The complete programme for the 2026 IMS Studygroup Music and Media Conference, to be held at University College Dublin, Ireland, June 11-12 has been published. It is available via:
MAM Programme 2026 University College Dublin
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MaM XVII, 2026, Dublin: University College Dublin
The seventeenth meeting of the ‘Music and Media’ study group of the International Musicological Society will take place in-person on June 11-12 2026 in the School of Music at University College Dublin. The theme of this year’s conference is “Directions and Aesthetics of the Digital Era” and will feature a keynote address hosted at the Irish Film Institute.
Since 2000 and the increasing dominance of digital film, music for screen media has experienced substantial changes. With the waning of the “classical” scoring style, the popularisation of composition on Digital Audio Workstations, the arrival of Dolby Atmos, the increasing prioritisation of sound over score, and the rise of streaming services, shifts in music and sound have distinguished digital-era aesthetics from those of the twentieth century. This conference invites proposals that consider these aesthetics, the directions of arising trends, or precursors foreshadowing contemporary practices. Papers may consider, but are not limited to, the following:
● Divergent trends in the treatment of music and sound in screen media since the dawn of the digital era
● The blurred lines between sound design and score
● The changing role of the composer, and the increasing influence of music supervisors, sound editors, sound mixers
● The influence of film score companies (such as Hans Zimmer’s Remote Control Productions) on the direction of audio aesthetics
● Screen media case studies from around the globe representative of recent phenomena, or of pre-digital media that predicts future sonic aesthetics
● The place and influence of AI on contemporary practice and aesthetics
We seek proposals for 20-minute papers or three-paper panels from scholars of music and sound in screen media, graduate students, and industry practitioners. All papers will be 20 minutes in length, followed by 10 minutes of discussion.
Abstracts for all individual papers should not exceed 250 words. In the case of themed panel sessions, there should be an abstract for the whole session (maximum 250 words) plus an abstract for each individual speaker (maximum 150 words each), and should be submitted as a single document. Abstracts should include:
● A title for the paper and/or session
● The name, contact details and affiliation (where applicable) of the speaker(s) and, in the case of themed panel sessions and round-table sessions, the panel convener
● Brief biography of the speaker(s) (maximum 100 words per speaker)
Proposals should be sent, as a PDF, to Conor Power at conor.power1[at]ucd.ie by December 5 2025.
The Organizing Committee for the conference is:
● Conor Power (University College Dublin), Conference Chair
● Emile Wennekes (Utrecht University), MaM Chair
● Laura Anderson (University College Dublin)
● Anika Babel (Northumbria University)
● Ciaran Crilly (University College Dublin)
● Julin Lee (Hochschule für Musik und Theater München)
The Programme Committee for the conference is:
● Chloé Huvet (Université Évry Paris-Saclay/IUF)
● Julin Lee (Hochschule für Musik und Theater München)
● James Denis McGlynn (Trinity College Dublin)
● Jessica Shine (Munster Technological University)
● Emile Wennekes (Utrecht University)
MaM XVI
‘Music, Media and Global Messages’
York St John University and the IMS Studygroup MaM (Music and Media) unites scholars, students and practitioners to share knowledge on the interaction between music and media.
Mon, 9 Jun 2025 09:00 – Tue, 10 Jun 2025 17:00 BST
Come to York, which is both the birthplace of the versatile composer, John Barry (1933-2011), and a UNESCO City of Media Arts, which houses many media companies, including VFX companies, film companies, art magazine and more. Take the opportunity to explore place and space within a rich historical city, hosted in person by the York St John University’s School of the Arts, that supports diverse approaches to music and media in their broadest senses.
Be inspired by Barry, who was a pluralistic composer writing for animation, TV and film, as well as collaborating with popular musicians. He wrote music for westerns, spy thrillers, romance, historical epics, sci-fi, biopics and more, presenting a wider range of cultural through music. Crossing genre borders, Barry demonstrates the reach and breadth of media and music, and the interpolation of the arts in creating stories, narratives, and transcultural engagement, emotional interaction and presentation, raising questions of place, space, cultural appropriation, access, and interpretation, and more.
Bringing together colleagues across disciplines, scholars, students, as well as practitioners, this conference aspires to share knowledge, research and practice, which shows similar versatility to that inspired by Barry. In his work, he represented a diverse range of genres, places, spaces, eras, cultures, and more. For this joint conference of York St John University and the Study Group Music and Media (MaM) under the auspices of the International Musicological Society, we particularly welcome individual papers (20 minutes; 10 minutes Q&A), themed panels (or 3 or 4 papers), and screenings, which relate to the following themes:
Event themes:
1. Translation: how are these art forms and works translated into new cultures, what is the role of subtitles or dubbing, and how can these art forms we accessible to all? Papers might problematise how a story (the target text) responds to the original narrative (the source text). How language is central to music and media communicating, how creative artists work in collaboration, and how the final work is received.
