After a week of international focus at NMH, both local and international participants gathered for a friendly debrief and mingling at the Academy. Co-Secretary General Martin Prchal from The Royal Conservatoire of The Hague, and NMH’s Principal Astrid Kvalbein introduced the celebration to audiences.
IN.TUNE’s 2nd anniversary – connecting is developing
The European University Alliance IN.TUNE has just celebrated its second birthday. The Norwegian Academy of Music (NMH) marked the occasion by emphasizing our achievements since 1 January 2024.
Look at the world around us. This is our contribution to being part of a European community with some important, shared values.
Principal
Kvalbein started with the foundational question: Why did we embark on this journey?
– The argument I encountered was “This is how we develop. We need to connect to the bigger world.” I think that argument still stands.
She calls it a deeper and more long-term collaboration and transformation alongside other European institutions, beyond going on exchange or attending conferences. She adds:
– Look at the world around us. This is our contribution to being part of a European community with some important, shared values.
Kvalbein also thinks it’s our mission to speak up for music and the arts in the EU context, where we are the only ones specialising in this, out of 65 university alliances.
Explosion of development
Martin Prchal supplements Astrid Kvalbein with some keywords for the alliance’s work: intensive, long-term institutional, structural, and strategic cooperation.
– This is where institutions decide to work together on many, many different areas. It’s really a very encompassing approach.
He emphasizes how being part of an alliance creates long-term commitment and expectations.
Prchal finishes his presentation with an extra bullet point, which he just added himself:
– Having a lot of fun! It is a fantastic opportunity to be part of this and to meet people from different institutions, cities, and countries. It’s been fantastic.
What’s a personal highlight for you?
– I have seen the huge potential this alliance has. There is so much knowledge across different institutions, and when you bring it together, there is this enormous explosion of development. Also, the strong commitment of the people working with this, Prchal says, with Kvalbein continuing:
– Especially when you see the spark in the students’ eyes and how they enjoy coming together.
There is so much knowledge across different institutions, and when you bring it together, there is this enormous explosion of development.
Co-Secretary General of IN.TUNE
When asked the same question as Prchal, Kvalbein answers:
– The connection with leaders in similar positions as me, but in totally different contexts and cultures, and the feeling of Europe connecting against other and darker forces.
IN.TUNE’s other Co-Secretary General, Tone Jordhus, seems to be very much in tune with her colleagues:
– My personal highlight must be all the people I have met, and learning so much from them. I learn something every single day from those I collaborate with.
Impressive student engagement
Dušanka Jelenković Vidović from Belgrade is IN.TUNE Alliance Administrative Manager, and was also present at the IN.TUNE anniversary in Oslo.
– Being able to work together on an intense daily basis, internationally and online in a meaningful way – to truly build things together by sharing experience, inspiring each other, finding solutions, and having fun along the way, she answers when asked about her personal highlight.
NMH’s institutional manager, Renate Hauge Sund, highlights the engagement of student representatives like Elise Sløgedal and Lucie Lou Camps. Camps is from Paris but studies in Oslo. She has just become the new leader of IN.TUNE’s Student Council. Sløgedal, also a student at NMH, is her second-in-command. Both Sløgedal and Hauge Sund mention the Paris meeting in June 2025 as particularly special:
– My highlights from the IN.TUNE activities were the big meeting before summer, meeting all the other students and seeing all the resources in the alliance, as well as getting to know so many new people all over Europe, Sløgedal says.
Hauge Sund continues looking genuinely impressed:
– Also, the dedication we saw after the call for student projects. A prerequisite for acceptance was finding a partner at another institution, and the students were quick to navigate, get to know one another, and pitch ideas.
The leader of the Student Council seems to confirm her claim:
– For me, the greatest highlight is witnessing how genuine cooperation can make our musical world stronger and more humane. IN.TUNE is not just an alliance; it is a daily practice of sharing and caring: caring for students, teachers, and administrators alike, and sharing joy, artistic vision, technological progress, political awareness, resources, research, and above all, the act of making music together, Camps says.
