Since 2004, the Haute école de musique de Genève (HEM) has initiated several dozen applied research projects concerning subjects that cover most of the fields in artistic practice: creation and new technologies, historically informed interpretation, art and sciences, intercultural dialogue, musical pedagogy, etc.
These projects, led by professors at the HEM, have made an original contribution to the renewal of knowledge about the practice of music. The results of the research are systematically presented to the public thanks to special forms of publication (digital media, lecture-concerts, etc.).
Over the years, the projects developed at the HEM have made it possible to forge numerous collaborations with partners in Switzerland (the Universities of Geneva, Fribourg and Bern, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Phonothèque nationale suisse, Institut d’ethnologie de Neuchâtel, etc.) and around the world: McGill University and the University of Montreal (Canada), Conservatoires of Beijing and Shanghai (China), IRCAM (France), Fondation Royaumont and Centre culturel de rencontre d’Ambronay (France), Rabindra Bharati University – Kolkata (India), Centro Ricerche Musicali in Rome and University of Padua (Italy), etc.
The HEM is home to the Institute of research in music and the performing arts (IRMAS) which incorporates the Haute école de musique de Genève (HEM), the Haute école de musique de Lausanne (HEMU) and La Manufacture (Haute école des arts de la scène).