2. Music and Affect: what is the emotional impact of combining music and media; how do these art forms manipulate the spectator; how do these art forms come together to create a particular experience?
3. Genre: there is a wide-ranging breadth of genres within film, TV, animation and so on. Genres even merge to create new genres and approaches, not least a Western approach for a sci-fi battle. How have genres developed with new technologies and/or approaches.
4. Global Contexts: how might we read films which appropriate other cultures, and how might we consider the representation of global themes within specific genres?
5. John Barry: reassessing his contribution to music and media collaborations, reassessments, and critical reflections of his contribution.
Steering Committee:
Co-Chair, Prof. Helen Julia Minors (York St John University)
Co-Chair, MaM: Prof. Emile Wennekes (Utrecht University)
Prof. Steve Rawle (York St John University)
Dr. Sarah-Jane Gibson (York St John University)
Dr. Emilio Audissino (Linnaeus University)
Outline programme (subject to change)
9 June: Day 1
9:00: Arrival & welcome
9.15 – 10.45: Panel 1 – ‘Global contexts 1’
José Pinto (NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal), Music that does not laugh alone: music and humor in the films of João César Monteiro.
Marcell Bárdos (University of Groningen, The Netherlands), Music of the Spheres and Civilizational Melancholy in Jóhann Jóhannsson’s Last and First Men.
James Dennis Bunch Jr (KM College of Music and Technology, Chennai, India), Decolonizing Orchestration: The Tamizh Folk and Film Project.
10.45 – 11.15: Morning coffee break
11.15 – 12:45: Panel 2 – ‘Accessibility’
Yutong Lin (Università della Svizzera italiana/University of Lugano, Switzerland), Youth Engagement with Opera: Key Challenges.
Ângela Flores Baltazar (NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal), Broadcasting the classics: Television, Discourse, and the Democratization of Classical Music in the 1970’s.
Angela Tiziana Tarantini (Utrecht University, The Netherlands), Music for the Eyes:
Strategies by Sign Language Interpreter-Performers to Translate Songs into Sign Language.
12.45 – 14.00: Networking lunch + opportunity to view YSJ student’s Art & Design degree show.
14.00 – 15.30: Panel 3 – ‘Translations’
Philip Todd (Independent Scholar), Hush/The Sounds Of The Beasts : Continuum and a continuum in Jane Arden’s The Other Side Of The Underneath (1972).
Rebekah Pritchard (Edge Hill University, UK), Adapting the Monster: translating a South Korean musical for an English production.
Angela Tiziana Tarantini (Utrecht University, The Natherlands) & Helen Julia Minors (York St John University, UK), Text and Paratext in Sign-language-interpreted Music: A Multidisciplinary Perspective.
15.30 – 16.00: Afternoon coffee break
16.00 – 16.45: Discussion – ‘Music & Media publication opportunity, themes and issues’
16:45 – 17.30: Free time (meet the team for a refreshing beverage)
17.30 – 18.30: Musical concert: Musical Murder Mystery.
Get ready for a night of suspense, intrigue and music. Join together to unravel a thrilling murder mystery whilst enjoying live musical performances. Put on your detective hats and try to solve the mystery before the night is over. This event is directed by third-year music students; Ellie Sunderland, Kacie-Jae Purcell and Shannon Mahon, and performed by students from the YSJ School of Arts.
10 June: Day 2
9:15: Arrival
9.30 – 11.00: Panel 4 – ‘Affect’
Jose Miguel Arellano (Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez | Universidad de los Andes, Chile), Plato, Music, and the Emotional Power of Media: A Philosophical Perspective on Affective Manipulation.
Charles-Pierre Vallière (AE 1572 Musidanse Paris 8 University, France), Film Music Rhythmic Patterns: A Preliminary Step in Transforming Viewer Affects.
Rebecca C Erickson (Independent Scholar, Texas), Vocalic Obliteration, Effacing Affect on the Film Musical SoundtrackJosé Pinto (NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal), Music that does not laugh alone: music and humor in the films of João César Monteiro.
11.00 – 11.30: Morning coffee break
11.30 – 13:00: Panel 5 – ‘Genre’
Hatice Çağlar (Independent Scholar, Turkey), Cultural Appropriation and Global Themes in Cinema: A Genre-Based Analysis.
