Primavera PRO is the global meeting point for today’s music industry.  The ninth edition of this professional event will take place between 30 May and 3 June at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB) contemporary culture centre and at Parc del Fòrum, in parallel with Primavera Sound. Primavera PRO seeks to explore how the music industry affects the social fabric. For five days the event will gather all types of cross-cutting activities ranging from discussions to networking sessions through conferences, workshops, mentoring sessions, showcases and receptions, always with the aim of strengthening the knowledge of the industry and contributing to its transformation.

Artificial intelligence enriches the process of learning music

Members of the Music Technology research group (MTG) are participating in different areas of Primavera PRO 2018. On 30 May, from 1.30pm to 2pm in the Hall of the CCCB, Rafael Ramírez will be presenting the TELMI project, in a presentation entitled “Learn to play an instrument through artificial intelligence”.

TELMI (Technology Enhanced Learning of Musical Instrument Performance), a research and innovation action coordinated by the MTG at the Department of Information and Communication Technologies (DTIC) of UPF, with funding from the European Commission, began in February 2016 and has a duration of 36 months. The main goal of the project is to propose another way of studying and learning musical instruments by combining interactive self-learning, augmented feedback, together with complementary systems to traditional teaching. Those attending the presentation will be able to experience the possibilities offered by artificial intelligence to enrich the music learning process. With the violin as a practical example, the researcher Rafael Ramírez will explain the most innovative breakthroughs in this line and demonstrate the various interactive technologies that may be key in the way in which we relate with instruments in the future.

Innovating in musical projects in Europe

Sonia Espí, head of music technology research project management, promotion and outreach with UPF’S MTG and of the coordination, production and communication of musical projects at the Phonos Foundation and, since 2017, professor at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC) school of music, is to talk about innovation in musical projects through competitive calls for funding from the European Union, on 31 May, from 4.30pm to 5.30pm at the CCCB (Mirador) in  panel format and in conjunction with Aïda Díaz (Catalan Government), Augusto Paramio (Creative Europe), and with Maria Azcona (Creative Europe) chairing the session. The panel will focus on the possibilities of funding offered by the European Commission’s Creative Europe and Horizon 2020 programmes for musical projects.

Primavera PRO offers an open window on the latest developments and challenges of a constantly evolving industry, and during the week of Primavera Sound this commitment will culminate in the now traditional annual international meeting in Barcelona. Primavera PRO has become the ideal space to analyse the state of the art of the industry calmly and in perspective, to understand what is going on and what may be expected of the future.