Events
<2024>
Biennial Baltic Musicological Conference
Music History Beyond State Borders: Micro-, Meso-, and Macro-Regionality of Musical Culture
29–31 October, 2024
Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, Vilnius
Area studies are focused on specific geographic territories or specific cultures. This interdisciplinary research includes geography, history, sociology, political science, literature, linguistics, and gradually entering musicology. The still dominant concept of music history is based on nationalism, that is, today’s state borders and moreover, the ethnic majority. The aim of this conference is to broaden the mentioned concept by stepping beyond the state borders, focusing on geographically and culturally determined micro-, meso-, and macroregions through history. Furthermore, the inclusion of different kinds of minorities, as well as imperial (Byzantine, Ottoman, Russian, British, French and others) and political legacies (communist, socialist) would be of significance. In order to overcome the traditional (Western) centre versus periphery division, and the strictly determined historical regions, the temporarily centres would be placed anywhere where the area studies are focused.
A mesoregion is defined as ‘connected by time that crosses the boundaries of a state, society, nation, and civilization’ (Troebst). The term ‘mesoregion’ designates a group of several states forming a region – for instance, the Baltic region, the Balkans, or the Middle East – in historical terms and in political terminology. A mesoregion is different from a microregion (a subnational unit), and also from a macroregion (a continent: Africa, Asia, Latin America). Mesoregion as a relative category in the framework of conceptual history and ‘as the premises of its social production, its ideological underpinnings, as well as the various forms of interpretation and representation that it embodies’ (Mishkova and Trencsényi). Additionally, the micro- and mesoregional perspective can be different from outside and within the areas through the reception of a given musical culture and its self representation. This approach would provide a profound insight into sub- and supraregional facets of cultural and musical life and the network of overlapping regional cultural and musical traditions. The conference is therefore not limited to specific regions and cultures, and encourages the perspectives and exchange across the boundaries of cultures, regions and disciplines, including:
- micro regional musical culture as an identity signifier;
- mesoregional music history or opera beyond the state border;
- network of music institutions within a meso- and macro region;
- supranational macro- or mesoregional history of music;
- cross-cultural transfer within a mesoregion or among different mesoregions.
To address these issues, as well as any other questions and topics, we present “Music History Beyond State Borders: Micro-, Meso-, and Macro-Regionality of Musical Culture”, the Biennial Baltic Musicological Conference 2024, held at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in Vilnius 29–31 October 2024.
Conference organizer:
Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre Research Centre
In collaboration with:
IMS Study Group Music and Cultural Studies
<2023>
International Musicological Symposium
CENTENARY OF THE MUSICAL (TRANS)AVANT-GARDE: IMPULSES AND CONTEXTS
6–7 October, 2023
Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, Vilnius
In 1923, the first festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music was held in Salzburg – the event became a model for the presentation of new music. The International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) was the first international organization to consistently promote new music and to bring together networks of composers, performers, and music critics in this genre. Founded on the initiative of Austrian composers, the ISCM has become an influential platform for the presentation and dissemination of the work of young composers and has contributed to the careers of generations of creative young people. To celebrate the centenary of the movement that gave rise to the international musical avant-garde, the Research Centre of the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, together with the ISCM Lithuanian and Austrian sections, is organizing a symposium and a series of concerts on 6 and 7 October 2023, with a special focus on the impulses of the musical (trans)avant-garde and the movements of young composers. The symposium program includes lectures by Georgina Born (University College London), Monika Voithofer (University of Vienna), invited presentations by musicologists from Poland, Serbia, Georgia, Lithuania, premieres of young composers in the concert programs of the ensembles Twenty Fingers Duo (Lithuania) and the duo ovocutters (Austria), Agustín Castilla-Ávila’s exhibition Still Life with Silence and a discussion on the global context of (trans)avant-garde movements in music, with the presentation of the collective monograph Sonic Utopias (2023).
Organizers:
Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre Research Centre
ISCM Lithuanian Section
ISCM Austrian Section
In collaboration
with Lithuanian Composers’ Union
Support
Lithuanian Council for Culture
Stadt Salzburg
Bundesministerium für Kunst, Kultur, öffentlichen Dienst und Sport
Full event videos:
Day 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wo4aJzxiUk
Day 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03wH_JwoPJw
<2022>
22nd International conference of music theory “Principles of Music Composing: ASPECTS OF COMMUNICATION“
Lithuanian Composers’ Union, Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre
November 16-18, 2022
Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, Vilnius
Individualization of compositional principles and the emergence of pluralistic conceptual ecologies on the global stage of contemporary music, inevitably lead to communicative challenges. It seems that now, more than ever, the musical discourse is segregated into many different communicative spaces—sociocultural “bubbles” where internalized intellectual tools determine a particular collective way of understanding. Various communicative intentions lead to a variety of different technical means of expression, and vice-versa—a miscellany of technical means and mediums of expression inspire different things and ways for composers to communicate.
The multifaceted nature of the subject requires us to approach it from carefully selected angles, which include, but are not limited to: the sociocultural context of the composer and/or composition; the conceptual idea and/or purpose of the composition; the intended venue; implementation of technology; interpretation by the performer; reception by the audience; etc. The unveiling of possible new alternatives for the development of national music is highly welcome and desirable, as the new communication possibilities of M. K. Čiurlionis’ music remain among the priorities of this annual conference.
Full event videos:
Day 1: https://youtu.be/lNaLYjxOAH4
Day 2: https://youtu.be/2t4_YqwauS8
Day 3: https://youtu.be/WHS1uVBBfiI
INTERNATIONAL SCHOLARLY SYMPOSIUM
“THE EMERGENCE OF CINEMA AT THE IMPERIAL BORDERLANDS OF CENTRAL-EASTERN EUROPE”
2022 July 5, Tuesday
Sinemateka (A. Goštauto 2, Vilnius) or online
In this one-day symposium, we will turn to the history of early and silent cinema of the Central-Eastern Europe. In the recent context of active discussions on the decolonisation of Eastern European culture and history, we will be paying greatest attention to the countries whose cinema history has been sparsely debated in the international historiography. We will consider the characteristics of the cinema of this region, the emergence and development of which depended on the empires, i.e., Russia, Habsburg. While trying to liberate ourselves from the unified concept of the Central-Eastern Europe, we will delve into the unique and highly diverse cinema history of Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and the Czech Republic. Judith Thissen (Utrecht university, the Netherlands), Oleksandr Teliuk, Anna Onufriienko (Oleksandr Dovzhenko National Centre, Ukraine), Łukasz Biskupski (University of Łódź, Poland), Lina Kaminskaitė-Jančorienė (Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre), Martin Kos (Masaryk University, the Czech Republic), Inga Pērkone (Latvian Academy of Culture) will give their presentations on the topic.
The symposium has been organised by the media education and research centre Meno Avilys, the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. The event will also be accompanied by free of charge live music and Ukrainian silent cinema events held under the Liubartas Bridge (Vilnius, Lithuania).
𝗔 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗻: https://menoavilys.org/symposium
The Biennial Baltic Musicological Conference
Music and Visual Culture: Score, Stage, and Screen
Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, Vilnius, Lithuania, 6–8 October 2022.