Description: This roundtable is designed to provide a forum for Jordi Savall speak with students about his work as a conductor and performer of Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque musics. Savall’s trademark is his insistence on music as an experience of cultural difference, both an opportunity to experience past cultures and to experience ethnic difference. From the outset of his career, he has promoted the unique repertoires and performing traditions of Catalonia with his ensemble Hesperion XXI, and in the last decade he has brought to the stage a series of Mediterranean programs (“Istanbul,” “Diaspora Sefardi,” “Esprit d’Arménie,” etc.) in which he collaborates with performers from Turkey, Armenia, Greece, and elsewhere. These cross-cultural investigations combine historical research and practical engagement with the instrumental and vocal traditions of Iberia, the Balkans, the Middle East, to take a few examples.

Faculty Sponsors:

The event will be co-organized by:

Kate van Orden (Department of Music) vanorden@fas.harvard.edu

Sylvaine Guyot (Department of Romance Languages and Literatures) guyot@fas.harvard.edu

Maria Dasca (Department of Romance Languages and Literatures) mdascabatalla@fas.harvard.edu