9 April, Conference Hall of the Moscow Conservatory
The Department of Contemporary Music and the Centre for Contemporary Music of the Moscow Conservatory will hold the academic conference “Music and Its Surroundings: Walks with Erik Satie and Morton Feldman”.
2026 is an anniversary year for Erik Satie (1866–1925) and Morton Feldman (1926–1987), composers distinguished not only by their extravagant characters but also by broad horizons and the ability to think on a grand scale, embracing different ideas and fields of knowledge. Thus Feldman, besides composing music and associating with John Cage and other avant-garde musicians, was interested throughout his life in painting and even worked as a secretary to the group of “Abstract Expressionists” (which included Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and many others).
Erik Satie developed the concept of “furniture music” and in general was distinguished by an unconventional vision in art as a whole and in musical art in particular. His role in the formation of the French “Les Six” cannot be overestimated. In October 1898 Satie withdrew from the bohemian centre of Paris to a suburb of the city. Every day the composer walked to Paris and back, stopping along the way to drink a coffee or to jot down thoughts that came to him in a small notebook that he always carried in his breast pocket.
When, if not during a stroll, can one notice something special, something interesting, something that will become an impulse to creation? The theme of the conference develops the idea of a metaphorical walk with Feldman and Satie – creators who give every reason to appreciate once more their contribution to art, and not only musical art.
– The conference will take place on 9 April 2026 in the Conference Hall of the Moscow Conservatory.
– Musicians, musicologists, philosophers and cultural studies scholars are invited to take part.
– Applications for participation are accepted until 9 March 2026 at: info@ccmm.ru.
