newpolyphonies has gained a new artistic pillar: over the past months, KINOTITA has finally taken off after a year of preparation. This new platform for female composers supports knowledge exchange and co-creation among vocal artists working in groups. Think Big Band, but without a bandleader; think collective dynamics and social experimentation; think alternative compositional forms that allow other voices to be heard; think avant-garde and tradition—and think: urgently needed.

KINOTITA was founded by Elisa Kühnl and Myriam Van Imschoot out of both passion and necessity. Both are involved in two ensembles, Glossa from Cologne and the YouYou Group from Brussels, and have experienced first-hand how this often "gendered" work remains largely invisible at its foundations, even though it constitutes a craft in its own right—one in which there is still much to learn, including from one another.

Not long after their first meeting, Elisa and Myriam gathered the artists Jule Flierl (D), Anissa Rouas (B), Anne-Laure Pigache (FR) and Doreen Kutzke (D) to form the core of KINOTITA: a six-member collective dedicated to developing the art of "composing ensemble", and open to encounters such as the recent exchanges with colleagues Natacha Muslera and Myriam Pruvot.

KINOTITA has already had busy months behind it. The collective was invited to Montpellier for a co-creation with the Master's students of EXERCE as part of EXERCICE COMMUN, followed by an eight-day laboratory at Kunstencentrum BUDA. As a highlight, members of the YouYou Group and Glossa also gathered there for workshops and shared iftars.

You can read more about our groups as communities of practice in Friedemann Dupelius' article for Etcetera, A "new vocality"? And of course you can experience it first-hand when the first Kinotita creation—Titans with the YouYou Group and Glossa—opens the renovated KANAL – Centre Pompidou this November. There will be much more to discover: our future creations, experimental pedagogies, and conferences with partners including Schwankhalle in Bremen in 2027 and GMEA in Albi in 2028.

How do the voices of many sound together? What other forms of organization can we develop to make polyphony sound differently today? You will read more about what Kinotita has in store in the coming newsletters and on Instagram.

Agenda

YOUYOU GROUP

Looking back and ahead. YOUYOU GROUP looks back with satisfaction on its performances at the opening of Artefact STUK in Leuven, during the festival Beyond the Black Box in Amsterdam, and on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of Kunstencentrum BUDA in Kortrijk. Building on an introductory residency between YOUYOU GROUP and GLOSSA (Kunstencentrum BUDA, 20–24 February), rehearsals for TITANS will begin in April, with upcoming residencies at KBR in Brussels (until the end of 2026) and Dommelhof in Pelt (October).Premiere: KANAL – Centre Pompidou, 25, 26 and 28 November, Brussels.

From 31 March to 3 April, and 7 to 10 April, Hoda Siahtiri, Anissa Rouas, Caroline Daish and Myriam Van Imschoot will be in residency at RIF for yet another new YouYou Group creation, Threshold Songs, which will premiere in 2027 at Archipel Festival in Geneva. A concert exploring the limits of song. Info 

MYRIAM VAN IMSCHOOT

Looking back and ahead. Autumn, Japan, 2026. During a research stay at Kyushu University, Myriam studies notions from Japanese aesthetics that encompass environment, shadow, sound and ecology. She deepens her practice of in situ creation, including a series of works in Japan and Australia: KUKI-Line, Yoke (with Tomoko), Pattern Poems and Shadow Walks. She now brings the latter work to Iklectik in London in a programme curated by Tomoko Hojo. Myriam will also be a guest at LCC Sound Arts, University of the Arts London, presenting artist talks, research presentations and workshops. In addition, she will take part in several panels in Belgium. Drawing on her artistic practice and her work with communities and artist-run platforms—including YouYou Group, Kinotita and newpolyphonies—she reflects on relational forms of vocality.

12 March 2026 

PANEL TOONDOOF, 15:00-16:00

Sectorday ECHO, Muziekcentrum De Bijloke, Gent

During the annual Music Sector Day, this year's theme focuses on engagement and activism in classical music. The event is organised by De Bijloke, DE SINGEL, Concertgebouw Brugge, Bozar and Kunstenpunt. Myriam participates in a panel on the societal implications of listening, together with Andrea Voets (Musical Journalism) and a representative of the Scottish Listening Gallery, moderated by Katherina Lindekens.Programma

19 March 2026 

SHADOW WALKS, doors 18:00

Iklectik in Peckham Level, London

This is not a concert of loud sounds, but of tuning in. Through fragile, slow and unstable works by women composers—text scores, graphic notation, voice, and quiet, tender listening practices—a space emerges to notice what usually passes unheard, between sound, voice and silence. Featuring: Tomoko Hojo, Wan-Chien Cheng, Myriam Van Imschoot, Cara Tolmie & Anna Holveck. This collaboration is supported by the Harmonic Ito Foundation and CRiSAP, University of the Arts London. Thanks to Federico Protto for assistance. Info

2 April - 7 Mei 2026

LE CADEAU, online film

ARGOS TV

In parallel with the exhibition Becoming Ancestors and Beyond: Tracing Ancestrality at argos, the first mid-length film by Myriam Van Imschoot will be available as a free film from the argos collection on your screen. In Le Cadeau (48 min, 2017), four women appropriate a cultural and vocal expression as they shape a tender revolt. More info

28 April 2026 

KEYNOTE Re:wind — Expanding Documentation, 10:00-12:00

STUK, Leuven

In this symposium, artists, researchers, heritage workers and activists explore how documentation functions in the arts. How can ephemeral art—entangled with oral and social processes—be translated, mediated and shared so that it can also take its place in future historical narratives? In her keynote, Myriam approaches this question through her experiences with artist communities as breeding grounds for transmission. Info