Reimagining Society Through
Innovative University Cooperation
in Music and Arts
Tune in to IN.TUNE!
IN.TUNE
NATIONAL DISSEMINATION PANEL
by the Alliance Participants
Thursday, 30 October 2025
17:00–19:00
The Ceremonial Hall of the University of Arts
in Belgrade, Kosančićev venac 29
In a social context marked by constant challenges, one of the most effective responses lies in education. By educating generations who think critically, who take a proactive role in both societal and personal development, and who possess the skills and resources to manage their growth while contributing creatively to their communities, we are, in fact, shaping the society itself. Innovative Universities in Music & Arts in Europe – IN.TUNE is a unique initiative within the European framework that seeks to transform art universities into vibrant, collaborative communities. Through mutual cooperation, these institutions aim to enhance quality, increase the attractiveness of their educational offer, and strengthen their international competitiveness – all while nurturing in their students a sense of responsibility toward themselves and society. In doing so, they reaffirm their strong commitment to the promotion of European values. This panel will introduce national participants to IN.TUNE – its partners, goals, mission, and shared vision. Through presentations by active members of the Alliance, the audience will learn how these objectives are being implemented and what has been achieved so far. The discussion will explore the importance of cross-institutional mobility in strengthening institutional capacities, as well as the collaborative creation of new knowledge. Special attention will be given to how these processes empower musicians for lifelong learning and entrepreneurship, and how they contribute to building inclusive, welcoming institutions whose sense of belonging becomes part of individual identity. The panel will also highlight openness toward audiences, communities, and other stakeholders as a value of contemporary higher education in the arts.
PARTICIPANTS
Martin Prchal
Vice-Principal, University of the Arts The Hague – Royal Conservatoire, The Netherlands (KC);
Co-Secretary General, European Universities Alliance IN.TUNE
Lecturer Cristina Cubells, Ph.D.
Department of Education and Artistic Mediation, Catalonia College of Music, Barcelona, Spain (ESMUC);
University Charles III of Madrid, Spain
Professor Juha Ojala, Ph.D.
DosMus Doctoral School, Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki, Finland (Uniarts Helsinki / SibA)
Professor Maja Smiljanić-Radić, M.Mus.
Poly-Instrumental Department, Faculty of Music, University of Arts in Belgrade, Serbia FMU / UU)
Amandine Pras, Ph.D.
Director of Research and Innovation, National Conservatory of Music and Dance of Paris, France (CNSMDP);
Co-director, SACRe Laboratory and Graduate Arts Program
PSL Research University, Paris, France;
Lecturer Adriana Toacsen, Ph.D.
Department of Conducting, Religious Music, and Complementary Instruments
National University of Music, Bucharest, Romania (UNMB)
Professor Dejan Subotić, D.M.A.
Chamber Music Department, Faculty of Music, University of Arts in Belgrade, Serbia FMU / UU)
Professor Sidsel Karlsen, Ph.D.
Department of Music Education and Music Therapy, Norwegian Academy of Music, Oslo, Norway (NMH)
Lecturer Alex Tentor, M.A.
Classical and Contemporary Music Department, Catalonia College of Music, Barcelona, Spain (ESMUC)
Associate Professor Maja Mihić, D.M.A.
Piano Department, Faculty of Music, University of Arts in Belgrade, Serbia (FMU / UU)
Student Dražena Todorović
Department of Musicology, Faculty of Music, University of Arts in Belgrade, Serbia FMU / UU)
MODERATORS
Prof. Ivana Perković, Ph.D.
Head of the Department of Musicology, Faculty of Music, University of Arts in Belgrade, Serbia FMU / UU)
Asst. Prof. Dejana Mutavdžin, Ph.D.
Unit for Complementary Scientific and Professional Disciplines, Faculty of Music
University of Arts in Belgrade, Serbia FMU / UU)
BIOGRAPHIES
Martin Prchal, trained as a musician of Czech origin, holds teaching and solo diplomas in Violoncello and a M.A. in Musicology. In his previous position as a Chief Executive of the European Association of Conservatoires (AEC), Prchal developed a substantial expertise on the EU project management through his involvement in several music projects in various EU programs and on the implications of the Bologna Process on higher music education in Europe. In addition, he was also Chair of the board of MusiQuE – Music Quality Enhancement, a European-level Foundation for Quality Enhancement and Accreditation in Higher Music Education registered on EQAR from 2014 to 2020. Currently, he is Co-Secretary General of the European Universities Alliance IN.TUNE. Since 2011, Martin Prchal has been Vice-Principal at University of the Arts The Hague – Royal Conservatoire, The Netherlands (KC) with responsibilities for curriculum development, quality assurance, and international relations.
