[AMS-announce] CFP: "Viewing Mendelssohn, Viewing Elijah: Assimilation, Interpretation, and Culture, " Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ, April 2009

[Announcements for the AMS]

"Viewing Mendelssohn, Viewing Elijah:  Assimilation, Interpretation, and Culture"
Arizona State University, April 29 - May 1, 2009

In honor of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, the Department of Religious Studies, the Jewish Studies Program, and the Herberger College School of Music at Arizona State University plan a research conference entitled, "Viewing Mendelssohn, Viewing Elijah: Assimilation, Interpretation, and Culture," to be held on April 29 - May 1, 2009. Both Mendelssohn and Elijah have been viewed through a variety of cultural and ideological lenses, with often contradictory outcomes.  The conference explores this variety of interpretive perspectives   Culminating the meeting will be a performance of Mendelssohn's oratorio, Elijah, presented by the ASU Symphony Orchestra and combined choirs on April 30.  Featured as plenary speakers will be R. Larry Todd (Duke University), Michael Steinberg (Brown University), and Jeffrey Sposato (University of Houston).

Individual papers are hereby solicited on the following themes:
a.      Mendelssohn in German and English Cultures
b.      Mendelssohn's Significance in Music History
c.      The Figure of Elijah in Jewish and Christian Thought
d.      Mendelssohn and the Paradoxes of Assimilation.

Abstracts (approximately 500 words) of papers together with c.v. should be sent to:
Prof. Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, Director of Jewish Studies
PO Box 874302
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287-4302
Hava.Samuelson at asu.edu
480-965-7767

Deadline:  September 30, 2008 (Authors of papers will be notified by October 30, 2008.)

Presenters of selected papers will receive accommodation and meals during the conference and up to $500 for travel to Phoenix.  Accepted papers will be submitted for an edited volume two months after the conference and the edited volume will be submitted for publication by a university press.  The conference presentation should be approximately 30 minutes, plus time for questions.  The published version may be somewhat more substantial.