Music celebrates French tradition
[ UniNews Vol. 13, No. 13
26 July - 9 August 2004 ] By Katherine Smith
The French tradition in music was celebrated at the University of Melbourne recently with a symposium and concert showcasing the Faculty of Musics academic and performance expertise and the work and talents of its students.
Officially launched by the French Ambassador to Australia, Monsieur Patrick Henault, the Symposium on Music in France (18301940) was convened by the Faculty of Musics Associate Professor Kerry Murphy.
Associate Professor Murphy says the Faculty was born of the French tradition of musical education, being established originally under the name of the Melbourne Conservatorium, and modeled on the Conservatoire de Paris.
A number of staff and postgraduates in the Faculty today are involved in research on French music and a regular course is taught on the music of Paris from Berlioz to the Ballet Russes.
The symposium celebrated our continued interest in French music. The Faculty was delighted to welcome scholars from France as well as those working on French music from America, Asia, Canada, UK and the rest of Europe and Australia, she says.
Major themes of the symposium were: Exoticism, race and cross-cultural interchanges/influences; Music and its social contexts; Interactions between music, art, literature and contemporary thought; and The impact of nationalism and politics on French music and musical discourse.
Associate Professor Murphy says the concert, which followed the symposium, highlighted the significant connections between Australian and French research and musical resources.
Featured on the program was a selection of popular French songs from the University of Melbournes Brécy collection. The collection, purchased in 1997, is on display in the Baillieu Library in an exhibition called Performing Revolution: France 17891944, mounted to coincide with the 14th George Rudé Seminar on French History and Civilisation. Georges Rudé seminar delegates were among guests at the concert.
Highlights of the concert also included 19th-century Romantic song and a selection of piano compositions from Prix de Rome winners.
The Prix de Rome selection was drawn together by postgraduate Music student, Julia Lu, who recently completed a thesis on the Prix de Rome.
Other students involved in the concert were pianists Kenji Fujimura and Amir Farid, tenor Benjamin Martin, soprano Vivien Hamilton, and Peter Campbell and members of the choir of Trinity College.
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