Call for papers for the third edition of the tosc@ congress which will take place in Paris, from June 27 to 29, 2019.

Following the success of the first two meetings (tosc@bologna.2015 and tosc@bern.2017), the third edition of the tosc@ conference will take place in Paris, France, from 27 to 29 June 2019.

The event will be organised by the University of Paris 8, and hosted at the Opéra de Paris and the Institut national d’histoire de l’art, partners of tosc@paris.2019 along with the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Musée du Louvre. The conference will also benefit from the participation of the Opéra-Comique and the Centre Pompidou-Metz.

tosc@paris.2019 will engage directly with current theatrical production, encouraging fertile exchanges between researchers, artists, spectators, theatre professionals and other players of the operatic stage who contribute to its influence and success. It will also be an opportunity to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the Opéra de Paris, and special moments will be dedicated to the Opéra de Paris and its history.

The Programme Committee will consist of :

• Joy H. Calico (Vanderbilt University)
• Georgia Cowart (Case Western Reserve University)
• Céline Frigau Manning (Université Paris 8 – Institut universitaire de France)
• Sarah Hibberd (University of Bristol)
• Kordula Knaus (Universität Bayreuth)
• Hervé Lacombe (Université Rennes 2)
• Isabelle Moindrot (Université Paris 8)
• Emanuele Senici (Sapienza – Università di Roma)

Céline Frigau Manning and Isabelle Moindrot are also the conference organizers.

Call for papers

The Programme Committee has now decided to welcome proposals in the following formats :

• individual papers (20 minutes long, with 10 minutes for discussion) ;
• themed sessions (three or four papers, each 20 minutes long with 10 minutes for discussion – please note that the Committee reserves the right to accept one or several proposals on a separate basis even if the entire panel is not selected) ;
• roundtable sessions (up to six people each giving a brief position paper, followed by a general discussion).

We invite submissions on any subject related to opera and other forms of musical and music theatre.

Presentations which integrate performative aspects, or other atypical formats, are welcome.
Methodologies may be varied, traversing disciplines and perspectives: verbal text, music, drama, performance, interpretation, declamation, painting, scenography, dance, staging, stage technology, cinema, photography, video, television, radio, digital arts, as well as reception, historiography, economics, ecology, opera and society, opera and the media, opera and the other arts, etc.
On the occasion of the 350th anniversary of the Opéra de Paris, proposals focusing on operatic institutions, their history and current perspectives, and in particular on the Opéra de Paris, are encouraged. Proposals that engage with the question of opera in a globalised world, as well as transnational perspectives, will also be of particular interest to the committee.
Preference will be given to proposals that explore questions and problematics, rather than simply offering descriptive accounts.

Proposals may be in English, French, German or Italian. They must include the following :

• author’s full name ;
• country and institution ;
• e-mail address ;
• paper title ;
• abstract.

Abstracts should be prepared as follows :

• individual papers : maximum 350 words ;
• themed sessions : a 250-word summary outlining the aims of the session and a 350word abstract for each paper ;
• roundtable sessions : a 250-word summary outlining the aims of the session, and a brief description of each position paper.

Typically, an academic abstract should include a clear statement of the topic and research question(s), contextualised within existing knowledge ; a summary of the argument, evidence and conclusions ; and an explanation of why the topic and findings are important.

Abstracts should thus include all necessary information that will allow the Programme Committee to evaluate the paper’s quality and originality and its potential as an oral presentation.

Proposals must be submitted as attachments by email as a Word file (“.doc” or “.docx” – not “.pdf”) to : paristosc@gmail.com by 30 September 2018.

Everyone submitting a proposal will be sent a confirmation email ; if you do not receive a notification within six days, please resend the proposal.

All abstracts will be anonymised before being evaluated by the Programme Committee. Do not to include any information in your abstract that could reveal your identity (such as “As I have shown in my earlier article…”).

All those who have submitted a proposal will be notified of the outcome by the beginning of January 2019.

All those who have submitted a proposal will be notified of the outcome by the beginning of January 2019.

Following acceptance by the Programme Committee, there will be an opportunity to revise abstracts before their publication in the conference programme.

tosc@lab – The “abstracts” workshop

As announced in April 2018 upon the initial publication of the Call for Papers, the tosc@lab (abstracts workshop) was successfully held in June 2018 and provided an independent and academic guidance to participants wanting to improve their proposals.

Fees

As for other events of this kind, participants (speakers and spectators) will be required to pay for themselves. The precise registration fee will depend on the number of participants, and will be confirmed when the notification of accepted papers is sent; it will, however, be no more than €100, and will include three buffets. A special effort will be made for students in order to reduce their registration fees.

The tosc@paris.2019 award

The Programme Committee will offer an award for the best paper presented by a junior scholar at the conference. All those born after 1984, and whose papers are accepted for the conference, will be eligible.

Those who wish to be considered for this award must submit the final version of their paper to the Programme Committee (accompanied by any musical examples, images, etc.) to paristosc@gmail.com by 20 May 2019.

The tosc@paris.2019 award will be awarded at the end of the event (29 June 2019) by Marco Beghelli (Università di Bologna), founder of the Transnational Opera Studies Conference and organizer of the first edition (tosc@bologna.2015).

The winner will be invited to submit the oral presentation as a full article for publication in a prominent international peer-reviewed journal, and will be invited to present a new paper at a plenary session of the fourth edition of tosc@.

Calendar

• 30 September 2018 : Deadline for the candidates’ submissions
• Early January 2019 : Announcement of the results
• 20 May 2019 : Deadline for submissions to the tosc@paris.2019 award
• 20 May-20 June 2019 : Evaluation of young researchers’ papers
• 27-29 June 2019 : tosc@paris.2019

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