Goldsmiths, University of London, Wednesday 18th September 2024.
Ian Gardiner (Goldsmiths, University of London) and Tom Armstrong (University of Surrey) are organising a conference focussing on British composers from the 80s to the 90s whose music faced away from modernist styles and techniques and instead embraced minimalism, popular music and experimental music from Britain and the United States. These composers – Orlando Gough, Lawrence Crane, Jeremy Peyton Jones, Jocelyn Pook and Errolyn Warren to name but a few – were often below the radar of mainstream concert activity and institutions in the UK, indeed much of their work actively sought alternative venues and means of dissemination as well as collaborative relationships with artists of all kinds.
These composers, the ensembles they wrote for and the period of their formative work, warrants much further investigation and documentation. Ian and Tom were both composing and performing during this time including with many of its leading musicians; they have organised the conference to begin rectifying the lack of research, scholarship and history about this important time in British music-making.
Please see the PDF below for more detailed information including the breadth of possible topics and the range of contributors sought. The deadline to receive proposals, that should be in the form of a 350 word abstract, is Monday 20th May. Please email proposals to Ian Gardiner at I.Gardiner@gold.ac.uk. Proposals will be for papers of 30 minutes (20 minutes plus 10 for questions).