The Diva: An Interdisciplinary Conference
5-8 July 2011, Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool UK
CALL FOR PAPERS: EXTENSION OF DEADLINE to 7 February 2011
In association with the University of Liverpool and the European Opera Centre.
Among the first recorded uses of the term 'diva', beyond the
conventions of chivalry, was in early nineteenth-century Italian
sonnets venerating the operatic prima donna. Translating literally
as 'divine woman', the term became inseparable from the major female
roles of grand opera, and celebrated sopranos such as Maria
Malibran, Giulia Grisi, and Pauline Viardot; but by the turn of the
twentieth century it was also being applied to the leading ladies of
the theatrical stage and to a new generation of heroines of the
silver screen. Becoming more than a tag of admiration, diva
increasingly signified a complex of behaviours, some of them
liberating and empowering, but others perhaps less so -
capriciousness, grandiosity, selfishness, excess. Diva thus
represented a set of gendered expectations against which female
performers rising to prominence were measured and
critiqued. Writing in 2010, we note how the connotations have
shifted again, to the extent that 'diva' is as likely to occur in
social-networking sites and gossip columns - in relation to
footballers' wives (indeed footballers themselves), TV celebrities
and businesswomen - as it does in discussions of the latest star
performers of the opera, cinema, and stage.
The Diva as identity and idea is the central theme of this
conference, which seeks to examine the etymology of the term and its
changing associations and values over time and around the
globe. How do the mythic and the real interact in the life and
career of the diva? What are the cultural conditions that have
created this category of female performer and how does it play more
broadly across cultures in conveying a specific type of feminine
behaviour and attributes? Papers are invited to shed light on this
theme from any relevant discipline, including musicology and
ethnomusicology, anthropology, gender and sexuality studies,
cultural studies, sociology, psychology, history, literary studies,
media and communications, film, dance, and theatre studies.
The programme will include keynotes from Professors Lloyd Whitesell
(Schulich School of Music, McGill University, Canada) and Stacy Wolf
(Program in Theater, Lewis Center for the Arts, Princeton
University, US), and an open rehearsal and discussion centring on
the training and development of young singers with Laurent Pillot
(Head of Singer Development and Artistic Programme Adviser), Kenneth
Baird (Managing Director), and singers from the European Opera
Centre (see: www.laurentpillot.com<http://www.laurentpillot.com> and
www.operaeurope.eu<http://www.operaeurope.eu>).
Programme Committee:
Rachel Cowgill, Liverpool Hope University, UK
Freya Jarman, University of Liverpool, UK
Hilary Poriss, Northeastern University, US
Richard Witts, Edge Hill University, UK
Abstracts of no more than 200 words for 20-minute papers should be
sent by email to Professor Rachel Cowgill (email:
(cowgill /at/ hope.ac.uk)<mailto:(cowgill /at/ hope.ac.uk)>) by 7 February 2011.
--
Dr. Freya Jarman-Ivens
Director of Undergraduate Studies
School of Music
80-82 Bedford Street South
University of Liverpool
Liverpool L69 7WW
+44(0)151 7943066
www.liv.ac.uk/music/staff/fji.htm
liverpool.academia.edu/freyajarmanivens
"Do, or do not. There is no 'try.'" Yoda.
