Thursday 12 June - Saturday 14 June 2025

Actors, Singers and Celebrity Cultures across the Centuries

Organised under the aegis of the Theatrical Voice Research Centre, 麻豆视频.

PATS building, Studio 1
麻豆视频
Guildford
Surrey
GU2 7XH

Programme

Anton Maria Zanetti, Vittoria Tesi Tramontini and Antonia Negri Tomi, 1741. Pen and brown ink. RCIN 907413 漏 Royal Collection Enterprises Limited 2024 | Royal Collection Trust

12 June

9.15 鈥 10.00 REGISTRATION

10.00 鈥 11.30  Opera Celebrities and National Operatic Cultures

Katherine Hambridge (Durham University), 鈥楪ender and the German Voice鈥

Mahima Macchione (King鈥檚 College London), 鈥業nvisible Stardom: Soprano Adelina Rebussini and the Lost Opera Company of Giuseppe Ramonda, 1856'

Karen McAulay (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), 鈥楥omparing the Career Trajectories of Two Scottish Singers: Flora Woodman and Robert Wilson鈥

11.30 鈥 12.00 Coffee Break

12.00 鈥 13.00  Prima Donnas on the 19th-Century London Stage

Jamieson Hankins (Durham University), 鈥楢nimate Instruments: The Metaphysical Power of the Prima Donna鈥檚 Voice in Nineteenth-Century London鈥

Simone Di Crescenzo (Universit脿 di Bologna), 鈥楾he 鈥渄iva鈥 myth in London: from Giulia Grisi to Rosa 笔辞苍蝉别濒濒别鈥

13.00 鈥 14.30 Lunch

14.30 鈥 16.00  Race, Gender and Celebrity

Carlo Tortarolo (Conservatorio di Musica 鈥楩.A. Bonporti鈥 of Trento) and Rosa Angela Alberga (Independent Scholar), 鈥楲everaging racial biases: the case of soprano Tamaki Miura鈥 

Berta Joncus (Guildhall School of Music & Drama), 鈥楾he Black Servant and Kitty Clive: Unsettling Relations in the Playhouse鈥

Rhae Lynn Barnes (Princeton University), 鈥楪rotesque Demands at Coontown鈥檚 Crossroads: Bob Cole and the Price of Black Celebrity on the Jim Crow Minstrel Stage鈥 

16.00 鈥 16.30 Coffee Break

16.30 鈥 18.10  Embodiment and Celebrities

Jed Wentz (Universiteit Leiden), 鈥楧iving into the whirlpool: Co-creating a declamatorium with Bernhard Henrik Lulofs (1787-1849)鈥

Hanna Chorell (Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki), 鈥極pera singer's agency and performances of femininity 鈥 an artistic research鈥 

Hippolyte Broud (University of Exeter), 鈥楾he Archive Speaks Back: Towards a Trans-Historical Vocal Practice鈥

 

13 June

10.00 鈥 11.30  Operatic Divas

Clair Rowden (Cardiff University), 鈥楯ewellery, Celebrity and the Feminine Self鈥

Massimo Zicari (Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana 鈥 Lugano), 鈥極pera stardom in the early 20th century: Luisa Tetrazzini the dissolute鈥

Malo Maleszka (脡cole Normale Sup茅rieure de Lyon), 鈥楳aria Callas鈥檚 open letters in the late Fifties: an idea of the artist鈥檚 stance鈥

11.30 鈥 12.00 Coffee Break

12.00 鈥 13.00  Keynote address 

Hilary Poriss (Northeastern University), 鈥楾he Prima Donna as Teacher: Pauline Viardot and Her Students鈥

13.00 鈥 14.30 Lunch

14.30 鈥 16.10  Gender, Aging, Disability and Celebrity

Susannah Self (Conductor, Composer, Singer and Independent Scholar), 鈥楥orset Story鈥

Daniele Palma (University of Firenze), 鈥楢geing div*s and vocal pedagogy: Negotiating stardom in the classroom鈥

Echo Lee Davidson (University of Pittsburgh), 鈥樷淚 Cain鈥檛 Say No鈥: Disability, Race, and the Politics of Revival in Oklahoma! (2019)鈥

16.10 鈥 16.40 Coffee Break

16.40- 18.20  Singers and Celebrity

Salvatore Morra (University of Cambridge), 鈥楳atilde Juva Branca as an Example of European Celebrities Articulated in Ottoman Egypt (1843)鈥 (snapshot)

Riccardo La Spina (Independent Scholar). 鈥楤y any other name: Celebration and Deconstruction of Madrid's O虂pera Italiana Stars in The Critical Press (1821-1822)鈥 

Katherine K. Preston (College of William & Mary, Williamsburg), 鈥楢 Nineteenth-Century American Operatic Celebrity: Emma Abbott, 鈥渢he People鈥檚 Prima Donna鈥濃

Johanna Talasniemi (University of the Arts Helsinki), 鈥楽ingers of the First Recordings of Sibelius鈥檚 Solo Songs in the 1930s and 1940s鈥 

 

14 June

10.00 鈥 11.30  Celebrity and the Media

Kimberly Soby (University of Connecticut), 鈥楤eyond the Spotlight: Chappell Roan and Celebrity in the Digital Age鈥 

Martine Mussies (Maastricht University), 鈥楰ing Alfred on Stage and Screen: Comparing 19th-Century German Operas and Modern Media Representations鈥

Vinzent Wesselman (University of Oxford), 鈥業mported Deviance: Conformity, Halbstarke, and American Celebrity Culture in Postwar Germany鈥

11.30 鈥 12.00 Coffee Break

12.00 鈥 13.00  Celebrity on 18th-Century French Primary Stages 

Sabine Chaouche (Independent Scholar), 鈥楽tardom and Scandal: The 鈥淨ueens鈥 Quarrel鈥 (1779) as an Early Example of Cancel Culture?鈥 

 Lola Salem (University of Oxford), 鈥楥onstructing Celebrity: Female Singers, Career Strategies, and Media at the Paris Op茅ra During the Ancien 搁茅驳颈尘别

13.00 鈥 14.00 Lunch

14.00 鈥 15.00  Celebrity and early 20th-Century French Culture 

Eric Sauda (independent Scholar), 鈥楾he Predictable Success of Popular French songs during the 鈥淩oaring Twenties鈥濃

Madison Spahn (City University of New York), 鈥榊vette Guilbert in America: Performing National Identity through 鈥淕reat Songs of Great France鈥濃 

15.00 鈥 15.30 Coffee Break 

15.30 - 17.00  Final Roundtable (Details TBC)

 

Registration will open soon!

Given our focus on technologies, we are delighted to host the conference at Studio 1 at the 麻豆视频 that鈥撯揹esigned to a very high acoustic specification鈥撯搘ill secure seamless audio and video broadcasting of the event via the Theatrical Voice Research Centre YouTube channel,

 

Programme committee

  • Barbara Gentili, 麻豆视频
  • Nicol貌 Palazzetti, La Sapienza University of Rome
  • Clare Siviter, University of Bristol
  • Jed Wentz, Leiden University
  • Emmanuela Wroth, University of Cambridge

 

Image credit: 
Anton Maria Zanetti, Vittoria Tesi Tramontini and Antonia Negri Tomi, 1741. 
Pen and brown ink. RCIN 907413  
漏 Royal Collection Enterprises Limited 2024 | Royal Collection Trust