I like playing in conferences. Appreciative, knowledgeable audiences, the opportunity of programming interesting, challenging music, no possibility of re-using any one programme, and exceedingly badly paid (if at all).
Veered a bit off message there, sorry.
Seriously though, I believe it's really important to have highly specialized performance tailored to a conference's topic of discussion, especially if it is musicological (in which case it is common for us to provide musical examples for papers as well). Musical realizations always bring new aspects of discussion to the fore, and after all, everyone can benefit from closer relationship between performance and study. Having a setup that allows for projection enables us to make clearer, interdisciplinary or multifaceted points, often involving the presentation of manuscript sources while we play, or specific analyses of relevant elements.
So, in case any conference organizers are reading this: get a grip and start planning for live music in your budgets!
The performances listed below are those for which I was in charge of programming and was the one to get up and talk between pieces. I also played with such concerts led by others and gave lecture recitals in other contexts, which are not listed.
- ‘The Blind Fiddlers of Burgundy’. As part of the conference ‘Improvisatorische Praxis in Mittelalter und Renaissance’, Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Basel (2008).
- ‘Citation Intertextuality and Memory in the Music of the Middle Ages’. As part of the conference ‘Citation, Intertextuality, and Memory in the Middle Ages: Text, Music, Image’, University of Exeter, 29-30th January 2009.
- ‘Newness, Sound and Visuality in the Ars Subtilior’. As part of the annual Plainchant and Medieval Music Society conference ‘Nothing New? Understanding Newness in Medieval and Contemporary Music’, Huddersfield University (2009).
- ‘Toute Clerté’. As part of the Biennial Early Book Society Conference ‘‘Accipe et Devora': Packaging, Presentation and Consumption of Manuscripts and Printed Books, 1350-1550’, University of Exeter (2009).
- ‘Sounding Ritual, Sounding Space’. As part of the Harlaxton Medieval Symposium ‘Ritual and Space’, Harlaxton (2009).
- ‘So ys emprentid’. As part of the Monumnetal Brass Society Conference ‘Canons, Clergy and Churchmen’, Salisbury (2009).
- ‘Composing (and Writting Down) Medieval Song’. As part of the conference ‘Off the Staves’, Bangor University (2010).
- ‘Certes Je Dit – Machaut in Many Voices’. As part of the conference ‘Guillaume de Machaut: Music, Image Text in the Middle Ages’, University of Exeter (2013).
- With Marc Lewon, ‘Einstimmigkeit als Praxis’. As part of the Troja Kolloquium und Jahrbuch für Renaissancemusik, Münster (2014).
- ‘Translating musical style at the time of the Great Schism: the Ars Subtilior outside France’. As part of Europäische Musikkultur im Kontext des Konstanzer Konzils conference, Constance (2014).
- ‘From the Fernandez Brothers to Tinctoris: Proportional Duos in Practice’. As part of the symposium Johannes Tinctoris and Music Theory in the Late Middle Ages and Early Renaissance, Senate House, University of London (2014).
- ‘Possessing Music’. As part of Objects and Possessions: Material Goods in a Changing World 1200-1800 conference, Southampton (2017).
- ‘Singing from the Source’. For the Tromsø Medieval Forum, Tromsø University (2017).
- ‘Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, Astronomy: Hearing the Medieval Quadrivium’. As part of Classical and Quantum Motion in Disordered Environment conference, Queen Mary, University of London (2017).
- ‘Je Chante ung chat’. As part of the International Courtly Literature Society’s 16th triennial congress, University of Exeter (2019).
Help us extend this list without taking a financial hit each time!
Cheers!
