Advancing scholarship on Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953), this symposium draws on digital humanities methodologies and archival innovation to offer new perspectives on his professional activity in France. The symposium aims to foster dialogue between traditional musicological scholarship and emerging digital humanities methodologies. The period selected for examination – roughly dating from his first connection with France in 1914 until his return to the Soviet Union in 1936, is arguably one of the most experimental and least understood in Prokofiev’s artistic output. The symposium, therefore, seeks to explore connections with both historical and theoretical topics related to this period. We would like to encourage approaches that privilege methodologies adopted from digital humanities.
We are delighted to welcome Nicolas Moron as our keynote speaker for this symposium. Moron is Associate Professor of Musicology at the University of Rouen-Normandy and a member of CÉRÉdI. A specialist in Sergei Prokofiev’s work, he is currently preparing his Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches on the digital edition of the composer’s correspondence.
His talk is entitled “All the letters I have to write are suffocating me.” Methodological and Hermeneutical Pathways in the Digital Edition of an Epistolary Deluge.
[« Toutes les lettres que je dois écrire m’étouffent » Itinéraires méthodologiques et herméneutiques autour de l’édition numérique d’un déluge épistolaire.]
We particularly encourage submissions from early-career researchers working with digital methods, scholars exploring interdisciplinary approaches to music history, researchers working on related archival digitization projects and international perspectives on Franco-Russian cultural exchange.
Broad topics might include, but are not limited to, the following:
1. Digital methodologies and archive innovation
How digital archival methods can illuminate these historical connections
Challenges and opportunities in digitizing multilingual archives
Copyright and ethical considerations in archive digitization
2. Prokofiev and Parisian cultural networks
Prokofiev’s correspondence as a window into artistic collaboration
The composer’s relationship with Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes
Interactions with Parisian Russian émigré circles
Professional networks: publishers, performers, and patrons
Franco-Russian cultural exchange in the interwar period
3. Experimental modernism and archival evidence
Prokofiev’s experiments with atonality and new simplicity
Prokofiev’s growing relationship with the Soviet Union
Russian theoretical thought on Prokofiev’s Parisian works
Performance history of Parisian works
Futurist characteristics in Prokofiev’s music
Irony in Prokofiev’s ballets
4. Broader Parisian cultural landscapes
Artistic networks beyond Russian émigré circles
Cross-pollination between musical, literary, and visual arts communities
The role of salons, cafés, and cultural institutions
Paris as laboratory for modernist experimentation
Comparative approaches to émigré artist communities
Interested participants should submit a proposal of no more than 250 words, along with a 150-word biography, institutional affiliation, and a brief statement of any digital humanities experience or interests, to prokofievstudies@gmail.com.
Bursary support is available for students and independent scholars; please indicate if you wish to be considered for this in your abstract submission. The symposium will be conducted in English and French. Each paper will be allocated 20 minutes, followed by a 10-minute Q&A session. Alternative submission formats may be accommodated, but please discuss these in advance by emailing on the above address.
Proposals will be reviewed by the Program Committee. Deadline for submission is 15 October 2025.
The event is organized by the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia University with support from the Serge Prokofiev Foundation and the Université de Rouen Normandie.
Program Committee
Christina Guillaumier (UK), Chair and Symposium Director
Inessa Bazayev (USA)
Nelly Kravetz (Israel)
Natalia Ermolaev (USA)
Laetitia Brancovan (France)