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"If knowledge is produced through collective definition, that is, it represents a transient human "consensus of the world," then it follows that not only new pieces of information, but new vantage points from which to observe existing ones can produce paradigmatic revolutions."

~ Janet Abu-Lughod, Before European Hegemony: The World System AD 1250-1350

Paradigmatic Revolutions is a five day intercultural music festival and conference that investigates developments in music composition across the Asian continent over the past 30 years. This project uses a collaborative research-creation approach to its inquiries, inviting both musicians (composers, performers) and scholars to participate, share research and creative work as a way to expand understanding about creativity and composition rooted in Asia-Centric perspectives.

Events include mixed ensemble intercultural composition concerts by guest ensembles Pan Project Ensemble and CAMP Ensemble, a two day conference on intercultural composition (with presentations from scholars, performers and composers, workshops on intercultural experimentation, and composition masterclasses by guest composer Jia Guoping (Beijing Central Conservatory of Music). The project will feature keynote speeches by Frederick Lau (Chinese Hong Kong University) and Mingyeong Son (Seoul National University).

To participate in our project please make a submission to one of our calls:

CAMP Ensemble Call for Scores

Deadline: October 31, 2024

Call for Papers

Deadline: December 31, 2024

This is part of a broader initiative on intercultural music by the Borderless Flows Intercultural Music Research-Creation Network in partnership with the University of Alberta, University of South Florida, Pan Project Ensemble and the Contemporary Art Music Project (CAMP) organization.

Ensembles

Guest Ensembles

Scholars-Composer

Guest Scholars and Composers

Keynote Speaker

Frederick Lau, Chinese Hong Kong University

Frederick LAU is an ethnomusicologist, flutist, and conductor whose scholarly interests include a broad range of topics in Chinese, Western, and Asian music and cultures. He has published widely on issues related to music and identity, nationalism, modernization, politics, globalization, diaspora, musical hybridity as well as Western avant-garde music. He is a professor of ethnomusicology, music department Chair and director of the Center of Chinese Music Studies at Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Keynote Speaker

Mingyeong Son, Seoul National University

Mingyeong Son, a 2022-2023 Fulbright scholar, served as postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University and is currently a research professor at the Asian Music Research Institute of Seoul National University (SNU). She holds a Ph.D in Musicology from SNU with her dissertation “Western Composers’ Encounter with Korean Traditional Music: Compositional Aspects and Musical Aesthetics in the Global Era.” She holds a master in Musicology from Northwestern University. Her research interests lies in 20th and 21st-century global music, intercultural musical dialogues in Korean modernism, and Western composers’ reception of East Asian music and its aesthetic significance.

Guest Composer

Jia Guoping, Beijing Central Conservatory of Music

Dr. Jia Guoping is a professor of composition at the Beijing Central Conservatory of music in Beijing, China. Orginally from Shanxi province, he first studied jinhu performance and Jin Opera performance before studying composition at the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music and subsequently in Germany with Helmut Lachenmann on a DAAD fellowship. His compositions have been commissioned and performed worldwide. He directs the CONTEMPO composition competition and summer festival held yearly in Beijing, China.

Paradigmatic Revolutions

Reframing Western Music Globalism from the Perspectives of Asian Composers

Intercultural Composition Festival and Conference

April 1-5, 2025, University of Alberta

Guest Ensembles

Guest Scholars and Composers