Call-out for papers: Music and the Arts in France – 1925

Music and the Arts in France – 1925 is an international Conference and Festival that takes 1925 as the confluence for exploring key composers for whom it was a significant date.

International Conference and Festival | Music and the Arts in France – 1925: Anniversaries and Confluences

13-15 November 2025, School of Music, University of Leeds

Music and the Arts in France – 1925 is an international Conference and Festival that takes 1925 as the confluence for exploring key composers for whom it was a significant date. 1925 was the year of Ravel’s 50th birthday, of Satie and Caplet’s deaths, and the birth of Boulez. The Conference and Festival will draw widely on music and sister arts surrounding these figures, such as Symbolism, Surrealism, Cubism, Neoclassicism and Abstraction. The year 1925 was marked by some significant musical and artistic moments, including the Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes that not only sought to honour the Allied countries of the First World War while demonstrating the artistic might of Paris, but also engendered the term Art Deco to describe the new international modernist style. With 1925 as the nexus, its compass will reach from Ravel’s birth in 1875 to and beyond Boulez. Working with our artistic partners and collaborators, including the Leeds International Piano Competition, Leeds Lieder, Art Sung and the University of Leeds International Concert Series, the Conference will have a prominent public-facing performance element, including Masterclasses, concerts and featuring new compositions inspired by the Conference and Festival themes.

We particularly welcome papers, themed sessions and lecture-recitals that address the following:

Significant anniversaries: including notably the 150th anniversaries of Maurice Ravel and the première of Bizet’s Carmen, the centenary of the deaths of Erik Satie, André Caplet and the birth of Pierre Boulez. We welcome proposals addressing the worldwide significance and legacy of these figures.
Music and artistic culture in 1925: the ways in which Ravel, Caplet and Satie played signal roles in contributing to the major artistic trends of their time. For example, 1925 marked the première of Ravel’s L’Enfant et les sortilèges in Monte Carlo and the creation of La Revue nègre.
Inter-art collaborations with writers, artists, set designers and dancers. The period saw a flowering of French mélodie with settings of contemporaneous poets. It was also a time of fruitful and memorable collaborations, often brokered by impresarios and institutions, notably by Jane Bathori at the Vieux-Colombier, Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, Rolf de Maré and the Ballets Suédois, Jean-Louis Barrault at the Théâtre Marigny, and Fernand Léger and Blaise Cendrars at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.
Performers and conductors who specialised in the music of Ravel, Satie, Caplet and Boulez, including Jane Bathori, Claire Croiza, Rose Féart, Ricardo Viñes, Robert and Gaby Casadesus, Jacques Février, Yvonne Loriod, Claude Helffer, Marcelle Mercenier, Roger Désormière, Gabriel Pierné, André Caplet and Pierre Boulez.
Critics and writers who shaped the reputations of these composers and of French music of this period, such as Roland-Manuel, Georges Auric, Michel-Dimitri Calvocoressi, Léon-Paul Fargue, Henry Prunières, Vladimir Jankélévitch and Antoine Goléa.

Proposals in both English and French are welcome.

We invite abstract proposals for the following:

20-minute individual paper presentations (250 words)
Themed sessions (up to 4 speakers, with chair, for 90-minute sessions)
Lecture-recitals, up to 45 minutes (250 words)
Poster presentations (250 words)

Each proposal should include:

Paper and/or session title(s)
The author’s name and affiliation (if any)
The author’s/convenor’s email address
Paper abstract(s) of no more than 250 words
Short biographical text(s) of the presenters/participants involved (no more than 100 words each)
For themed sessions, an additional panel description (200 words) plus the individual abstracts (not more than 1000 words in total)
For lecture-recitals, details of the repertoire to be performed and a sample recording
Any technical requirements

Please submit your proposal by email attachment not later than Friday 21 March 2025 to: b.kelly1@leeds.ac.uk

We also welcome proposals for new compositions related to the conference themes for voice and piano, with durations of around 3 minutes. Composition proposals should include:

Projected piece title
Composer’s (or composers’) name(s) and affiliation(s)
Contact email address
A description of the projected piece of up to 400 words, including an explanation of its relationship to the conference theme. One of the ways you can demonstrate relevance is by the choice of text you would like to set.
Short biographical text(s) of the composer(s)
The score and recording (where available) of a completed piece
Any anticipated technical requirements for the proposed piece

Please submit composition proposals by email attachment no later than Friday 21 March 2025 to: m.iddon@leeds.ac.uk.The selected works would be workshopped by Joseph Middleton and singers from Leeds Lieder.

The Festival will also include a lunchtime narrated concert devoted to Jane Bathori by Art Sung, a concert and Masterclass in association with Leeds Lieder, and a Satie project in collaboration with the Leeds International Piano Competition.