Deadline: 1 May 2027

Vilnius, 22–23 November 2027, Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre

New York, 19–20 April 2028, The Barry S. Brook Center of Music Research and Documentation, CUNY New York, 

In 2027 and 2028, The Barry S. Brook Center for Music Research and Documentation will host a bicontinental symposium, coorganized in partnership with the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. The central question of this symposium is how the migration of peoples as well as their ideas, practices, and cultural artifacts has shaped the epistemic systems through which musical knowledge is produced, transmitted, and understood across different territories. The symposium specifically focuses on the migration of musical knowledge to and from Baltic countries—Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania—from the late nineteenth century onward.

Drawing on theoretical discourses of migration in music and culture, the symposium considers how large-scale movements of peoples profoundly transformed musical life during the twentieth century. Migration from the Baltics was often shaped by political upheavals, particularly during and after the First and Second World Wars, when musicians, scholars, and cultural agents sought refuge from wars, totalitarian regimes, and occupations. In their new host countries, these individuals encountered musical environments and traditions that contributed to processes of cultural exchange, internationalization, and the transformation of musical knowledge.

Scholars from all disciplines whose work engages with music in specific and broader cultural contexts are invited to submit proposals addressing the following topics:

• Musical and musicological knowledge created in the context of displacement and exile Historical transformations in the exchange of musical knowledge
• The role of intellectual and scholarly networks in the creation, dissemination, and circulation of musicological knowledge across geographical areas
• The impact of the migration on institutional collaborations and networks, including the relationship between institutional and individual exchanges
• The role of women, Indigenous peoples, and other often underrepresented groups in the production and transmission of musical knowledge
• The influence of migration and exile experience on academic, popular, pedagogical, and other forms of musical thought

We hope to receive proposals that seek to examine diverse forms of musical knowledge exchange, including academic, popular, pedagogical, and religious aspects.

This is the second edition of the bicontinental symposium by The Barry S. Brook Center for Music Research and Documentation, following its first event on musical exchanges between Spain and the Americas, organized in cooperation with the Institut d’Estudis Catalans (Barcelona) in 2024/2025.

Convenors & Coordination:

Tina Frühauf (The CUNY Graduate Center / RILM, New York, USA)

Rima Povilionienė (Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, Vilnius, Lithuania)

Scientific Committee:

Tina Frühauf (The CUNY Graduate Center / RILM, New York, USA)

Rima Povilionienė (Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, Vilnius, Lithuania)

Stefan Keym (Institute of Musicology of the Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany)

Jolanta Guzy-Pasiak (Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland)

Rūta Stanevičiūtė (Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, Vilnius, Lithuania)

Janis Kudinš (Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music, Riga, Latvia)

Brigitta Davidjants (Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, Tallinn, Estonia)

The bicontinental symposium will take place in person in Vilnius and New York:

Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (LMTA)

Gedimino pr. 42 10001 Vilnius, Lithuania

www.lmta.lt

The Barry S. Brook Center for Music Research and Documentation

CUNY Graduate Center 365 Fifth Avenue,

Suite 3108 New York, NY 10016-4309

https://brookcenter.gc.cuny.edu/

We welcome proposals for individual papers and whole panels in English. For individual papers, please submit abstracts of ca. 250 words. For the panel proposal, please submit a panel abstract of 200 words along with abstracts for individual papers. The abstract should be accompanied by a short biography, including affiliation (max. 80 words).

Proposals should be submitted through the following form https://forms.gle/kHGemRJJLCtBUbMG7 by 15 March 2027.

Participants must indicate whether they want to participate in the Vilnius symposium in 2027 or in the New York symposium in 2028.

All applicants will be notified by 1 May 2027.

There is no conference registration fee.

The selected papers will be invited for publication.

Please direct any questions to cmrd@gc.cuny.edu The conference organizers look forward to receiving your submissions!