Scholarly Symposium
Department of Music & Dance, UMass Amherst
Organizers: Erinn Knyt, Evan MacCarthy, and Ernest May
Friday, April 25, 2025, 7:30-9pm, Free, Bezanson Hall
Panel Discussion: “J.S. Bach and the 21st Century Canon”
Saturday, April 26, 2025, 8:30am-6:30pm, Bezanson Hall
Symposium Presentations Schedule =>
Registration =>
Why Bach? Navigating 21st Century Scholarship, Performance, and Pedagogy
Contemporary critiques of the Western musical canon, and renewed calls for its expansion, deconstruction, reimagination, or abrogation, invite reflection upon the functions, meanings, and value of Johann Sebastian Bach’s music in the twenty-first century. Evolving aesthetic and cultural ideals reflecting efforts to promote a global perspective in classical music invite dialogue about Bach’s continued significance today, including with regard to performance repertoire, scholarly methodologies, and pedagogical practices. This symposium seeks to reflect upon the continuing contributions of Bach’s life and works in twenty-first century culture.
Daniel R. Melamed, Keynote speaker
(Indiana University, Bloomington; President, American Bach Society)
“Historical Bach Performance in the 21st Century”
Panel Discussion & Remote Sat. attendees: Free
In-person attendees (Sat.): $25 general; $5 students (lunch included)
Cash or check accepted, day of Symposium.
Registration =>
Presenters
Chiara Bertoglio (Conservatory of Cuneo)
Bogumila Mika (University of Silesia)
Stephen Crist (Emory University)
Edward Klorman (McGill University)
Erinn Knyt (University of Massachusetts Amherst)
Mark Kroll (Boston University)
Melanie Lowe (Vanderbilt University)
Ernest May (University of Massachusetts Amherst)
Adrian So (Royal Holloway University of London)
Ruth Eldredge Thomas (Durham University)
Yo Tomita (Queens University Belfast)
Panelists:
Walter Frisch (Columbia University), Wendy Heller (Princeton University), Christoph Wolff (Harvard University), Daniel R. Melamed (Indiana University), Evan MacCarthy (UMass Amherst)
(See the Schedule and/or the Presenters/Moderators pages for details)
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Thanks to our media sponsor, New England Public Media
www.nepm.org
