“What am I doing with my music?”: Musical hybridity in material, time, and life

We live in a fragmented world, where algorithms both shape and narrow notions of genre and style, yet paradoxically grant us unprecedented access to a vast multiplicity of musical forms. In Western Classical music, however, there is often a deliberate ignorance of these dynamics—a problematic attachment to an idealized 'purity' of form.

My research focuses on the semiotics of musical hybridity: What opportunities and challenges arise in a quest of meaning-creation for listeners, performers, and composers when a single work encompasses multiple musical styles?

This inquiry unfolds in three parts: exploring pluralistic musical materials, examining the interplay of conflicting layers of time, and reflecting on how these ideas have shaped my life and career as a “classical” pianist.