Who’d Ever Think it Would Come to This? Symposium

Friday, 30 September 2022, 2.00pm
UCD School of Music
Belfield, Newman Building, Room J305

Symposium Programme

2 p.m.
Annegret Fauser (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)
Re/Composing Memory: Musical Commemoration and National Trauma

2.45 p.m.
Diarmaid Ferriter (University College Dublin)
Faith, Reason and Betrayal: The Irish Civil War

3.30 p.m. Coffee Break

4 p.m.
Cécile Chemin (Military Service Pensions Project, Military Archives of Ireland)
Civil War Archives: Somewhere between Truth and Memory

4.45 p.m.
Síobhra Aiken (Queen’s University Belfast)
Civil War Silence? The Many Neglected Testimonies from the Irish Civil War

This symposium—held in the afternoon preceding our cantata’s premiere—will embed the work in its historical context, yet also look at it from a literary and musical point of view. Four speakers will discuss the sources on which the libretto is based, the ways in which the work reflects on issues of memory, pain and identity, the nature of literary and musical commemoration, and how the views of the civil war generation interact with ours today. Each talk will be followed by an opportunity for questions and discussion; after two presentations there will be a coffee break.

The symposium will conclude at 5.30pm, before the concert commences at 7.30pm.

During the break, participants can have dinner on or off campus; a convenient option is the UCD University Club adjacent to O’Reilly Hall (right next to the concert venue).

Please register (for free) for the symposium below.

Reserve Tickets