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Music under Collapse: the experience of musicians around the collapse of the Soviet Union

Music under Collapse: the experience of musicians around the collapse of the Soviet Union

  • Date28 Jan 2025
  • Time 4-6pm
  • Category Seminar

Music Research Seminar: Dr Daniel Elphick (Royal Holloway)

‘Music Under Collapse’ is a project that examines the experiences of musicians and audiences under the Soviet Collapse, 1985-1995. In this time, state support for compositions and concerts diminished to almost nothing, and scarcity of basic resources took imperative over artistic pressures. At the same time that economic precarity reached new heights, artistic pressures almost vanished, in that the state control exerted for most of the Soviet Union virtually vanished.

Dr Elphick's research examines what the Soviet project meant for musicians and their audiences at the very end of the Soviet era – all that was lost and all that was gained during this tumultuous time. While composers had to endure the withdrawal of state support (and, consequently, having to adjust to market economics for the first time in their lives), audiences had to deal with the diminishing prestige of music and ‘high art’ – with the rise of ‘low art’ venues in the 1990s. In this talk, he will present an overview of the main research questions and challenges for this project, as well as a case study of the main organisational body for Soviet music - the Composers’ Union. 

Event schedule

4-5pm: talk / paper
5-5.30pm: Q&A
5.30-6.30pm: seminar reception drinks

Admission free, no booking necessary.

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