Antonine University organized an international musicological conference that united thirty researchers from Belgium, France, Italy, Lebanon, and Tunisia on the theme of “Monodies, modalities, and cognitive research in the Mediterranean,” on November 2-4, 2020, in UA, Lebanon.

Each day, professional speakers discussed several themes as follows: Musical modalities, neurocognitive perception of monodic musical traditions, and music therapy. This event was co-organized by the Centre for Research on Musical Traditions of Antonine University (CRTM-FMM-UA, Lebanon), the International Musicological Society (IMS), Sorbonne University (SU), and the Institute for Research in Musicology (IReMus), in collaboration with the Institute of Music Therapy of the University of Nantes (France), and the Higher Institute of Music and Musicology of Sousse (Tunisia) and with the support of the Middle East regional direction of the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie.

Representatives from the institutional partners took part (both in person and remotely) in the opening ceremony, which started with the speeches of the UA Rector, Father Michel Jalakh, the Regional Director of AUF, Mr. Jean-Noël Baléo, and the Dean of the Faculty of Music and Musicology (FMM), Mr. Nidaa Abou Mrad. During this ceremony, Ms. Linda Messas, Director of the European agency Music Quality Enhancement (MusiQuE), announced that the agency has given its full accreditation to the programs of UA’s FMM, making it the first musicological faculty in the Arab world and Lebanon to be accredited.