Slavonic and East European Music Study Group
About us
Current Convenors: Philip Ross Bullock, Katerina Levidou, Ivana Medić and Patrick Zuk.
Past convenors: Pauline Fairclough, Rosamund Bartlett, Anastasia Belina, Tamsin Alexander and Danijela Špirić-Beard. Any enquiries should be sent to SEEM.
Background and purpose:
Originally founded as the Study Group on Russian and East European Music (REEM), the Study Group on Slavonic and East European Music held its inaugural conference at the University of Bristol in 2006 and has since organised regular study events around the UK and abroad. It brings together scholars working across musicology and Slavonic studies and seeks to establish international and interdisciplinary connections to foster both existing and emerging research questions and methodologies. As well as organising its own events, it prepares panels for major international conferences in order to promote the study of Slavonic and East European music.
The Study Group has a number of key aims:
· To foster research links between scholars working in music and Slavonic departments in the UK;
· To support international collaboration, especially with scholars from the region;
· To provide a forum for scholars at all career stages to exchange ideas and meet one another at regular conferences, with the possibility of resulting publications;
· To support and encourage postgraduate research into Slavonic and East European Music;
· To bring the work of musicologists to the attention of the wider community of BASEES, primarily by organising panels at its annual conference;
· To establish and maintain an email list, in order to inform members of the Study Group about forthcoming events of interest;
· To raise the presence of SEEM at meetings of major international conferences in both musicology and Slavonic studies.
Activities
On 17 February 2024, SEEM is holding a one-day conference at the Institute for Advanced Study, University of Durham. The programme can be found here.
In 2022, the study group organised two panels at the 21st Quinquennial Congress of the International Musicological Society (IMS) in Athens. These were dedicated to the memory of Katy Romanou, a notable scholar who frequently attended and contributed to the Study Group's events. The congress programme can be found here.
In 2021, the study group organised a panel “The Unpredictable Past and Uncertain Future of East European Music: the cases of Bulgaria and Serbia” at the BASEES Second Regional Conference in cooperation with the Leibniz Science Campus “Eastern Europe – Global Area” (EEGA), under the theme “Globalising Eastern Europe – New Perspectives on Transregional Entanglements”. The conference programme can be downloaded here.
In 2019, the study group held its annual study day IN MEMORIAM STUART CAMPBELL (1949–2018), in the Music Department, Durham University, on 12 October 2019. The programme may be found here. A selection of articles from this conference was published in the journal Muzikologija-Musicology No. 30 (2021), entitled MUSIC CRITICISM IN RUSSIA AND EASTERN EUROPE, which is available for free download.
In 2018, the study group held its annual study day in the Department of Music, University of Bristol, on Friday 9 November 2018. The theme was MUSIC AND 1968: the year of widespread activism and protest across the continent of Europe fifty years ago. The conference programme may be found here.
In 2017 SEEM's annual conference was held at Goldsmiths, University of London on Friday 15 December 2017. The theme was MUSIC AND REVOLUTION. The conference programme can be downloaded here.
In 2016 SEEM's annual conference was held at the School of Music, University of Cardiff on Friday 24 June 2016. The theme was MUSIC AND MOBILITY. The conference programme can be downloaded here.
In 2015 SEEM's annual conference was held at the Department of Music, University of Nottingham on Monday 22 June 2015. The theme was MUSIC AND CRISIS. A selection of articles was published in the eponymous issue of the journal Muzikologija-Musicology No. 21 (2016), which is available for free download.
Also in 2015, a conference entitled MUSICAL LEGACIES OF STATE SOCIALISM: REVISITING NARRATIVES ABOUT POST-WORLD WAR II EUROPE was held on 24-26 September 2015 at the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Belgrade, under the auspices of the Institute of Musicology of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SASA), the Department of Fine Arts and Music of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, and the BASEES Study Group for Slavonic and East European Music (SEEM). A selection of articles was published in the journal Muzikologija-Musicology No. 23 (2017), entitled REFLECTIONS ON SOCIALISM and available for free download.
In 2014 SEEM held a conference on MUSIC AND EMPIRE IN EAST-CENTRAL EUROPE at the University of Durham. A selection of articles was published in the journal Muzikologija-Musicology No. 20 (2016), which is available for free download.
SEEM held a conference on SCANDALS IN MUSIC HISTORY at the Oxford University Music Faculty on 2 November 2013. The Programme can be downloaded here.
In September 2013 SEEM co-organised a conference on RETHINKING BALKAN MUSIC’S POLES OF ATTRACTION, held in Belgrade, Serbia. A selection of articles was published in an edited volume BEYOND THE EAST-WEST DIVIDE, which is available for free download.
The Annual Conference 2012 was devoted to MINORITY COMPOSERS and held at the University of Manchester, Martin Harris Centre for Music and Drama, on Saturday 13 October 2012.
In July 2011 SEEM co-organised a conference on the reception of Greek antiquity in music since the nineteenth century, held in Athens, Greece. The proceedings of the conference REVISITING THE PAST, RECASTING THE PRESENT: THE RECEPTION OF GREEK ANTIQUITY IN MUSIC, 19TH CENTURY TO THE PRESENT are available for free download.
SEEM's annual conference 2011, on MUSIC THEORY AND CRITICISM, was held at Denis Arnold Hall, Music Faculty, St. Aldate’s, Oxford on Saturday 15 October 2011. The programme can be found here, and abstracts and biographies can also be downloaded.
SEEM's annual conference 2010, CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN MUSIC: MUSICAL CROSSROADS?, took place at the Oxford University Faculty of Music on 26 June 2010.
SEEM held a conference on MUSICAL NATIONALISM AND MODERNISM IN RUSSIA AND EASTERN EUROPE on 17 October 2009, which was hosted by the Faculty of Music, University of Oxford. The programme can be seen here.
In 2008 SEEM held a conference on RUSSIA'S MUSICAL REVOLUTIONARIES, in association with the Oxford University Faculty of Music and the Bate Collection, which took place at the Denis Arnold Hall in Oxford on 1 October 2008.
SEEM held a conference on MUSIC IN RUSSIA AND EASTERN EUROPE AFTER ‘THE THAW’ at the Department of Music, Victoria Rooms, University of Bristol, on Friday 29 June 2007.
THE ROYAL MUSICAL ASSOCIATION and BASEES SLAVONIC AND EAST EUROPEAN MUSIC STUDY GROUP held a POSTGRADUATE STUDY DAY on Russian and East European Music at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama on 10 February 2007.
The inaugural conference, EASTERN EUROPEAN MUSICAL RELATIONS, took place in the Department of Music, University of Bristol, on Saturday 24 June 2006.
If you would like your e-mail address to be added to SEEM's e-mail list please write to us.