International Virtual Conference
organised by
Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini
IAM-Institute for Applied Musicology
22-24 September 2027
CALL FOR PAPERS
The Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini and the Italian Institute for Applied Musicology are pleased to invite submissions of proposals for the Conference «Music as Memory: Historical, Cognitive and Cultural Perspectives» to be held online from 22 to 24 September 2027.
Music is one of the most powerful vehicles of memory. It accompanies individual and collective experiences, preserves traces of the past, shapes cultural identities, and contributes to the transmission of knowledge across generations. Whether through listening, performance, composition, improvisation, or cultural practices, music constantly engages mnemonic processes that operate at cognitive, emotional, bodily, and social levels.
Recent developments in cognitive neuroscience have demonstrated the fundamental role of memory in musical perception and learning, revealing the complex interactions between auditory processing, emotional response, motor activity, and long-term memory systems.
At the same time, scholars in musicology, anthropology, cultural history, and memory studies have increasingly explored the ways in which music functions as a repository of cultural memory, a medium of remembrance, and a tool for constructing individual and collective identities.
From medieval mnemonic techniques to contemporary practices of cultural heritage preservation, from embodied musical knowledge to autobiographical recollection, memory permeates virtually every aspect of musical experience.
Musical traditions are preserved through acts of remembering and transmission; repertoires survive through performance and commemoration; communities construct shared identities through musical remembrance; and individuals use music to reconnect with personal histories and emotional experiences.
The conference aims to investigate the relationship between music and memory from a broad interdisciplinary perspective, bringing together musicologists, historians, neuroscientists, psychologists, anthropologists, ethnomusicologists, and scholars working in related fields. Particular attention will be devoted to the intersections between cognitive processes, embodied musical practices, historical traditions, and cultural forms of remembrance.
The Programme Committee welcomes proposals on all aspects of music and memory, including, but not limited to, the following themes:
- Music, Brain and Cognitive Memory
- Memory Processes in Musical Perception and Learning
- Music and Emotional Memory
- Improvisation and Embodied Memory
- Memory and Virtuosity
- Oral Traditions and Transmission of Musical Knowledge
- Memorisation Practices in Performance
- Memory, Emotion, and Listening Practices
- Sound, Recollection, and Subjectivity
- Music as Cultural Memory
- Collective Memory and Musical Identity
- Orality, Notation, and Transmission
- Memory in Medieval, Renaissance, and Early Modern Musical Practices
- Pedagogies of Musical Memory
- Memory, Historiography, and Music History
Programme Committee:
- Roberto Illiano (Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini)
- Massimiliano Locanto (Università di Salerno)
- Fulvia Morabito (Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini)
- Massimiliano Sala (Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini)
Keynote Speakers:
- Ann Maria Busse Berger (University of California Davis, CA)
- Georgia Cowart (Case Western Reserve University)
The official languages of the conference are English, French, and Italian. Papers selected at the conference will be published in a miscellaneous volume.
Papers are limited to twenty minutes in length, allowing time for questions and discussion. Please submit an abstract of no more than 500 words and one page of biography.
All proposals should be submitted by email no later than ***Sunday 4 April 2027*** to <conferences@luigiboccherini.org>. With your proposal please include your name, contact details (postal address, e-mail and telephone number) and (if applicable) your affiliation.
Further information about the programme and registration will be announced in due course after that deadline.
For any additional information, please contact:
Dr. Massimiliano Sala
conferences@luigiboccherini.org
www.luigiboccherini.org