E-mail: m.prchal@koncon.nl
Cristina Cubells holds a Ph.D. in Humanities and works as a stage director on projects that bring together theatre, contemporary music, and critical pedagogy. She currently teaches at the Catalonia College of Music in Barcelona (ESMUC) and has lectured in Theatre and Philosophy of Education at the University of Charles III of Madrid. She has directed productions such as Projecte Grimm (Sala Beckett and The Abadía Theatre), Hi ha monstres que viuen per a la seva curiositat (The Great Theatre of Liceu), and Struwwelpeter (The Palace of the Arts and Canal Theatres). Her research and artistic practice explore disidentification, childhood, and dissensus within educational and performative contexts.
E-mail: ccubells@esmuc.cat
Juha Ojala is a Professor of Music Performance Research at the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki (UniArts Helsinki / SibA). He supervises doctoral students and teaches, e.g., courses on concepts and processes of research at the Doctoral School. In the IN.TUNE University Alliance, he chairs the Work Package “Strengthening our research”. His main research interests are signification in music and mind, performance and composition, and music learning and education. He has collaborated widely and published also, e.g., on music perception, doctoral education, music research and society, assessment in music schools, and music education technology. An alumnus of the Sibelius Academy (Piano) and the Johns Hopkins University (Piano, Composition, Electronic and Computer Music), he completed his Ph.D. at the University of Helsinki (Musicology). Previously, he has served, e.g., as Vice-Dean of Research at the Sibelius Academy, a Professor of Music Education at the University of Oulu, Finland, and as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Musiikki of the Finnish Musicological Society.
Maja Smiljanić-Radić was born in Belgrade. She studied the Organ with the distinguished professor and organist Andrija Galun at the Faculty of Music, University of Arts in Belgrade (FMU / UU), where she graduated and completed her postgraduate studies with honors. During her studies, she worked with renowned musicians, including Guy Bovet (Switzerland), Jacques van Oortmerssen (The Netherlands), Lionel Rogg and Marie-Claire Alain (France), and Jean Ferrard (Belgium). She built a successful career as a soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician. Smiljanić-Radić has performed with renowned ensembles at both traditional and international music festivals, such as Mokranjac Days, BEMUS, Belgrade Organ Music Festival, Early Music Festival, The International Harp Festival, Jugokoncert music cycle, and the International Review of Composers. She also performed an organ recital at the Peterborough Music Festival in the United Kingdom. She toured the United States and Canada, giving solo recitals and performing in a piano-organ duo program with pianist Nenad Radić. Following the North American tour, they also gave concerts in Slovenia. She has made numerous recordings and has appeared on radio and television both in Serbia and abroad. She has also worked as a music journalist and critic, publishing numerous reviews, critiques, interviews, scripts, librettos, and original texts in both national and international magazines. Together with Professor Galun, she founded the Association Ars Organi and the first Belgrade Organ Music Festival. She also established the organ festival Do You Like Bach? She is featured in the Serbian edition of the Who is Who encyclopedia. In 2022, she was awarded the highest national honor, the “Despot Stefan Lazarević” Award, for her concert dedicated to Serbian organ music. Under the patronage of the Silesian Voivodeship, she released a CD of organ music titled Pax vobiscum. Smiljanić-Radić also founded the first Serbian Organ Department at the “Stanković” Music School, which remains the only one of its kind in the Balkans, and beyond. She is currently an Organ Professor at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade.
E-mail: majasmiljanicradic@fmu.bg.ac.rs
Amandine Pras, Ph.D., is the Director of Research and Innovation at the National Superior Conservatory of Music and Dance of Paris, France (CNSMDP), where she graduated from the Sound Recording and Music Production program in 2006. She is also a Co-Director of the Arts Graduate Program and SACRe Laboratory at PSL University. Her creative work includes the production of alternative jazz, experimental, and contemporary music recordings, and the making of video documentaries about research projects with musicians and studio professionals that she conceptualizes and leads. Since 2020, she has mentored participants of Women in the Studio National Accelerator in Canada. When she held teaching and research positions in academia, she carried out collaborative and interdisciplinary partnerships to enhance audio education access, and equity, diversity and inclusion in sound engineering programs and workplaces, such as the West African Audio Network funded by SSHRC in Canada (2018–2024) and AUDIO4ALL funded by the University of York in the United Kingdom (2023–2025).
