International scholars of French music will convene on the BYU-Hawaii campus, 15 to 21 November, to participate in a series of presentations, lecture/recitals and performances.
The conference, open to BYU-Hawaii students and faculty, as well as community members, offers 13 live performances, as well as ten lecture/recitals, of French music performed by masters of the genre.
Conference participants not only represent the diverse nature of the BYU-Hawaii campus, but the international interest of the academic music community in French music.
A cross-section of the United States as well as England, Australia, Singapore, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa are represented in the gathering.
The idea, developed and brought to fruition by Scott McCarrey (pictured at above), current chair of the BYU-Hawaii Department of Music, was generated while he was a doctoral student at England’s York University. He said as he studied and wrote about the works of Maurice Ravel, he recognized the value of a venue for performers to write about knowledge often shared only in a teaching studio.
“I began to imagine the possibility of developing a journal,” said McCarrey, “which would include the writings of performance scholars or musicologists interested in performance.”
Advised by his teacher/mentor, Scottish concert pianist Roy Howat, to organize a conference before attempting a journal, McCarrey began that process. Five years later, the idea has blossomed into a week-long conference involving French music scholars and performers of international stature.
Evening Performances Highlight Conference
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, November 15, 16, and 17, three evening performances, each beginning at 7:30 p.m. in the McKay Auditorium, will feature a broad spectrum of the music of French masters.
Music of Poulenc , Ravel, and Schmitt will open the series, Thursday, 15 November, with Scott McCarrey at the piano. The performance will also feature the world premiere of “Scenes from an Australian Childhood,” composed for McCarrey by Australian musician, Wendy Hiscocks.
Claude Debussy’s “En Blanc et Noir,” written for two pianos will be performed Friday, November 16, as part of the program offered by internationally renown pianists Roy Howat and Wendy Hiscocks. Hiscocks’ new arrangement of Camille Saint-Saens’ "Danse macabre" will have its American premiere.
Finishing off the series, Saturday, 17 November, an evening of music by Olivier Messiaen , will be offered by Peter Hill, professor of music at the University of Sheffield, England. Included on the program will be a selection of birdsong pieces Messiaen transcribed and assimilated into his unique style.
Keynote Speakers, Presentations, Lecture/recitals
Richard Langham Smith , Arnold Kettle Distinguished Scholar in Music at Open University, UK, will give the opening keynote address Friday, 16 November, at 9:30 a.m. in the McKay Auditorium. His topic is “Bizet’s ‘Carmen:’ towards a performance Urtext.”
The same day at 1:00 p.m. in the McKay Auditorium, Peter Hill, University of Sheffield, UK, will give a keynote address entitled “Nature into music: Messiaen and birdsong in the 1950’s.”
Roy Howat, Keyboard Research Fellow at the Royal Academy of Music, will be the keynote speaker , Saturday, 17 November, at 2:00 p.m. in the McKay Auditorium. “Inside rather than under the composer’s skin: another tilt at being authentic” will be his topic.
Throughout the week a wide variety of presentations and lecture/recitals will be offered. Students will have have the opportunity of learning from Peter Hill, Wendy Hiscocks, Richard L. Smith, and Roy Howat in a series of master classes and lectures, beginning with Peter Hill’s piano masterclass, Thursday, 15 November, at 4 p.m. in the McKay Auditorium.