Meet our Organizing Committee
Luc Nijs - Chair of the Organizing Committee is Professor in Early Childhood Music Education and course director of the Bachelor in Music Education at the University of Luxembourg. He is also Visiting professor at the University of Ghent, affiliated to IPEM and to the Jonet Chair on Social Action and Music Making. He holds master’s degrees in music (Brussels) and philosophy (Ghent), and a PhD in systematic Musicology (Ghent). His research integrates theory development, empirical studies and practice, focusing on the musician ‐ instrument relationship, on the role of body movement in the instrumental learning processes, and on the role of technology in provoking an embodied approach to instrumental music education.
Emma Shubin - co-chair of the Organising Comittee is flutist, Dalcroze Licentiate, and Suzuki Educator (www.emmashubin.com). Currently, she is a PhD candidate at the University of Luxembourg, researching how the use of movement while playing impacts instrumental learning in the early years under the supervision of Professor Dr Luc Nijs. She is a co-host of the Virtual Dalcroze Meet-Up (www.virtualdalcroze.org), an independent international forum for music educators interested in the Dalcroze work, which has held over 70 free Meet-Ups, 7 short courses, and over 35 masterclasses given by Dalcroze teachers from all over the world. She is the co-founder and Artistic Director of Integral Steps (www.integralsteps.org), a nonprofit dedicated to integrative multimodal education. As a Wm.S. Haynes Flute Co. Ambassador Clinician Artist, she performs and teaches worldwide, striving to combine deep musicianship learning with instrumental mastery through the joy of movement.
Bhareh Behzadaval is a flutist, singer and general music teacher. She is a PhD candidate at the University of Luxembourg. Her studies are focused on Augmented Reality (AR) in music education under supervision of Professor Dr Luc Nijs. She holds an MA in educational technology (2021) at Allameh Tabataba’i University in Teheran (IR). She started her research in 2018 at Allameh Tabataba’i University on Instructional Design (ID) in music education. She has also 18 years of work experience in teaching general music in many schools and institutes in Teheran (IR). As a music teacher and educational technologist, she produced a series of instructional and musical videos for Persian language children, called Tutak Kids Music.
Laura Serra is a PhD candidate in the SAMUSE project, at the University of Luxembourg, under the supervision of Professor Dr Luc Nijs. Her research focuses on the bodily involvement at the physical, cognitive, and emotional levels in music performance. She trained as a pianist at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música (RCSMM), in Madrid, to then complete her master's at the Royal College of Music (RCM), in London, with a MPerf in Piano Performance and a MSc in Performance Science. She also holds a Masters in Education from the Universitat de les Illes Balears (UIB), and a Masters in Mindfulness applied to Research and Health Contexts from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM). As a musician, Laura is currently a pianist at Músiques d’Elles, a classical music chamber group that focuses on the repertoire of women composers, with whom they released an album in 2021. She is also the singer of Alanaire, an alternative band that blends rock, pop, jazz, and electronic music, with whom they released two albums, “Albor” (Promo Arts, 2022) and “Fer com si tot fos no res” (U98, 2024).
Georgia Nicolaou is a musician, educator and a Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst. She is currently a PhD candidate at the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp and the University of Antwerp, under the supervision of Prof. dr. Peter van Petegem, Prof. dr. Luc Nijs and dr. Bob Selderslaghs. Her research focuses on Community Music and Movement, Embodied Music Pedagogies and Participatory music-making with children in intercultural contexts. She previously studied Composition (BMus & MMus) at Codarts Rotterdam, HKU University of the Arts in Utrecht, the Netherlands and the Ionian University in Corfu, Greece. Besides, she works as a music and movement teacher and performer with the Belgian organization Musica Impulscentrum, in participatory workshops and performances for children. Moreover, she is an acclaimed composer, pianist, and singer. Her works have been performed in prestigious music festivals, such as Operadagen Rotterdam, November Music, Transit and Gaudeamus among others.
Giusi Mazzella graduated from the Venice Conservatorio in 1997, where she was trained as a soloist, performing at international competitions and working with ensemble music as an accompanist and through choral singing. Following a Master of Music in Historical Musicology, at Goldsmiths College, University of London she pursued her interests in baroque Music as an assistant librarian at the Royal College of Music, London. She studied Dalcroze Eurhythmics in the UK and achieved the Professional Certificate in 2021. She is currently continuing her studies towards the Licence. In recent years, she focused on music education for the early years and in teaching Dalcroze Eurhythmics to this age group. She founded two music schools, Amusiking and Le Nid des Talents to promote the use of this approach in Luxembourg, where she lives with her family.
Nadja Burdot-Koob started her musical studies in the Conservatoire de la Ville de Luxembourg, her native town, and completed them in the Conservatoire Royal in Brussels (Diplôme d’aptitude pédagogique à l’enseignement du Solfège, 2004, Diplôme supérieur in Solfège de spécialisation (with distinction), Premier Prix in Harmonie écrite, Violon, Musique de chambre, Histoire de la musique, Solfège (with grande distinction. first placed) 1997).
She is professeure in formation musicale – solfège at the Conservatoire de la Ville de Luxembourg. She also taught violin, éveil musical and methodology. Since the Bachelor en Enseignement Musical was created, she teaches the students of the University of Luxembourg.
Nationally, she takes a part in working groups for program development and is regularly invited to juries.
She wrote a method for formation musicale in 4 volumes called Solfi and a related application app.solfi.lu.
Currently finishing the Certificat Dalcroze France (December 2024), she regularly invites Dalcroze specialists in order to initiate teachers and children in Luxembourg to this approach.
She’s doing the Master en pédagogie musicale orientation rythmique Jaques-Dalcroze, Music and Movement, in Geneva starting in September 2024.