E-mail: apras@cnsmdp.fr
Adriana Toacsen, Ph.D., is a Romanian pianist, professor, and artistic director whose work is closely tied to the promotion of contemporary music. Through her project Encore, she has transformed the traditional encore into a declaration of love for contemporary music, providing audiences with an intimate, complex, and sincere encounter with the sound world of the present. Her programs stand out for their balance between the elegance of the classical repertoire and the energy of modern and contemporary works, with a particular focus on Romanian composers. With a relaxed stage presence and an ever-curious spirit, Toacsen sometimes turns her recitals into engaging narratives for children, parents, and grandparents alike, creating memorable experiences that extend beyond conventional concert formats. She has performed at major festivals in Bucharest, Cluj, Timișoara, Sibiu, Iași, Brașov, Chișinău, and Potsdam, and has established long-lasting collaborations in duos and trios. Her subtle musical intelligence, profound sonority, and dedication to sharing music with sincerity and grace have earned her recognition as a sensitive interpreter and an ‘advocate’ for contemporary creativity. As both pianist and artistic director, Toacsen does not simply perform the music of her time – she challenges it to grow, creating dialogues between tradition and innovation and guiding audiences toward a deeper understanding of contemporary artistic expression.
E-mail: adrianatoacsen@gmail.com
Dejan Subotić teaches Chamber Music and Methods of Artistic Research at the Faculty of Music, University of Arts in Belgrade (FMU / UU). He holds B.A. and M.A. in Piano and Early Music (Harpsichord), as well as a D.M.A. degree in Chamber Music, with additional training in Stockholm, Sweden. His research areas include the democratization of music, piano duo transcriptions, early Italian harpsichord music, and piano fantasies in German Romanticism, among others. He has supervised over twenty doctoral artistic projects. As a member of a piano duo, Subotić has performed complete works by Claude Debussy, Erik Satie, and Robert Schumann, with a live recording broadcast on BBC Radio 3. He regularly performs contemporary music with the Singidunum Trio and the Ngbaka Trio, and has recorded three CDs. Subotić has conducted master classes in Spain and Croatia, and was a Committee Member of the Master Research Symposium at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague.
Sidsel Karlsen is a Professor of Music Education at the Norwegian Academy of Music (NMH). She has published widely in international research journals, anthologies, and handbooks. During the past decade, Karlsen has worked within the research projects Musical Gentrification and Socio-Cultural Diversities (2013–2017) and DYNAMUS (2018–2022), and is currently Head of Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Higher Music Education (2024–2026), all of which have been funded by the Research Council of Norway.
Alex Tentor is a guitarist, sound artist, and musicologist specializing in new music both in his solo and chamber music career, as well as in the development of pedagogical approaches, lectures, and master classes. He has collaborated closely with international ensembles such as Shockwave, Schallfeld, Riot Ensemble, Collegium Novum Zürich, Vortex, Kommas, km² duo, UFA sextet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ensemble Bayona, and Vertex Container, under conductors including Peter Rundel, Ilan Volkov, Nacho de Paz, Leonhard Garms, and Jonathan Nott. As an active commissioner of new repertoire for his instrument, he has premiered works by Elena Rykova, Arturo Corrales, Bára Gísladóttir, Morgan Ågren, José María Sánchez Verdú, Jeeyoung Joo, Diego Jiménez Tamame, Aleksandra Bajde, Guillermo Cobo, and Avshalom Ariel, among others. Tentor has frequently co-created repertoires for his instrument and a micro-opera for the Great Theatre of Liceu with Itziar Viloria. His interest in electronics and coding has led him to offer collaboration on projects for groups such as FRAMES Percussion and pianist Carles Marigó. His current research focuses on the interplay between emergent patterns in data, artistic misuses of AI, and the performativity of the living body. Tentor combines his artistic practice with a teaching position as a professor at the Catalonia College of Music in Barcelona (ESMUC).
Maja Mihić studied at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade (FMU), where she obtained her Master’s and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in Piano Performance under the mentorship of Professor Ninoslav Živković. She won numerous prizes, mostly in the field of chamber music. Mihić enjoys a varied career as a solo performer, chamber musician, as well as a Professor of Piano. In 2011, she founded a trio named Pokret (movement, motion), together with violinist Madlen Stokić Vasiljević and clarinetist Miloš Nikolić, dedicated to Serbian contemporary music. Maja Mihić has performed at various music festivals and concerts in Serbia, Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, the United States, and Russia.
E-mail: majamihic@fmu.bg.ac.rs
Dražena Todorović obtained her Bachelor’s (2024) and Master’s (2025) degrees at the Department of Musicology at the Faculty of Music, University of Arts in Belgrade (FMU / UU). She is the recipient of a scholarship for the 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 academic years awarded by the Dositeja Fund for Young Talents of the Republic of Serbia. During her studies, she actively participated in student panels, including An Evening for Vojislav Vučković – Commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the Composer’s Death and In Anticipation of a New Renaissance, dedicated to the centenary of Dragutin Gostuški’s birth. In 2024, she presented the paper entitled “A Survey of Serbian Church Music’s Development: Following the Traces of Its Centuries-Old Existence” within the panel Theology and Medicine: The Bioethical and Therapeutic Dimensions of Faith and Science. To date, she has published several works in the Faculty of Music’s student journal FAMA.
E-mail: drazena.music@gmail.com