Keynote speech: Music After Music After The Fall

New Music Conference will be opened with a keynote lecture by the author Tim Rutherford-Johnson. He considers the historical framework of his book Music after the Fall (published in 2017); how far this framework has been challenged since the book’s publication by Brexit, Trump and other events; and if and how these events might affect the history of music after 2016.

Tim Rutherford-Johnson (b. 1977) is a writer, speaker and teacher on contemporary music. His new edition of the Oxford Dictionary of Music – updated with entries on modern composition, world music, and pop, rock, jazz and electronica – was published in 2012 by Oxford University Press. Music after the Fall: Modern Composition and Culture since 1989 was published in February 2017 by University of California Press.

He has written programme essays for the Salzburg, Aldeburgh, Rainy Days (Luxembourg) and BBC Proms festivals, as well as for most major venues in London. He has provided sleevenotes for many record labels, including Coviello, Delphian, Kairos and World Edition. Recent subjects of his writing include Chaya Czernowin, Morton Feldman, Alwynne Pritchard and Carl Stone.

Tim has taught at Goldsmiths College and Brunel University and he sits on the artistic board of the Riot Ensemble. He has appeared as a speaker at Gaudeamus Muziekweek (Netherlands), Only Connect (Norway), hcmf// (UK) and the London Contemporary Music Festival.