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Conference Transcripts

Mozart and the Power of Music: Memory, Myth and Magic

Senate House, University of London - 24 October 2014

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• Mozart's Life and Times - Stephen Johnson
• Mozart and Musical Memory - Prof Jessica Grahn
• Memorising Music - Chaired by Prof Jessica Grahn featuring Prof Jane Ginsborg and Kirsteen Davidson Kelly, with Ian Brown, James Gilchrist and Anna Tilbrook
• The "Mozart Effect" - Prof Jessica Grahn
• Music, Memory and Cognition - Prof Michael Trimble
• Brainwaves and Sonification - Prof Dale Hesdorffer and Nigel Osborne
• Prodigy to Genius: Nature or Nurture? - Stephen Johnson with Prof Jane Ginsborg and Prof Michael Trimble
• Final Panel Discussion - all speakers chaired by Ian Ritchie

Top 50 Chamber Classics and Why We Love Them
Kings Place - 28 June 2014

• Psychological and musical features underlying emotional expression in music - Prof Tuomas Eerola

Worlds in Collision: Music and the Trauma of War
The Mansion House, London - 28/29 June 2013

DAY ONE - The Application of Music to the Trauma of War

• Welcome - The Right Hon The Lord Major, Roger Gifford
• Music and Trauma - Nigel Osborne
• The AGC Band's recent experiences working for soldiers and civilians in Afghanistan - Major Guy Booth
• The cognitive neuroscience of the effects of war - Hugh McManners and Prof Morten Kringelbach
• Music as a tool for improving sleep in post-traumatic stress disorder - Kira Vibe Jespersen
• Song writing in music therapy for children - Karen Diamond
• Shell Shock: how it has been viewed historically - Ben Shephard
• Music Therapy in theatres of conflict: from Northern Ireland to Bosnia and beyond - Dr Julie Sutton and Lord John Alderdice
• Music Therapy and the treatment of trauma related to conflict - Ann Sloboda
• Panel Discussion: Is Creativity Therapeutic? Chaired by Nigel Osborne with Prof Morten Kringelbach, Hugh McManners, Prof John Sloboda, Major Guy Booth and Lord Alderdice

DAY TWO - The Response of Music to the Experience of War

• Introduction - Ian Ritchie
• Music written in response to war: from Bach to Shostakovich - Stephen Johnson
• How music has been, and is used to propagate war - Alberto Portugheis
• How music changed sides - Patrick Bade
• Military Music in Operational Theatres - Lt Col Bob Meldrum
• Artistic responses to conflict in different cultural contexts - Jemima Montagu
• Musicians without Borders - Lis Murphy and Emmanuela Yogolelo
• War poetry and song settings - Stephen Johnson, Adrian Thompson and Anna Tilbrook

The Beethoven Question: Can Art Make Life Worth Living?
Purcell Room, Southbank Centre - October 2012

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• Introduction by Stephen Johnson and Beethoven's life and deafness by John Suchet
• Beethoven's deafness, his string quartets and his three styles by Prof Age Smilde and Dr Edoardo Saccenti
• Music and Deafness introduced by Prof Michael Trimble; Music and its Impact on the Deaf by Dr Paul Whittaker OBE; The role of art in coping with sensory impairment by Robert Fulford
• Panel discussion: The Need to Compose with Nigel Osborne, Stephen Johnson, Barry Cooper and Lloyd Coleman
• Beethoven: Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know? by Prof Michael Trimble

Why Music? Is Music Different from the Other Arts?
Institute of Neurology, Queen Square - October 2011

• Introduction - Prof Michael Trimble
• Can there be a Science of Musical Understanding? - Prof Roger Scruton
• The Neurohistory of Art: How Neuroscience Illuminates Individual Inspiration - Prof John Onians
• What Classical Musicians can Learn from Other Arts on How To Build Audiences - Prof John Sloboda and Dr Biranda Ford
• The Purpose of Art and the Role of Music in Therapy - Prof Ray Tallis and Prof Nigel Osborne
• Can Music Portray Happiness and Sadness? - Stephen Johnson with Ian Ritchie, Ian Brown and the Sacconi Quartet
• Debate and Open Forum: Neuroimaging is Important to our Understanding of Aesthetics and our Responses to Art - Professors Michael Trimble, Roger Scruton, John Onians, John Sloboda, Ray Tallis and Nigel Osborne