Andrew Simmons, Music PhD Student
City Music department recently played host to an international conference investigating the wide-ranging topic of musical repetition. The two-day event, which took place in the last week of April (25–26th) was conceived, organised, and expertly choreographed by the department’s very own Christine Dysers. Christine, who is currently in the final stages of her PhD project, brought together academics from such far-flung universities as Louisiana State University, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, and Melbourne University with the aim of stimulating a broad, interdisciplinary conversation about musical repetition at both local and global levels.
Many of the City Music staff kindly chaired sessions, sifted through abstracts (of which there was an overwhelming number), coordinated Skype presentations, and generally helped to ensure the smooth running of the event. Attendees praised it as ‘the first conference I’ve been to that actually ran to schedule!’
Highlights of the conference included keynote presentations by Professor Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis (University of Arkansas) and Professor Tilman Baumgärtel (Hochschule Mainz), a lunchtime recital by pianist Mark Knoop, and evening concerts by the City Pierrot Ensemble and Explore Ensemble.
Congratulations go out to Christine and the Music staff for organising such a wonderful conference!
See full details of the conference here: https://againandagain.london/