In this lecture, composer and pianist Eric McElroy gives listeners a first-hand account of what a composer does when setting a poem to music. How do composers select texts? What are the mechanics of text-setting? How does a musical setting affect our reading of a poem? And what implications does the medium of song have for contemporary culture more broadly? These and other questions are addressed alongside a string of musical and poetic examples. The result is a discourse on the uncanny interweaving of music and poetry through song that both challenges and enriches our understanding of these mediums in contemporary art and society.

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Described as “one of the leading composer-pianists of his generation” (Musical Opinion), Eric McElroy has concertized throughout North America and Europe and been praised for both his “stunning virtuosity” (Seen and Heard) and “intellect and flair” (BBC Music Magazine). A prolific composer, his works have been performed in Germany, Austria, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Eric’s 2023 debut-CD, Tongues of Fire (SOMM Recordings), features his own song-cycles as performed by himself and the distinguished tenor James Gilchrist and was released to critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. His CD of unpublished songs by Ivor Gurney with baritone Marcus Farnworth was released by NAXOS in 2024, and further CDs are forthcoming from SOMM in 2025. Eric holds degrees in piano performance from Washington State University, Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität der Stadt Wien, and the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. In 2023, Eric completed his doctorate in musicology under the supervision of Daniel Grimley at the University of Oxford.

Organisation :

Régine Camps Robertson (Inalco), Sarah Montin et Claire Tardieu (Sorbonne Nouvelle).