The Theatrical Voice Research Centre Conference

University of Surrey, UK, 24 - 26 June 2026

Guildford School of Acting

Join us for a three-day journey exploring multiple aspects of the theatrical voice. The conference is supported by Music and Letters and the Società Italiana di Musicologia. Registration closes on 8 June.

Conference programme

The Programme includes an exciting lineup of papers and lecture-performances delivered by doctoral students, early-career researchers, established scholars and practitioners, on topics as varied as embodiment, representation, mediation and pedagogy. The keynote address will be delivered by Professor Roger Freitas (Eastman School of Music).

Time	Details
9:15	Registration
09:50	Welcome
10:00 – 11:30	Voice and Intermediality Andrea Smith (University of Suffolk), ‘Theatrical voice beyond the footlights: broadcasting the stage on radio Pim Verhulst (University of Reading), ‘Intermedial Voices in the Plays of Harold Pinter and Caryl Churchill’ Richard Elliott (Newcastle University), ‘Nonhuman songholders and singing machines
11:00 - 12:00	Coffee break
12:00 – 13:00	Vocal Pedagogy: Contemporary Perspectives Mark Hamilton (Regent’s University London), ‘Radical Quietude: Breath, Vibration and Integration in Nadine George Voice Work’ Melinda Szuts (Trinity College Dublin), ‘Interpreting Text and Music with the Bodymind: The Choreographic Approach’
13:00 - 14:30	Lunch
14:30 - 16:20	Embodying the Character Anders Muskens (University of Tübingen) and Laila Cathleen Neuman (Conservatory of Amsterdam) ‘Virtue in Distress: Cleopatra as a Sentimental Heroine in Melodrama of the Mannheim School’ Magnus Tessing Schneider (University of Gothenburg), ‘Doubling and vocal differentiation in Cavalli’s La Didone (1641)’ Jed Wentz (Leiden University), ‘A Voice from the Closet: performing Byron’s Manfred in theatrical mode’
16:20 – 16:50	Coffee break
16:50 – 18:20	Voice and Meaning James Critchley (University of Cambridge), ‘Screaming with Peter Shaffer’ Gianluca Bocchino (Università degli Studi di Cassino), ‘The Voice as Performative Excess’ Asli Kaymak (Erzincan University), ‘Three-Bullet Opera: Theatre of Criminal Authority’

Time	Details
9:30 - 10:30	Voicing the Diva Malo Maleszka (Lyon 2 University), ‘Paper Voices: collecting and analysing female opera singers’ writings’ Ivan Ćurković (University of Zagreb), ‘A Star Was Born in Nuremberg? Dunja Vejzović and Her Career in the Period 1971-1977’
10:30 - 11:00	Coffee break
11:00 – 12:00	Vocal Pedagogy: Historical and ‘Continuous’ Perspectives Rebecca Troy (Independent Researcher), ‘Considering the Vocal Treatises of Late-Operatic Castrati’ Francesco Venturi (Kingston University London), ‘The Transformability of Voices. Lessons on vocal learning from Italian opera singing’
12:00 - 12:15	Short break
12:15 – 13:15	Keynote Roger Freitas (Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester), ‘Barbara Strozzi: the Allure of an Unsung Voice’
13:15 - 14:30	Lunch
14:30 - 16:00	Vocal Authority Vanessa Romao (University of Toronto), ‘Vocal Performance and Authorial Politics in Philomel (1964) and Thema (Omaggio a Joyce) (1958/9)’ Russell Burdekin (Independent Researcher), ‘Tempo and Tradition: Rethinking the Final Cabaletta in Maria Stuarda’ Ana Wegner (Universidade de São Paulo/FAPESP) and Cesar Lignelli (Universidade de Brasília), ‘Voice studies in the global south: editorial challenges of Revista Voz e Cena (Brazil)’
16:00 – 16:30	Coffee break
16:30 – 18:30	(Between) Singing and the Spoken Voice Jacques Dupuis (Purdue University Fort Wayne), ‘Sophie Schröder in Prague: Forging Artistic Identities through Vocal Modalities’ Fatima Volkoviskii Barajas (Independent Researcher), ‘Vocality in Transit: Recording Practices and the Formation of Musical Genre in Early Spanish Zarzuela’ Leonardo Mancini (University of Turin), ‘The young Ernest Legouvé and the origins of his ideas on declamation’ Hippolyte Broud (University of Exeter), ‘The Afterlife of a Voice: Sarah Bernhardt through Mary Marquet’

Time	Details
10:00 – 11:10	Lessons on Embodiment Laurence Corbel (University of Rennes 2), ‘What voice does to thought’ Karine Leblanc Sarrade (Université Paris 8), ‘Gestural Polyphony: Sancari as Artistic Exegesis in Odissi Narrative Repertoire’
11:10 - 11:40	Coffee break
11:40 – 12:40	The Operatic Voice: Class and Gender Annelies Andries (Utrecht University), ‘Parbleu… Sapperment…: Voice, Dialect, and Class in Theatrical Translation’ Matthew Franke (Howard University), ‘Turiddu, Des Grieux, and men’s emotions in late nineteenth-century opera’
12:40- 14:10	Lunch
14:10- 15:10	Vocal Pedagogy and Emotions Louisa Morgan (University of Surrey), ‘Affective Athleticism in the Vocal Athlete: Performing Emotional Roles’ Karen Quigley (University of York), ‘Voices Before Singing: Theatre Pathways into Vocal Confidence’
15:10 – 15:40	Coffee break
15:40 - 16:40	Voice and Popular Musical Theatre Ben Macpherson (University of Portsmouth), ‘Voicing time and place: a cappella as oblique vocality in musical theatre’ Faye Rigopoulou (Independent Researcher), ‘The Ageing Female Voice as Scapegoat in Musical Theatre Dramaturgies’
16:40 - 17:00	Closing Remarks
17:00	Drinks reception