David Ireland (University of Leeds, UK), “I can’t understand music that you have to […] struggle to listen to”: the ethical, representational, and affective functions of the soundtracks to historical films as illustrated by the music of ‘Worth’.
Will Jeffrey (The University of Sydney, Australia), Reassessing John Barry’s Score for Walkabout (Roeg, 1971): Cultural Landscapes, Nostalgia, and Indigenous Australian Representation.
13.00 – 14.00: Networking lunch + opportunity to view YSJ student’s Art & Design degree show.
14.00 – 15.30: Panel 6 – ‘Global contaxts 2’
Rosa Chalkho Rozenblum (University of Buenos Aires, Argentina), Global Narratives and International Scores: The Musical Turn of Argentine Classical Cinema in the 1940s.
Satomi Sugiyama & Nello Barile (Franklin University Switzerland), Japanese City Pop and Automated Nostalgia.
Awakhiwe Ncube (University of Johannesburg, South Africa), Music and Media: The Emotional Power of Social Media on music consumption in South Africa.
15.30 – 16.00: Afternoon coffee break16.00 – 17.00: Plenary session.
Call For Papers
CALL FOR PAPERS CONFERENCE ‘MUSIC, MEDIA AND GLOBAL MESSAGES’,
YORK, 9-10 JUNE 2025
York St John University and the International Musicological Society’s study group Music and Media (MaM) present their annual conference (9-10 June 2025).
Music, Media, and Global Messages
Come to York, which is both the birthplace of the versatile composer, John Barry (1933-2011), and a UNESCO City of Media Arts, which houses many media companies, including VFX companies, film companies, art magazine and more. Take the opportunity to explore place and space within a rich historical city, hosted in person by the York St John University’s School of the Arts, that supports diverse approaches to music and media in their broadest senses.
Be inspired by Barry, who was a pluralistic composer writing for animation, TV and film, as well as collaborating with popular musicians. He wrote music for westerns, spy thrillers, romance, historical epics, sci-fi, biopics and more, presenting a wider range of cultural through music. Crossing genre borders, Barry demonstrates the reach and breadth of media and music, and the interpolation of the arts in creating stories, narratives, and transcultural engagement, emotional interaction and presentation, raising questions of place, space, cultural appropriation, access, and interpretation, and more.
Bringing together colleagues across disciplines, scholars, students, as well as practitioners, this conference aspires to share knowledge, research and practice, which shows similar versatility to that inspired by Barry. In his work, he represented a diverse range of genres, places, spaces, eras, cultures, and more. For this joint conference of York St John University and the Study Group Music and Media (MaM) under the auspices of the International Musicological Society, we particularly welcome individual papers (20 minutes; 10 minutes Q&A), themed panels (or 3 or 4 papers), and screenings, which relate to the following themes:
Themes:
- Translation: how are these art forms and works translated into new cultures, what is the role of subtitles or dubbing, and how can these art forms we accessible to all? Papers might problematise how a story (the target text) responds to the original narrative (the source text). How language is central to music and media communicating, how creative artists work in collaboration, and how the final work is received.
- Music and Affect: what is the emotional impact of combining music and media; how do these art forms manipulate the spectator; how do these art forms come together to create a particular experience?
- Genre: there is a wide-ranging breadth of genres within film, TV, animation and so on. Genres even merge to create new genres and approaches, not least a Western approach for a sci-fi battle. How have genres developed with new technologies and/or approaches.
- Global Contexts: how might we read films which appropriate other cultures, and how might we consider the representation of global themes within specific genres?
- John Barry: reassessing his contribution to music and media collaborations, reassessments, and critical reflections of his contribution.
Please submit your abstract (max. 250 words) and a short biography (max. 100 words) by 1 April 2025 at https://forms.office.com/e/uQ2XcV7fa2.
The booking link, programme and details will be released after the peer review process.
As proposals will be anonymized for review by the Steering Committee, explicit self-references should be avoided in the abstract.
Steering Committee:
Co-Chair, Prof. Helen Julia Minors (York St John University)
Co-Chair, MaM: Prof. Emile Wennekes (Utrecht University)
Prof. Steve Rawle (York St John University)
Dr. Sarah-Jane Gibson (York St John University)
Dr. Emilio Audissino (Linnaeus University)
MaM XV: jubilee edition attracts inspiring international papers
Such a pleasure to co-host last week’s MaM annual conference, organized together with Kieler Gesellschaft fur Filmmusikforschung @ University of Music and Theatre Munich. A special shout out of thanks to Julian Lee for taking such good care of us, and congratulations to all of the nearly 50 presenters.
upcoming MaM conference June 2024
We would like to bring to your attention to the joint annual conference of the IMS Study Group “Music and Media” and the Kieler Gesellschaft für Filmmusikforschung, “Music, Media, and Narrative in the Streaming Age,” which will be held in hybrid form in Munich (Germany) from June 6 to 7, 2024. The conference is open to the public, free of charge for both in-person and online participation, however registration is required. Visit https://musicmedianarrative.de for all details.
