Sounds of Place: Listening Geographically to Nordic and British Art Song

How does music interpret place? How does it ’sound out’ places, sites and geographical locations? And how does it in turn contribute to creating meaning of those places?

This conversation-recital aims to explore place-relatedness in a selection of British and Nordic art songs, reflecting on the ways music connects with and relates to places as both concrete realities and culturally meaningful sites, and probe how certain music negotiates sites and locations to both express and shape meaning of those places.

The event will listen to a curated selection of songs by among others Sibelius, Vaughan Williams, Ina Boyle, Wilhelm Stenhammar and Percy Grainger, and in conversations explore how they engage in and express site-relatedness. Soprano Harriet Burns and pianist Ian Tindale are returning to UCL after a highly acclaimed previous event in June 2022, and are this time joined by former Radio 3 New Generation Artist tenor Alessandro Fisher. The reflections will take the form of discussions between Dr Stewart Campbell, lecturer in Music, Media and Marketing from York University with a particular interest in audience reception and song, and Annika Lindskog, lecturer in Scandinavian Studies and cultural history at SELCS (UCL), and a language coach for Scandinavian vocal repertoire.

‘sound is a crucial element in the world we construct for ourselves, and the world that others construct and impose on us.’ (Connell & Gibson, 2003)

Please register in advance, and feel free to bring your lunch sandwich.