The Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Polish Composers’ Union invite submissions for the international conference “Paris and Its Influence on the Musical Culture of Central and Eastern Europe in the 20th Century.” The official language of the conference is English. The deadline for submissions is 1 February 2026.
Paris’s role as one of the major cultural and musical migration hubs has often been discussed, as has the activity of musicians from Central and Eastern Europe in the French capital. Polish scholars have shown particular interest in the neoclassical trend, including the role of Nadia Boulanger, who taught several generations of Polish composers. Yet the topic of Paris and its role in the culture of Central and Eastern Europe remains far from exhausted, and further research may offer new perspectives and discoveries.
The conference aims to explore Paris as a key European center of cultural transfer and exchange between Western, Central, and Eastern Europe.
What did newcomers contribute to the musical culture of Western Europe, and how did their presence transform its musical life? What networks did they create? What roles did migrating artists and music organizers play as agents shaping diverse circles of influence and relationships between Paris and their homelands? How did Paris influence the lives and work of emigrants who settled there, both in the interwar period and during the Cold War? These and related questions will be examined in the context of the following research issues:
Cultural transfer between Paris and Central/Eastern Europe
- exchange of ideas, concepts, and artists: cross-border musical networking;
- the role of musical diasporas: École de Paris, the Association of Young Polish Musicians;
- musicians as members of broader artistic diasporas: cross-disciplinary cultural transfer;
- comparative perspectives on different national diasporas in Paris.
Paris as a transitional place, significant stop, or new home for migrant musicians before and after World War II
(composers, performers, film and popular music creators):
- the emigration of Jews before World War II;
- political refugees: composers from the USSR and the Soviet sphere;
- Paris as a transit point en route to the United States: transatlantic migration networks.
Paris and the Cold War
- composers and musicians in circles of émigré intellectuals: the journal Kultura and its editor Jerzy Giedroyc; the Congress for Cultural Freedom; the Pallottine Dialogue Center; connections with Radio Free Europe and other émigré media;
- emigrant composers as political refugees in Paris;
- transnational networks and cooperation.
Paris as an educational center for composers from Central and Eastern Europe
- major pedagogues and visionaries: Nadia Boulanger, Olivier Messiaen, Pierre Boulez, Gérard Grisey—and their influence on the dissemination of musical ideas;
- École Normale de Musique: building an international network of musicians—its vision, professors, students (and their careers after returning home);
- GRM (Groupe de Recherches Musicales), IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et de Coordination Acoustique/Musique): music and technology (e.g., musique concrète, spectral music, electronic and computer music) in shaping international networks;
- International Rostrum of Composers (IRC), Domaine Musical and other institutions as promoters of cultural transfer.
Methodological approaches
- transnational and comparative perspectives: moving beyond national narratives;
- networks and actors: studying migrant musicians, organizers of musical life, and their cultural interactions;
- diasporic identities and cultural transfer: music as a contact zone between diaspora and homeland;
- sources and methods: archives, oral histories, and other approaches.
The program will include plenary lectures, thematic panels, and roundtable discussions, fostering interdisciplinary dialogue. The organizers welcome submissions from scholars and practitioners at all career stages and across all disciplines. Proposals for individual papers and full panels are encouraged.
Submission Guidelines
- Abstracts: 250–300 words for individual papers
- Short bio: 100 words, including affiliation and contact details
- Submission deadline: 1 February 2026
- Notification of acceptance: 28 February 2026
- Submissions should be sent to:
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The conference is planned as an in-person event and will take place at the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Długa 26, Warsaw.
The conference fee is 120 EUR or 500 PLN, payable after acceptance.
Selected papers will be published in a volume from the series “Polish Music Abroad.” The deadline for article submissions is 31 October 2026.
The conference is part of the DAINA 3 research project “Polish and Lithuanian Exile Musical Cultures in France and the USA in the 20th Century.”
Programme Committee:
- Beata Bolesławska-Lewandowska, Professor, Institute of Art, Polish Academy of Sciences
- Jolanta Guzy-Pasiak, Professor, Institute of Art, Polish Academy of Sciences
- Iwona Lindstedt, Institute of Musicology, University of Warsaw
- Barbara Mielcarek-Krzyżanowska, Professor, Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz
Conference Secretary: Łucja Siedlik, PhD candidate, Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences:
