The call for proposals is now complete: the conference website is here.

 

Date: March 23-25, 2018
Venue: Middle Tennessee State University
Submission Deadline: November 1, 2017
Event Registration Deadline: March 15, 2018
Event Website: current page
Inquiries: Joseph E. Morgan Joseph.Morgan@mtsu.edu

The program committee welcomes a diversity of methodological and disciplinary perspectives on opera and musical theater in the United States, including their precedents. From the imported and home-grown ballad operas of the 18^th century (from Tom and Jerry to The Disappointment) to the musical skits and highbrow/lowbrow parodies of minstrelsy, from opera in the immigrant experience to contemporary productions at the Met or on Broadway, we seek topics and approaches that, when assembled, will provide a cross sectional glance at the rich and diverse history and culture of our subject.   As part of this diversity, we welcome perspectives from across the spectrum of musicological investigation including (but not limited to) those based on an ethnographical, historical, pedagogical, performance studies, sociological, or theoretical approaches.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• 20^th and 21^st Century Opera
• Opera on Film
• Canonization and Repertories
• Minimalism and Post-Minimalism
• Early predecessors of musical theater
• Foreign opera adapted for the United States and
• Traveling opera companies in the United States
• Transatlantic connections, e.g. Britain and the United States
• Transpacific connections, e.g. China and the United States
• Masking, race, and gender: blackface, whiteface, drag
• “Ethnic” theater: immigrant audiences, languages, and repertoires: Yiddish, German, Chinese, etc
• Economics and demographics of urban musical theater
• Touring circuits and related genres (Chautauquas, soloists, circuses, opera, blackface, vaudeville)
• Musical theater and class: on-stage and in the audience

Presentations may take the form of traditional paper presentations, panel sessions, roundtable discussions, posters, or lecture recitals. Please note that submission of a proposal constitutes a full intention to attend the conference if the proposal is accepted. Authors of the strongest papers will be invited to revise their work into critical essays for a projected book-length collection.

Submission Guidelines:

To be considered, please submit a 250-word abstract and a 50-word biography to Dr. Joseph E. Morgan at Joseph.Morgan at mtsu dot edu by November 1, 2017.  Presenters will be notified early January, 2018 of the status of their applications.

Cost:  

A modest registration fee will be charged to cover basic catering costs.