• Wie werde ich ein Opernstar
  Saarbrücker Zeitung, Ausgabe Merzig-Wadern, berichtet am 27.1.2011 (German only)
• Multimodale Musikverarbeitung oder Wie werde ich ein Opernstar?
  Press Release 20.1.2011 (German only)

In our seminar, we had 35 participants, who came from various countries around the world including North America (7 participants), Japan (4 participants), New Zealand, Singapore, and Europe (Austria, France, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom). Most of the participants came to Dagstuhl for the first time and expressed enthusiasm about the open and retreat-like atmosphere. Besides its international character, the seminar was also highly interdisciplinary. While most of the participating researchers are working in computer science and its neighboring fields, a large number of participants also have a strong background in music and musicology. This made the seminar very special in having not only interactive and provoking scientific discussions, but also numerous social activities including common music making. One particular highlight of such social activities was a three-hour spontaneous concert on Thursday evening, where various participants performed in changing ensembles a wide variety of music including popular music, jazz, and classical music.

Dagstuhl seminars are known for having a high degree of flexibility and interactivity, which allow participants to discuss ideas and to raise questions rather than to present research results. Following this tradition, we fixed the schedule during the seminar asking for spontaneous contributions with future-oriented content, thus avoiding a conference-like atmosphere, where the focus is on past research achievements. The first day was used to let people introduce themselves and express their expectations and wishes for the seminar. We then had a brainstorming session on central topics covering the participants' interests while discussing the overall schedule and format of our seminar. In particular, we identified a total of six topics for discussion. For four of these topics, we divided into four groups, each group discussing one of the topics in greater depth in parallel sessions on Tuesday. The results and conclusions of these group meetings were then presented to the plenum on Wednesday. For the remaining two topics, we decided on having panel-like discussions within the plenum with introductory stimulus talks (Thursday). Finally, group and panel discussions were interleaved with regular sessions that allowed participants to present their personal research to the plenum. This mixture of presentation elements gave all participants the opportunity for presenting their ideas to the plenum while avoiding a monotonous conference-like presentation format.

We discussed various topics that address the challenges of organizing, understanding, and searching music-related information in a robust, efficient, and intelligent manner. Here, a particular focus was put on music-specific aspects, the fusion of multiple information sources, as well as the consideration of user-specific needs. After a joint brainstorming session, we agreed on discussing six central topics which fitted in the overall theme of the seminar and reflected the participants' interests. We now give a brief summary of these topics, which were discussed within four parallel group meetings and two panels. Then, we give an overview of additional contributions made by the participants in the regular sessions of the seminar.

In our seminar, we addressed central and groundbreaking issues on how to process music material given in various forms corresponding to different musical aspects and modalities. In view of the richness and complexity of music, there will be no single strategy that can cope with all facets equally well. Therefore unifying frameworks and fusion approaches are needed which allow for combining, integrating, and fusing the various types of information sources to support music analysis and retrieval applications. Also, to further enhance our field, one needs to understand better the complex relationships within music as well as the complex effects of music on the human mind, thus requiring interdisciplinary research efforts. The Dagstuhl seminar gave us the opportunity for discussing such issues in an inspiring and retreat-like atmosphere. The generation of novel, technically oriented scientific contributions was not the focus of the seminar. Naturally, many of the contributions and discussions were on a rather abstract level, laying the groundwork for future projects and collaborations. Thus the main impact of the seminar is likely to take place in the medium to long term. Some more immediate results, such as plans to share research data and software, also arose from the discussions. As measurable outputs from the seminar, we expect to see several joint papers and applications for funding (e.g. to the European Union) proceeding from the discussions held at Dagstuhl.

Beside the scientific aspect, the social aspect of our seminar was just as important. We had an interdisciplinary, international, and very interactive group of researchers, consisting of leaders and future leaders in our field. Most of our participants visited Dagstuhl for the first time and enthusiastically praised the open and inspiring atmosphere. The group dynamics were excellent with many personal exchanges and common activities. Younger scientists mentioned their appreciation of the opportunity for prolonged discussions with senior researchers—something which is often impossible during conference-like events.

In conclusion, our expectations of the seminar were not only met but exceeded, in particular with respect to networking and community building. Last but not least, we heartily thank the Dagstuhl board for allowing us to organize this seminar, the Dagstuhl office for their great support in the organization process, and the entire Dagstuhl staff for their excellent services during the seminar.