CONFERENCE EXPLORES WAR AND MUSIC 

The Joseph W. Martin Institute for Law and Society will present a two-day conference on the Music of War from Friday, April 18 through Saturday, April 19. The event will be held in the Martin Institute.

“Capping the Martin Institute's year-long study of war -- its politics, history, social, and cultural effects -- the conference will analyze the complex relationship between war and music,” noted Peter Ubertaccio, director of the Institute.

This interdisciplinary conference will explore the diverse musical responses to war, ranging from traditional war protest music to the music of soldiers and to patriotic and nationalistic music from a global perspective. 

A panel of top national academics will discuss the importance of music during the Civil War, World War I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the war in Iraq, and the War on Terror. 

“The conference is an example of the Institute’s commitment to crossing disciplinary borders,” Ubertaccio added. “We welcomed papers from a range of experts in fields such as music theory and history, musical theater, sociology, history, anthropology, political science, cultural studies, and literature.”

The two-day event will be highlighted by a performance from the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra, hailed by Jazz Review for their “exuberance, imagination, and sheer brio.”  The conference will also include a wide-range of lectures, from music and the war in Iraq, to the theme of violence in Rolling Stones' songs, using music as a lens on war,  "Black Popular Music and War," and feminism and war.

Among the many special presentations are the following:

• Neely Bruce (professor of music and American Studies at Wesleyan University), Elizabeth Saunders (mezzo soprano), and David Barron (baritone) will perform Three Songs of War, which will focus on resonance, resistance, and remembrance in the Chapel of Mary.
  
  
• Trombonist and composer William C. Lowe will present a screening of Mary and Lubna, a musical narrative telling the story of an African American political activist and a brilliant Palestinian teenager, whose lives came together in the disputed land of Palestine/Israel.  The event is part of the closing reception, and will take place in the Martin Auditorium.

The conference begins Friday, April 18 at 8 a.m. Registration for this event is $150 ($80 for graduate students).

For the complete conference schedule please visit here.

If you have questions regarding the event, please call the Martin Institute at 508-565-1131 or send an e-mail to pubertaccio@stonehill.edu.

Issued 04/11/08