Jean-Jacques Nattiez is professor of  musicology at the Faculty of Music of the Université de Montréal. Considered a pioneer of the branch of musicology known as musical semiology, he first gained acclaim as the author of theoretical works: Fondements d’une sémiologie de la musique [Paris, 10-18, 1975] and Musicologie générale et sémiologie [Paris, Bourgois, 1987], the latter translated into English as Music and Discourse [Princeton University Press, 1990] but also in Italian and Japanese. He then went on to apply his semiological concepts to a wide variety of subjects: the works of Wagner [Tétralogies, Paris, Bourgois, 1983; Wagner androgyne, Paris, Bourgois, 1990; English trans., Princeton University Press, 1993; Italian trans. also]; the musical thought of Pierre Boulez, acting as editor of the latter’s writings (Points de repère, I. Imaginer, Regards sur autrui (Points de repère, II) and Leçons de musique (Points de repère, III) [Paris, Christian Bourgois, 1995 and 2005]) as well as correspondence with John Cage; the music of the Inuit (Canada), the Ainu (Japan) and of the Baganda (Uganda), of which he has produced several recordings; the relationship between music and literature [Proust musicien, Paris, Bourgois, 1984; 2nd edition: 1999; translated into English as Proust as Musician, Cambridge University Press, 1987; Italian, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish transl. also]. In addition, he is the author of a novel, entitled Opera [Montréal, Leméac, 1997; Italian transl., Bollati-Boringhieri, 2009]. He also published three collections of articles: De la sémiologie à la musique [Montréal, UQAM, 1987; Italian transl.], Le combat de Chronos et d’Orphée [Paris, Bourgois, 1993; Engl. transl., Oxford University Press, 2004; Rumanian transl., Editura Artes, 2007; also Italian and Portuguese transl.] and La musique, la recherche et la vie [Montréal, Leméac, 1999; Rumanian transl., Editura Muzicală, 2007; Japanese transl. in progress]. His most recent books are: Lévi-Strauss musicien, essai sur la tentation homologique, Arles, Actes Sud, 2008; La musique, les images et les mots, essais d’esthétique comparée,  Montréal, FIDES, 2009. He has been the general editor of a new Encyclopedia of Music in 5 volumes, published in Italy by Einaudi [2001-2005] and in France by Actes Sud [2003-2007]: Musiques. Une Encyclopédie pour le XXXIe siècle.

Internationally renowned, professor Nattiez has published more than 200 papers and has undertaken lecture tours in more than twenty countries. He has been twice invited by the Collège de France and the École Normale supérieure in Paris. He also visited the St-Catherine College in Oxford, the City University of London, the University of Bologna, the UNAM in México, the University of Rio de Janeiro, the University „George Enescu” in Iaşi and various Argentinian universities. In February 2006, he was invited by Umberto Eco to deliver a series of lectures on the theme „Wagner antisemite” in his prestigious „Schola superiore di studi umanistici”. He was recently invited by Ricordi, the famous music publisher of Verdi and Puccini, for the 200th jubileum of this company, to become the General Curator of an international exhibit on the theme „The making of an opera”, to be presented in China, Japan, Russia, the USA and in various European cities.

He has received numerous distinctions and awards. He is member of the Order of Canada (1990), the National Order of Québec (2001), the Royal Society of Canada since 1988 and the Academia Europea since 1996. He was a Killam Fellow of the Arts Council of Canada in 1988-90. Among the various awards: twice the Grand Prix International du disque (1979, 1988), the Dent Medal of the Royal Music Association of London (1989), the Molson Prize of the Arts Council of Canada (1990), the Léon Gérin Prize for Social Sciences of the Québec government (1994), the Alexander von Humbold Prize of the Federal Republic of Germany (1997), The Koizumi Fumio Prize for ethnomusicology in Japan (1998), the ”prix d’excellence en enseignement” of the Université de Montréal (2004) and the Killam Prize for Humanities of the Arts Council of Canada (2004). In November 2005 and September 2007 respectively, he was declared doctor honoris causa by the University of the Arts „George Enescu” of Iaşi and the National University of Music Bucharest (Romania); the ”Prix de la critique de théâtre, de musique et de danse” (Paris) for the book Lévi-Strauss musicien (2009).

Lavinia Coman is a retired Professor from the National University of Music Bucharest. She studied piano with Silvia Șerbescu (1959-1964) at the Ciprian Porumbescu Conservatoire in Bucharest, where she became, after graduating, Assistant Accompanist in the Lied Department (1964-1972). Subsequently she worked as Lecturer, Associate Professor and Professor in the Piano Department. She gave more than 400 concerts and recitals of lieder and chamber music, many of them broadcast on TV and radio and she recorded a number of LPs and CDs. Lavinia Coman was member of the jury in various piano competitions and gave master classes in Weimar, Berlin, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome etc. She wrote several books as well as more than 200 articles, reviews, studies for academic conferences, specializing in piano history, didactics and performance. She was awarded the Prize of the Union of Romanian Composers and Musicologists for Didactic Works (2007) and Historiography (2014).

Reinhart Meyer-Kalkus is scientific coordinator at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin (Institute for Advanced Studies) and professor of German literature at the University of Potsdam, where he has taught since 1996. Before that he worked for many years in Bonn and Paris at the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). During 1998-1999 he was a Fellow of the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles.  Since 1997 he teaches at the Potsdam University.
Main research interests: German and French literature since the seventeenth century, literature in performance, contemporary music, and history of the German Lied and the French Mélodie.
Main books: Wollust und Grausamkeit: Affektenlehre und Affektdarstellung in Lohensteins Dramatik am Beispiel von “Agrippina,” Göttingen 1986; Die akademische Mobilität zwischen Deutschland und Frankreich 1925-1992, Bonn 1994; Stimme und Sprechkünste im 20. Jahrhundert, Berlin 2001; György Ligeti/Gerhard Neuweiler: Motorische Intelligenz, ed. Reinhart Meyer-Kalkus, Berlin 2007.

Carmen Manea pursued piano studies at the “Ciprian Porumbescu” Conservatory of Music in Bucharest. She earned her doctorate in 2002. From 1972 to 1993 she was a piano and accompaniment teacher at the “Dinu Lipatti” and “George Enescu” Music High-Schools in Bucharest. Since 1993 she has been Assistant Professor in the Piano Department of the Faculty of Composition, Musicology and Music Pedagogy at the National University of Music in Bucharest. Currently she is Head of the Piano Department (a position she has held since 2006) and a member of the Faculty Council, the University Senate and the University Quality Committee. She has performed in concerts and recitals at home as well as abroad, in Italy, France, Greece, Spain and Switzerland. She has served as jury member at several piano competitions held in Romania (Bucharest, Ploiesti) and Italy (Stresa, Casale Monferrato, Isola di Capri). Together with her students, she has been involved in national competitions (Bucharest, Tulcea, Suceava, Ploiesti) and international ones, namely in Italy (Stresa, Modena, Vercelli) and Spain (Madrid). She continues to take an active part in music performances hosted by the National University of Music and other cultural institutions in Bucharest and to present at conferences and symposia around the country. As for her research endeavors, she has contributed articles and essays to music journals (Muzica, Actualitatea Muzicala, Acord, Akademos) and cultural publications (Ramuri, Axioma). She is the author of three volumes dedicated to Chopin’s work: Aspiring to Plenitude in Chopin’s Oeuvre (2006), Chopin Forever (2008) and At the Piano with Chopin (2010).