conference and festival based in Crete that explores the relationships between music, mathematics, science, and contemporary creation with particular attention to recent developments in AI. Bringing together artists, researchers, students, and the wider public, it provides an exceptional environment for interdisciplinary dialogue, experimentation, and knowledge exchange.

Alongside the music and musicology programme, a parallel summer school in mathematics, coordinated by Cédric Villani, will take place during the festival. The two programmes will be enriched by shared lectures, discussions, and concerts, fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and further enhancing the intellectual and artistic experience of participants.

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Artistic and Scientific Leadership

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· Costis Daskalakis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Head of AI

· Dionysios Dervis-Bournias, founder, Artistic Director

· Théodora Psychoyou, Sorbonne University, Head of Musicology

· Cédric Villani, Claude Bernard University Lyon I, Scientific Director