Our next Congress Diary comes to us from Joan O'Connor of California, USA.
Monday, June 22nd opening session. Three very enthusiastic archivists for New York City: Barbara Haws (New York Philharmonic, 1842-), Gino Francesconi (Carnegie Hall, 1891-), and Sharon Lehner (Brooklyn Academy of Music, 1857-) presented interesting stories about their archives which made me want to visit them.
Tea & coffee lines were slow while people at the end of the line dawdled.
11-12:30 Ballet Music featured conductor Charles Barker (American Ballet Theatre), administrator and conductor David LaMarche (also ABT), and librarian Matthew Naughtin (San Francisco Ballet) discussing with chair Nienke de Boer (Dutch Ballet Orchestra) their score preparation. Apologies if any names were changed--this location was difficult to find and I arrived late for the introductions.
14-15:30 Library Services in the Digital Age (I) chaired by Stanislaw Hrabia presented access to the new catalogues of the French National Library (BnF) by Clotilde Angleys, digital services at the Bavarian State Library by Jürgen Diet, and software tools in musicological research by Frans Wiering (Utrecht University) and Charles Inskip (University College London).
Time to check in at hostel
18:30 Circle Line cruise
We walked; it was far away on a rather warm day. The cruise was very nice, chilly inside, and, I am told, gorgeous outside. Sandwiches and drinks were provided.
Tuesday, June 23rd Music Reference : Encyclopedias Past, Present, and Future, chaired by Tina Frühauf (RILM, Columbia University) and panelists Laurenz Lütteken (MGG Online), Hanns-Werner Heister (KDG), Alvaro Torrente (Instituto Complutense de Ciencas Musicales), Harry White (EMIR), Markus Bandur (Handwörterbuch der musikalischen Terminologie), Don M. Randel (Harvard Dictionary of Music), and Anna-Lise Santella (Music Reference, Oxford University Press).
RILM = Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale
MGG = Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart
KDG = Kabel Deutschland
EMIR = Encyclopaedia of Music in Ireland
Tea & coffee ...
Stop at New York Public Library, Lincoln Center (NYPL) to get visitor permissions to use later this week.
16-17:30 Opera Editions and Research demonstrated how OBPS (Opera & Ballet Primary Sources) Index could be searched and updated. Presenters were chair Don M. Randel, Thomas Betzwieser (Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt), and student research assistant Andrew Neumayer (Brigham Young University).
evening concert presented some of Juilliard's outstanding alumni in song, piano, and chamber music performances. Reception in the library.
Wednesday, June 24th plenary session, Music Research in the Digital Age
With chair Jim Cassaro (University of Pittsburgh), and speakers Laurent Pugin (RISM), Dörte Schmidt (Universität der Künste, Berlin), Maria Edurne Zuazu (Graduate Center, City University of New York), Mark Herrick (EBSCO), and Virginia Danielson (New York University Abu Dhabi) with respondent Philippe Vendrix (Centre d'études supérieures de la Renaissance, L'Université François Rabelais, Tours). The usual concerns were discussed.
RISM = Répertoire International des Sources Musicales
EBSCO = provider
Tea & coffee
11-12:30 Library Services in the Digital Age (II) featured specific sources: blogging and vimeo in Poland with Sonia Wronkowska (Polish RISM Centre), mapping various sources, e.g. Kennedy Center jazz and the New World Symphony and Europeana@Pinterest with Anna Neal and Rachel Elizabeth Scott (University of Memphis), and live streaming from the Philharmonie de Paris Resources Center with Mair-Hélène Serra and Rodolphe Bailly.
Wednesday excursions, mine to the Brooklyn Academy of Music took us on the subway to Brooklyn where we toured this multi-arts performance venue. We visited the Peter Jay Sharp Building and then walked to the Harvey Theater. The first building houses the BAM Howard Gilman opera House, Lepercq Space/BAM Café, and the BAM Rose Cinemas as well as studio space. The second building presently has a basketball court which will be renovated into a performance space in the near future.
Several attendees went to the Columbia University Libraries reception that evening.
Thursday, June 25th Copyright in a Changing Digital Landscape with chair Eleanor Selfridge-Field (Stanford University), and speakers English professor Derek Miller (Harvard University), librarian Eric Harbeson (University of Colorado at Boulder), attorney Nicholas Tsui (Alston & Bird LLP), attorney Robert Clarida (Reitler, Kailas and Rosenblatt, LLC), librarian Richard Chesser (British Library), and respondent librarian Federica Riva (Conservatorio Statale di Musica "Luigi Cherubini"). They discussed melody as a "given," statutory and unprinted works, piano-vocal and orchestral scores, performance rights, and recital tapes.
Poster session included one on "Assessing the Audible Effects of Baking on Magnetic Tape" with Katherine Rodda, Peter Alyea, and Eric Breitung from the Library of Congress.
11-12:30 Twentieth-Century Composers chaired by Pieter C. van den Toorn (University of California at Santa Barbara) presented Lithuanian ISCM archives from 1936-40 and after 1989 by Ruta Staneviciute-Kelmickiene (Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, University of Klaipéda), Xenakis and the Contemporary Music Gateway by Cyrille Delhaye (Université de Rouen), and Stravinsky and the Paul Sacher Stiftung by Tatiana Baranova Monighetti (independent researcher at Paul Sacher Stiftung).
afternoon - independent research at NYPL (New York Public Library for the Performing Arts) at Lincoln Center Plaza. This library has one-of-a-kind performances on tape of dance and theatre which can only be viewed at this location. Staff were helpful and requests were played for me while I was given control for "play" and "pause" and "stop." With some videos I also had the option to rewind. There was not enough time to see everything in one visit so this research continued over several days.
I wanted to check out the film selections at MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) but I never quite got that far.
Friday, June 26th visit the exhibits and pick up some C.P.E. Bach scores which the cpebach.org and Packard Humanities Institute were giving away: Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen and Miscellaneous Keyboard Works. On to the post office to send them back to San Francisco. Too heavy to carry.
Continue research at NYPL, first joining a IAML group for a tour of the performing arts library. I planned to visit the Whitney Museum, Friday 7-10PM "pay-what-you-wish" but the bus that went down that far never came so I headed back to Lincoln Center Plaza.
evening, after enjoying a wonderful meal from the lunch truck, eaten outside in the plaza while enjoying gorgeous weather and the company of many New Yorkers, I attended a ballet performance of Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream and Mahler's Song of the Earth by The Royal Ballet, choreography Kenneth MacMillan. It was enjoyable.
Saturday, June 27th I took the bus down to where the Whitney Museum is, but it took so long (Pride Parade, etc.) that I headed right back to NYPL which opens at noon. When library closed, it was raining outside; eventually it let up enough to find a place to eat; then I got soaked making my way back to Lincoln Center where I thought I could catch the Royal Ballet in a performances of excerpts from many ballets. SOLD OUT! Stood in line for Swan Lake (at American Ballet theatre) but my credit card didn't work (I didn't really want to go to that anyway) so eventually got home and dried off. People are always friendly on the bus. I enjoy taking it.
Sunday, June 28th checkout and stow my luggage, church at St. John the Divine, grab a delicious takeout of turkey chili and wild rice with many tasty additions from the West Side Deli. This was probably the best meal I had in NYC. Took bus to the Cloisters, walked around, returned for luggage, and headed for Newark Airport. One problem: (another?) Pride Parade (at 5PM??) and traffic did not move, streets were closed off. I had to walk about 7 blocks, quickly got the train, and barely made the plane. Arrived in San Diego just in time for another conference--AGO (American Guild of Organists).
