Music and the Performing Arts in the Anthropocene

Music and the Performing Arts in the Anthropocene offers a series of thought-provoking chapters about music and the performing arts viewed from current Anthropocene-aware perspectives. From the use of gas, water and air in 19th-century stage practices to the ecology of musical instruments and sound reproduction technologies, waste and carbon print in experimental music and theatrical production, knowledge of precariousness and empowerment through music in a changing world, each chapter aims at highlighting an issue that has always been here but never looked at thoroughly, due to the divides and hierarchies of the modern cosmogony.

Gathering 16 scholars from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds (history of literature, opera and theatre studies, musicology, sound studies, sociology, information science, etc.), this volume reflects on the relationships between the performing arts, music and environmental issues. It also explores a number of tools for changes and sketches how we will understand the arts, their history and their future beyond ecocriticism.

This book will be of great interest to students and scholars in the humanities and social sciences, as well as a broader readership involved in art and environment policies.

François Ribac was a composer of musical theatre and a sociologist, emeritus senior lecturer at the University of Burgundy and associated member of LADYSS laboratory, France. His research focused on environmental humanities, popular music, sound reproduction and cultural expertise.

Isabelle Moindrot is Professor of Theatre Studies at Université Paris 8 and a member of the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF). Her work focuses on operatic dramaturgy, the history of theatrical spectacle and contemporary opera staging.

Nicolas Donin is Professor and Chair of musicology at the University of Geneva. He has published extensively on the history of music and musicology since the 19th century, with a focus on contemporary composition and performance.