[Commlist] CFP: "Sound In/As Theory" Conference

CFP ANNOUNCEMENT

What: *Sound In/As Theory: Means and Meanings in Motion*, an 
interdisciplinary conference on sound, media, and cultural studies.

Events: Keynotes by George Lewis, Ana Maria Ochoa Gautier, and Martin 
Scherzinger; concerts featuring Eastman Opera Theatre, King Britt, and 
Electroacoustic Music Studios at Eastman (EMuSE).

When: April 22–24, 2027

Where: Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester

Proposal deadline: January 6, 2027

Registration: Free

**[CFP, full text]

*Sound In/As Theory: *

*Means and Meanings in Motion*

An Interdisciplinary Conference on Sound, Media, and Cultural Studies

April 22–24, 2027

Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester

*Call for Proposals*

What is the relationship between sound and theory? Theory is often a 
means to make meaning of sound. But how might we consider sound as a 
means to articulate meaningful theories?

Scholars across many fields have been testing this boundary. 
Practice-based researchers contribute to theory in interdisciplinary 
areas like sound studies, where critical-creative projects engage with 
social and political themes, as well as in design engineering and 
makerspaces, where new musical instruments enact their own 
epistemologies of sound through performance. In Black studies, scholars 
theorize sound as a mode of resistance and fugitive world-making that 
pushes against the primacy of language. And in a more philosophical 
vein, posthumanist and new materialist theories often draw on sound as a 
vibratory model for thinking across different registers of reality. 
Taken together, these and other interventions make clear the 
relationship between sound and theory is always in motion and the 
question of meaning is always open to debate.

This conference aims to foster critical dialogue on the interaction 
between/sound/and/theory/as these keywords are broadly construed across 
different fields of study. We invite proposals from scholars who 
theorize sound, practitioners who sonify theory, and also those who 
combine theory and sonic practice into a hybrid praxis. Available 
formats include 20-minute paper presentations, special-themed sessions, 
discussion panels, posters, workshops, and demonstrations. In your 
proposal, please indicate your preferred format and provide a brief 
description or abstract of your contribution (no more than 500 words). 
The conference is free to attend but registration is required. Further 
details, including a list of relevant themes, can be found online 
athttps://www.esm.rochester.edu/esm-event/sound-in-as-theory-conference/ 
<https://www.esm.rochester.edu/esm-event/sound-in-as-theory-conference/>.

DEADLINE: submit all proposals by midnight (EST) on*Wednesday, January 
6th, 2027*(tosoundtheoryconference /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(soundtheoryconference /at/ gmail.com)>.

The conference will feature three distinguished keynote speakers—George 
Lewis (Columbia), Ana Maria Ochoa Gautier (UC Berkeley), and Martin 
Scherzinger (NYU)—who together bring distinct disciplinary perspectives 
to the sound-theory question. Additionally, the conference will include 
concerts each night, including George Lewis’s 2024 opera,/The Comet/, by 
the Eastman Opera Theatre (April 22), a live performance by King Britt 
(April 23), and a concert featuring the Electroacoustic Music Studios at 
Eastman (EMuSE) (April 24). Support comes from the Central New York 
Humanities Corridor Working Group on Sound and Media, as well as by the 
Eastman School of Music, the Glenn Watkins Lecture in Musicology, and 
the Hanson Visiting Professorship in Composition.


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