UNC Music Research Forum - Department of Music

The UNC Music Research Forum hosts invited lectures by distinguished music scholars from around the world and informal research presentations by members of our department and colleagues across campus. It serves as an intellectual hub for the department and is open to all. The Forum is held on the final Friday of each month during the semester from 2-4 p.m. in Person Recital Hall.

2023 – 2024 UNC Music Research Forum

Fall

August 25: A Lightening Round of Summer Research and Beginning of the Year Happy Hour
September 29: “Desert Specters: Haunting Myths of the Spectacular Bomb in Opera and Film” | Assistant Professor Dr. Anna Gatdula
October 27: “Thickening Something: Convergent Music, Affect, and Sociability on the Dancefloor” | Dr. Luis-Manuel Garcia-Mispireta (University of Birmingham) *Please note!* This event is co-sponsored with Duke University’s Department of Music. It will be held at *4 pm in Biddle Music Building at Duke*

Spring

January 26: “You Can’t Tell It Like I Can: Mary Lou Williams, Black Nationalism, and the Re-framing of Jazz’s History” | Dr. Tammy L. Kernodle | James W. Pruett Lecture
February 23: “Music at the Limits of Political Efficacy” | Dr. Matt Sakakeeny, Tulane University and the National Humanities Center
March 22: “Afrobeats and the Popular Incredible in Nigeria” | Dr. Adeshina Afolayan, University of Ibadan and the National Humanities Center
April 26: “Castrato Remix” | Dr. Bonnie Gordon, University of Virginia | *Hill Hall 103 at 3:30 PM

The department also regularly hosts conferences and public events with lectures, which will be advertised on the event calendar and here as they are scheduled. Further, as part of the Conversations in New Music Series, artists give talks that support their concerts.