What a wonderful way to start 2026 with the présentation of a very special 30h workshop on the theme of Music & Diplomacy as we enter into a very promising New Year.

We are pleased to have with us the President and founder of the Centre Européen de Musique (CEM) , Jorge Chaminé and his Executive Director, Philippe Gimet , who will present the CEM, present the concept of “Music & Diplomacy” and lay out the program /cursus for us .

Here is the link to the video podcast : https://open.spotify.com/episode/5eRNyvgsHXC0upmwsSAvpV?si=Y0quTY9GSyOI303x7V-oNw

Here is the link to the CEM website : https://cemusique.org

Here are the biographies of our speakers : 

Jorge Chaminé
Voice of Music, Voice for Europe

Jorge Chaminé is a rare artist whose voice transcends the stage to embrace society. Born in Porto to a Spanish mother, with roots stretching from the Urals to the Atlantic, he has sung in many of the world’s greatest venues, from Carnegie Hall to the Concertgebouw, the Tchaikovsky Hall, the Vienna Konzerthaus and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. On stage, he has performed at the Paris Opera, Madrid’s Teatro Real and La Fenice in Venice, in a repertoire ranging from Mozart to contemporary creation. His deep, warm baritone voice has led him to collaborate with leading orchestras—from London to Berlin, from Boston to Barcelona—under conductors such as Ozawa, Menuhin and Sinopoli.
Yet his vocation goes far beyond performance. Laureate of the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation (1988), recipient of the UNESCO Human Rights Medal (1993), first “Musician for Peace” (2011), Helena Vaz da Silva Prize (2023) and European Innovative Prize (2024), he has devoted decades to bringing music where it is most needed: prisons, hospitals, refugee camps and underprivileged youth.
He has shaped a holisitic and transdisciplinary vision of music, at the crossroads of heritage, creation, education and diplomacy. Artist and humanist, Jorge Chaminé affirms music as a universal language and a vital necessity in a world striving for harmony.

Philippe Gimet, 
Executive director of CEM, head of the pan-European ecosystem.

After a career as an art historian and researcher specialised in the appropriation of digital technologies in the contemporary creative process, Philippe Gimet has been developing expertise since 2000 in the fields of cultural engineering, cultural policies, cultural diplomacy and public and private investment in the cultural sector and in the cultural and creative industries.

As senior executive director in charge of the cultural engineering division of Egis group, he is responsible for setting up the legal, technical and financial arrangements that enable the construction and operation of new generations of cultural infrastructures and cultural policies in France and abroad.

As Executive Director of the European Music Centre he is responsible for developing its pan-European ecosystem.