CfP Symposium: Spain and Musical Modernity in the 20th Century (10 July 2027) Call for Papers Meetings & Events

DATE: 10 July 2027
VENUE: Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, University of Melbourne (in person)
PROPOSALS DUE: 1 December 2026
To commemorate the centenary of the Generation of 1927 and the sesquicentenary of the birth of Manuel de Falla, we will be hosting a one-day symposium on “Spain and Musical Modernity in the 20th Century.” This will take place the day after the Fourteenth Biennial “Music since 1900” conference, which will be held at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, University of Melbourne, 7-9 July 2027 (proposals for which are due by 18 October 2026).

Musical evocations of Spain, as well as constructions of musical identity by Spanish composers and performers, have made significant, if underappreciated, contributions to musical modernity in the 20th century. A complex relationship has often existed between constructions of musical exoticism based on Hispanic tropes and different manifestations of Spanish musical nationalism. These “Spanish” musical identities have evolved and been reconfigured according to the dictates of competing cultural, political and social factors, yet Spain’s unique position and its enactment of cultural identity cannot easily be reconciled within current narratives of musical nationalism, musical exoticism or musical modernity.

We invite proposals for 20-minute papers that explore different manifestations of musical modernity associated with Spain across a range of genres:

• Western art music
• Dance and theatrical spectacle
• Popular musics and Flamenco
• Music and Film
• Literature, the visual arts and musical representations of Spain

Keynote Speakers:
Javier Suárez-Pajares (Complutense University, Madrid)
Belén Pérez Castillo (Complutense University, Madrid)

Please submit an abstract of not more than 250 words, with a brief biographical note of not more than 100 words, to ekertesz@unimelb.edu.au by 1 December 2026.

Registration will be free of charge, and there will be a minor subsidy (of €200) towards cost of accommodation for international presenters. Selected papers from the conference will form part of a publication.

Michael Christoforidis and Elizabeth Kertesz
Conference convenors (mchri@unimelb.edu.au; ekertesz@unimelb.edu.au)