Musical Nationbuilding and Cultural Exchange in Interwar France and Australia

2-3 August, University of Melbourne

We're delighted to invite you to an upcoming free symposium to be held at the Southbank and Parkville campuses of the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music

This symposium considers the central question: How did transnational musical exchange affect attempts at national identity formation in France and/or Australia? The interwar period in both Europe and Australia was a fascinating and crucial time for the re-building and reconsideration of national identity. Reeling from the trauma of the Great War, negotiating postwar transitions, surviving the Depression of the 1930s, and hurtling towards yet another world war, all had an impact on cultural life and, in particular, the development of national identity through musical means. Musical nationalism and musical nationbuilding, however, have often been examined within the boundaries of national paradigms. This symposium aims to treat musical nationbuilding (and re-building) processes as the result of contact and tension with other nations rather than phenomena that emerge and develop in isolation. The focus on France and Australia offers the opportunity to examine differing modes of national identity formation, contrasting a nation with an established identity under threat, with a young nation in the process of developing an independent identity.

Including keynote lecture by Macgeorge Visiting Speaker Professor Barbara Kelly (University of Leeds), and student and staff concert featuring works by Noël Gallon, Louis Couperin, François Couperin, Peggy Glanville-Hicks and Francis Poulenc.

More information, schedule and abstracts: https://eolnetwork.unimelb.edu.au/events/symposium-musical-nationbuilding-and-cultural-exchange-in-interw/

Free registration: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/symposium-musical-nationbuilding-and-cultural-exchange-tickets-934085263167?aff=oddtdtcreator