Call for Papers MaM 2024
Conference Title:
“Music, Media, and Narrative in the Streaming Age”
Joint annual conference of the Kieler Gesellschaft für Filmmusikforschung and the IMS Study Group “Music and Media”
Venue:
University of Music and Theatre Munich
(Hochschule für Musik und Theater München, abridged HMTM)
Location: Carl-Orff-Auditorium, Luisenstraße 37a, 80333 Munich
Date:
6th to 8th June 2024 (Thursday to Saturday)
Co-organizers (representatives):
Julin Lee & Emile Wennekes in cooperation with the Kieler Gesellschaft für Filmmusikforschung, the IMS Study Group “Music and Media”, and Utrecht University.
Mode:
Hybrid
Conference languages:
English and German
Publication:
Kieler Beiträge zur Filmmusikforschung (kbzf)
Peer-reviewed, open access: https://journals.qucosa.de/kbzf
Streaming has had a profound effect on how audiovisual narrative media have been produced, distributed, and consumed. Bringing together scholars and practitioners from diverse fields, this conference aims to spotlight aspects of music and sound in the audiovisual narrative landscape – what continuities and disruptions have been engendered by the rise of streaming?
Taking a broad approach to the concept of narrativity, we invite proposals for papers and themed panels tackling issues pertaining to soundtracks of audiovisual media including, but not limited to:
We seek proposals for 20-minute papers, roundtables, and other formats from interdisciplinary perspectives on the theme of our conference. As per Kieler Gesellschaft tradition, proposals for free papers outside the conference theme are also welcome.
Graduate students and early career scholars are strongly encouraged to apply. Please submit your abstract (max. 250 words) and a short biography (max. 100 words) by 1 December 2023 to (Julin.lee@hmtm.de). Please also indicate if you plan on attending the conference in person or virtually. For in-person participants, there will be a fee of 30€ (15€ for students) to cover the costs of coffee breaks. As proposals will anonymized for review by the selection committee, explicit self-references should be avoided in the abstract. A themed publication in the peer-reviewed, open access journal Kieler Beiträge zur Filmmusikforschung (kbzf) https://journals.qucosa.de/kbzf is planned.
PhD position vacancy in Sweden
The Department of Music and Art at Linnæus University Växjö, Sweden, invites applications for one full PhD position (4 years) in musicology within the Graduate School The Future of Democracy: Cultural Analyses of Illiberal Populism in Times of Crises (FUDEM). The successful applicant will be affiliated at the Linnæus University research center for Intermediality and Multimodality (IMS) as well. Deadline for applications is August 31.
Find out more about the job here:
If you have any questions, you are welcome to contact me:
Martin Knust (martin.knust@lnu.se)
14th MaM conference
The 14th meeting of the Music and Media Studygroup (MaM) under the auspices of the International Musicological Society met this past week in Paris, France. An enriching series of papers was presented by researchers from ten countries. Sincere thanks to the organisers from the Université d’Évry Paris-Saclay, who did an excellent job in hosting us. My personal thanks to all those who presented their papers as well as the two keynote speakers: Prof. James Deaville (Carleton University, Ottawa) and Prof. Dominique Nasta (ULB, Brussels). Already looking forward to the 15th annual MaM event which will take place at the Hochschule für Musik und Musiktheater in Munich, from 6 to 8 June, 2024. The conference will be jointly organized with Kieler Gesellschaft für Filmmusikforschung. An open call for papers will be published this coming fall. The overarching theme will be Music and Media in the Streaming Age.
Emile Wennekes
Next MaM conference: Paris, June 2023
Nous sommes heureux de vous transmettre le programme du prochain colloque MaM auquel vous participez et qui aura lieu à Evry et à Paris du 19 au 21 juin 2023.
Vous pouvez en prendre connaissance ici :
https://mamxiv.sciencesconf.org/resource/page/id/3
(Il est a priori presque définitif, mais sera finalisé prochainement pour la version papier et .pdf).
Dear all,
We are pleased to send you the programme for the next MaM conference, which will take place in Evry and Paris from 19 to 21 June 2023.
You can read it here :
https://mamxiv.sciencesconf.org/resource/page/id/3
(The programme is almost definitive, but the paper and .pdf versions will be finalised shortly).
IMS MAM Studygroup 