About the Conference
The international conference, Crosscurrents, brings together scholars from both sides of the Atlantic to examine musical interactions between North America and Europe during the twentieth century, and aims to promote a deeper grasp of the close ties that linked American composers to their colleagues abroad. The types of connections among these musicians span the gamut from individual contacts to institutional collaborations to governmental programs. As appropriate for the theme of the conference, it will be divided between the two locations Cambridge, MA, and Munich, Germany, with the emphasis for the former on the first half of the twentieth century, and for the latter, the second. The aim of the conference is to present new research from an international group of scholars on a topic that is of fundamental importance to the history of 20th century music, but which is often overlooked in an age of extreme specialization: the mutual influence between North America and Europe that affected virtually every aspect of music and musical life during the 20th century. There will be 32 speakers (16 for each part) who come from six countries and have expertise in a wide range of twentieth-century music topics. Concerts are an integral part of the event, and a new work has been commissioned for it by the French-American composers Betsy Jolas.