Orpheus Instituut launches new website and identity to reflect strategic evolution
It is this deeper evolution that has driven our recent rebranding. Far from a simple cosmetic refresh, this new digital presence reflects our commitment to cultivating an independent, curiosity-driven space where artistic experimentation generates insights that only music-centred research can offer.
A bold visual shift for artistic research
Founded in 1996, Orpheus Instituut has pioneered a field where playing, composing, and experimenting are not illustrations of knowledge, but the very ways of producing it. However, communicating this unique identity has always been a creative challenge.
"What excites us most is helping people discover artistic research in music: a field we've helped shape from the ground up," explains Peter Dejans, founder and Director of Orpheus Instituut. "We're often asked whether we focus on classical music or work like a conservatoire, and that gives us a welcome chance to explain what makes us distinctive. Our mission is precisely this: to show that the deepest research in music happens through the making of it, and over the years Orpheus has become a place the international community looks to for how that's done.
What excites us most is helping people discover artistic research in music: a field we've helped shape from the ground up.
Along with the new website come new colours and a fresh logo. The animated logo contains the initials ‘O’ and ‘I’: the ‘O’ acts as a lens through which we look, while the serif ‘I’ represents a column: a symbol of knowledge and the past. Our work is highly dynamic,” Peter Dejans notes. “We do not merely observe or contemplate; we want to transform the making and understanding of music. That is why all our researchers are artists first.”
We do not merely observe or contemplate; we want to transform the making and understanding of music. That is why all our researchers are artists first.
From file repository to media-rich storytelling
The rebrand culminates in a completely redesigned website developed with the digital agency Glue. While the previous site functioned as an outdated file repository that was difficult to navigate, the new platform prioritises visitors’ needs with a redesigned sitemap and a user-centered information architecture. It successfully shifts text-heavy pages into dynamic, story-driven formats that showcase people, music, and research.
A key feature is the ‘Listen, Watch, Read” section, where visitors can seamlessly explore an extensive media library spanning three decades of work. To bring research and music together, a highly interactive, “sound-on” page has been created to showcase the sheer diversity of the institute’s output.
"Sharing the diversity of our research questions - the range of approaches and topics - would help a visitor to our website build a picture of the common core and contemporary relevance of work at Orpheus." says Jonathan Impett, former Director of Research.
Sharing the diversity of our research questions - the range of approaches and topics - would help a visitor to our website build a picture of the common core and contemporary relevance of work at Orpheus.
Shaping the future: 'what next?'
The launch aligns with the institute’s anniversary theme: Knowledge through music: what next? It highlights the institute’s role as an independent laboratory where researchers are free to take intellectual risks and explore how music and a changing society shape one another.
As Bruno Forment, current Director of Research, puts it: “We want to inspire our researchers to think expansively about their role in a changing society: to build bridges across disciplines, industries, and communities.”
Orpheus Instituut warmly invites music lovers and researchers alike to explore the new website, experience the music, and connect with its global community.