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The departments of Classics, Music, and Comparative Literature at King’s College London are delighted to announce a call for papers for an upcoming conference:

‘Amplifying Antiquity: Music as Classical Reception’
Strand Campus, King’s College London, December 12th-13th 2018

The focus of the conference is deliberately wide, and we welcome proposals to speak on any aspect of how the culture, history, and myth of the Greek and Roman worlds have influenced the music of the 17th-21st centuries. We hope that papers will demonstrate the scope for fresh work and new collaborations in this area.

Musical works addressed need not be conventionally viewed as part of the classical tradition. Papers might touch on topics such as: the use of antiquity in the invention of new musical genres and development of aesthetic priorities; the relationship between performative speech and song, past and present; the gendering of ancient voices in modern productions; the social contexts of musical commissioning and performance; the conservative and radical political potential in music inspired by the classical world.

Speakers already confirmed include Sina Dell’Anno (Basel), Edith Hall (KCL), Wendy Heller (Princeton), Sarah Hibberd (Bristol), and Stephanie Oade (Oxford).

We are currently awaiting the outcome of applications to support the funding of this conference, and plan to cover at least the expenses of each speaker's stay in London. While King’s does not have on-site childcare, every effort will be made to accommodate speakers with caring commitments.

Please send abstracts (no more than 300 words) to amplifyingantiquity@gmail.com, by July 9th. Any questions can be directed either to amplifyingantiquity@gmail.com, or to the organisers.

With warm wishes,

Emily Pillinger and Miranda Stanyon
emily.pillinger@kcl.ac.uk
miranda.stanyon@kcl.ac.uk

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(Photo: "Handwritten" by A. Birkan, licensed under CC BY 2.0)