Wayne C. Wentzel Lecture Series: Listening, Making Art, and Teaching in the Age of AI
Hearing Julius Eastman’s Music through Kintsugi
A Talk by Dr. Ellie M. Hisama (University of Toronto) This talk brings together parts of composer/singer/pianist Julius Eastman’s fractured archive and performances of his music, focusing on his radical sonic expressions of and commentary on black being. In thinking about Eastman and his music through carework, this project suggests ways we might make our pedagogies and everyday listening practices more inclusive. I propose ways of considering Eastman’s life and music through Kintsugi, the Japanese practice of restoring broken pottery with lacquer, and share new pedagogical strategies in the age of generative AI. — Ellie M. Hisama is a Distinguished Professor of Music, Society, and Culture at the University of Toronto. She joined the University of Toronto in 2021 as Dean of the Faculty of Music, having previously taught at Columbia University, Brooklyn College, and Ohio State University. Her research and teaching have addressed issues of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, the social and political dimensions of music, and public engagement. She is the author of Gendering Musical Modernism: The Music of Ruth Crawford, Marion Bauer, and Miriam Gideon, which was named a Choice Outstanding Academic Title, and co-editor of the volumes Ruth Crawford Seeger’s Worlds: Innovation and Tradition in Twentieth-century American Music and Critical Minded: New Approaches to Hip Hop Studies.