On 9 November, the KVNM autumn symposium took place in Utrecht. With the theme 'Music, Migration and War' this symposium followed-up on the spring symposium, which also dealt with music and migration. Six presentations dealt with the ways in which war, migration and musical exchange are connected, and affect musical traditions and identities.

The first section focused on music and migration during the time of the world wars. The day began with Philomeen Lelieveldt talking about the Italian violinist and orchestra leader Marcello Lanfredi. His salon orchestras attracted a wide audience in the interwar years. Lelieveldt illustrated how Lanfredi found his place in the Dutch music scene through a network of composers, filmmakers and business partners. The audience even got to hear a unique sound recording of Lanfredi's orchestra, the only known recording of his music.

The second speaker, Désirée Staverman, shared her research on the impact of Belgian musicians who fled to the Netherlands during the First World War. She particularly highlighted singer Berthe Seroen and cellist Marix Loevensohn, who introduced French and Belgian repertoire and also interacted a lot with Dutch composers. Staverman also showed how Seroen was forced to reinvent herself in the Netherlands to gain an audience, trading in her opera background for chamber music.

Next, Primavera Driessen Gruber spoke about Austrian musicians who came to the Netherlands during the interwar period and World War II. She showed the diversity within this group and their role in the Dutch music scene, including resistance to the German occupation. Her research provided insight into how migration and cultural exchange had lasting influences on post-war Dutch music culture.

After the lunch break, the afternoon programme continued with more recent topics. For instance, Marlies de Roos transported the audience to the 1980s, when the concert ‘The Night of the Balkans’ took place, an example of how the Romanian state tried to propagate a national musical identity. At this performance, Romanian Romani music was performed by lautari and Dutch musicians. De Roos showed how such events celebrated diversity on the one hand, but reinforced stereotypes on the other. She proposed the concept of ‘lautari space’ to analyse this.

Iryna Fedun then spoke about the role of Ukrainian folk music in current times of war and migration, in Ukraine and the Netherlands. Old folk songs are gaining new popularity and connecting Ukrainians around the world through joint (online) performances on social media. In addition, Fedun showed through many musical examples that, with a growing Ukrainian community in the Netherlands, music is a means to maintain identity, while interacting with Dutch cultures and traditions.

The symposium concluded with an intriguing keynote by Esther Marie Pauw. This consisted of a film screening of Nege fragmente from ses Khoi'n psalm, with an introduction by Pauw. This South African film shows an improvised performance of the Dutch Geneva psalms. Within this performance, traditional African instruments are contrasted with the Western flute, and thus this music represents the dynamics and violence of the colonial past, as well as a reflection on contemporary repercussions and diversity in South Africa.

All in all, a very successful symposium with a variety of topics, as well as many interesting and inspiring questions and dialogues from the audience. Thank you to the six speakers and the organisation!

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