Event overview
'Innovation and Sustainability in New Music' - join us for this free talk hosted by the Contemporary Music Research Unit.
What do we mean when we use the term ’new music’? Is there a difference, for example, between music that is literally new, because it has only recently been created, and music that is new because it is progressive? This latter sense is enshrined in Adorno’s 'Philosophy of New Music' (1949), in which he suggests that the most important new music has ‘historic priority’ and is thus distinct from music that, although created now, is content to conserve a cultural status quo. I want to consider how this concept of newness might be applied in an era in which the most useful societal and technological innovations are those that counter the catastrophic effects of previous developments. Is it possible to conceive a new music that in some way embraces sustainability, whether that be through its form or its realisation? What might be the criteria by which we assess the success of such a project?
Christopher Fox is a composer and writer on new music. He studied composition with Hugh Wood, Jonathan Harvey and Richard Orton at Liverpool, Southampton and York Universities and was awarded the degree of DPhil in composition from York University in 1984. Between 1984 and 1994 he taught at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse für neue Musik and returned to the courses to teach again in 2014. During 1987 he lived in West Berlin as a guest of the DAAD Berlin Artists Programme. In 1994 he joined the Music Department at the University of Huddersfield, eventually becoming Professor in Composition. From 2006 until 2021 he was Professor of Music at Brunel University London. In 2021 he was elected to the Music Section of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin. His writings on music have also been published widely, in the journals Contact, Contemporary Music Review, Musical Times, TEMPO (which he has edited since 2015) and The Guardian and deal principally with new music. He was co-editor of 'Von Kranichstein zur Gegenwart' (1996, DACO Verlag, Stuttgart), a history of 50 years of the Darmstädter Ferienkurse, and of 'Uncommon Ground', a book on the music of Michael Finnissy (1998, Ashgate Press, London). 'Perspectives on the music of Christopher Fox: Straight lines in broken times' (edited by Rose Dodd) was published in 2017 by Routledge.
Free event, open to all.
NB venue is RHB 144
Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 26 Jan 2023 | 6:30pm - 8:00pm |
Accessibility
If you are attending an event and need the College to help with any mobility requirements you may have, please contact the event organiser in advance to ensure we can accommodate your needs.
