Thomas Adès is one of today’s leading composers, regularly performed all around the world, and the composer and his music have been the subject of several dedicated books and articles. His catalogue contains operas, works for orchestra, choral and vocal works, film music, and chamber music for ensembles and solo instruments. Given that Adès is a highly accomplished pianist, it is not surprising that the piano plays a significant role across these categories – as concerto soloist, accompanist, or ensemble member. Proposals for this Study Day are invited on any aspect of Ades’s piano music: his individual approach to piano writing; comparisons between his piano music and that of contemporaries and predecessors; the development of his piano writing across his career to date; the relationship between his piano music and his other works; structural and critical issues in individual works; and so on.

The Study Day will take place in person on 15th June 2024 at the University of Surrey in Guildford, UK.

Keynote speakers will be announced when the conference programme is published.

Presentation formats:

Proposals are invited for the following presentation formats:

• Individual papers (20 minutes, plus 10 minutes for discussion)
• Themed sessions (3 papers of 20 minutes each, plus 10 minutes per paper for discussion)
• Performance-based presentations (45 minutes including questions)

For each proposal the following should be sent:

– An MS Word document containing the title of the proposal, an abstract of not more than 350 words, and 5 keywords.

– An MS Word document containing your name, affiliation and a short biography (maximum 200

words) for each author involved in the proposal.

Key dates:

The deadline for sending proposals is 8 April 2024. Accepted proposals will be notified by 30 April 2024. Proposals should be sent to: federicofavalicomposer@gmail.com or c.mark@surrey.ac.uk.

Organizing Committee

Dr Chris Mark

Prof. Federico Favali

Scientific Committee

Chris Mark (University of Surrey)

Federico Favali (University of Hamburg – Conservatorio di Alessandria)