Challenges and opportunities in the artistic research in Western art music

Abstract

Over the past two decades, Artistic Research has been an inescapable presence in the academic debate on the arts and has become an axis of the search for new perspectives for artistic teaching. With regard to music, and classical music in particular, efforts to consolidate a specific space for artistic research have clashed, on the one hand, with the resistance of the musicological tradition and, on the other, with processes of teaching still inspired by the artisanal model of conservatories. It is no coincidence, in fact, that the window of opportunity represented by artistic research has shown its full potential precisely in Europe, where its appearance has coincided with the forced insertion of music studies within the European Higher Education Area. This article critically addresses this reality, highlighting the links between artistic research and the current scenario of classical-music. The aim is to show how the desire for novelty so characteristic of artistic research, combined with its close articulation of theory and practice, artistic output and verbalization, can become an extraordinary stimulus to revitalize musical life as a whole, offering new opportunities to future generations.