Call for Papers
International Journal of Music Mediation (IJMM)
Special Issue 5 on Participatory Opera and Music Theatre
Deadline for contributions: May 31, 2026
in collaboration with SIMM
Guest Editor: Lukas Pairon, founder SIMM
Opera and music theatre, traditionally associated with grandeur, hierarchy, and exclusivity, are undergoing profound transformations. Across continents, a growing number of artists, institutions, composers, and communities are reimagining these art forms through participatory practices – where creation is not done only for but also with others. Whether embedded in schools, hospitals, neighbourhood centres, prisons, or refugee shelters, these projects invite a radical shift: they challenge established notions of authorship, virtuosity, and audience, while exploring how collective artistic processes can foster social engagement, visibility, and even transformation.
This special issue 5 of the International Journal of Music Mediation (IJMM), guest-edited in collaboration with the SIMM research platform (Social Impact of Music Making), seeks to explore the contours, challenges, and potentials of participatory opera and music theatre. We invite scholarly articles that delve into the aesthetic, social, pedagogical, political, and institutional dimensions of this evolving field.
The issue emerges from an ongoing international research effort initiated by SIMM since 2023, with dedicated seminars hosted by the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona (2023), Hochschule Darmstadt (2025, and soon at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (2027). These research seminars have demonstrated the interest of examining how opera and music theatre can engage communities as co-authors – not merely as passive recipients – and how these practices might reshape the art form itself. Participants shared insights into both the deep creative joy and the ethical dilemmas that participatory opera provokes.
We are particularly interested in contributions that address how these projects are imagined and implemented: How do composers and creative teams navigate the balance between artistic vision and shared authorship? What new aesthetic languages emerge when artistic professionals collaborate with community members whose life stories, bodies, voices, and identities reshape the narrative? And what are the institutional challenges when large cultural structures take on participatory work – is it genuinely transformative, or does it risk becoming a marginal gesture to ‘tick the box’ of social inclusion?
At stake is not only the future of opera and music theatre, but also the broader question of cultural rights and access: Who is allowed to create, to be heard, and to shape public imagination? Participatory projects often bring together people with vastly different social experiences, and this encounter can generate powerful moments of resonance – but also tensions. We therefore also welcome critical reflections on the limits of participation, the potential for misrepresentation or extraction, and the risks of aestheticizing inequality. How do we avoid instrumentalising the participants’ personal stories or turning collective trauma into spectacle?
This special issue also invites methodological innovation. We are keen to include studies based on ethnographic research, artistic research, practice-led inquiry, and interdisciplinary approaches – as well as collaborations between artists and scholars. Authors are encouraged to reflect on the impact of their own positionality within the projects they study or lead, and on the co-production of knowledge within artistic settings.
By gathering these voices, the IJMM hopes to offer a space for careful reflection, productive friction, and a deeper understanding of what participatory opera and music theatre can mean in our time.
Contributors are therefor encouraged to respond to one or more of the following guiding questions:
- Authorship and artistic vision
How do composers and creative teams navigate the balance between artistic leadership and shared authorship?
- Aesthetic innovation
What new aesthetic languages or dramaturgical structures emerge when working with non-professionals or marginalized communities?
- Institutional challenges
What happens when major cultural institutions engage in participatory practices: is it genuinely transformative or tokenistic?
- Ethical complexity
How can artists avoid aestheticising inequality or instrumentalising personal and collective trauma in participatory opera?
- Cultural rights and access
Who is allowed to create, to be heard, and to shape public imagination through opera and music theatre?
- Limits and tensions of participation
What are the risks of misrepresentation or extractive practices in these projects, and how can they be mitigated?
- Knowledge and method
How can we document and analyse participatory opera and music theatre in ways that honour both artistic quality and social impact?
Papers (6,000–8,000 words) should be submitted via the IJMM online platform and follow the journal’s style guidelines. Abstracts (max. 200 words) and author bios (max. 150 words) should accompany each submission.
For further information or questions, please contact: Axel Petri-Preis (petri-preis@mdw.ac.at).
Inspiration may be drawn from the SIMM report on the 2023 Barcelona research seminar, and from SIMM Podcast episodes #17 and #18, which explore the voices and insights of some leading practitioners and researchers in this field.
Deadline for submission of manuscripts: 31.5.2026
Response to authors: before June 30, 2026
Peer Review: until August 25, 2026
Response to Authors: until August 31, 2026
Revision of Articles: until mid-October 2026
Proof Reading: November 2026
Publication: December 2026