Conference Agenda
The Online Program of events for the 2026 AMS Annual Meeting appears below. This program is subject to change. The final program will be published in early November.
Use the "Filter by Track or Type of Session" or "Filter by Session Topic" dropdown to limit results by type. Some of the sessions are also color-coded: purple indicates performances, grey indicates paper forums, and orange indicates sessions which have been organized by one of the regional associations of IMS (ARLAC or IMSEA). (Sessions which are both IMS sessions and performances are only colored orange.)
Use the search bar to search by name or title of paper/session. Note that this search bar does not search by keyword.
Click on the session name for a detailed view (with participant names and abstracts).
Please note that all times are shown in the time zone of the conference. The current conference time is: 1st Sept 2026, 02:56:15am EDT
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Daily Overview |
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Trans Musical Activism: A Conversation with CN Lester
Session Topics: Composition / Creative Process, Gender / Sexuality / LGBTQ Studies, Opera / Musical Theater
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Trans Musical Activism: A Conversation with CN Lester Organized by the AMS LGBTQ Study Group. CN Lester is a London-based multi-genre musician and composer, trans feminist activist, and scholar of gender, sexuality, and music, with a focus on Barbara Strozzi. This event will feature Lester in conversation with Vanessa Tonelli, Assistant Professor at The University of Southern Mississippi, whose work centers on gender, disability studies, and early modern music. As a musician, CN Lester is a mezzo-soprano/alto specializing in early and contemporary opera and song, and an alternative piano-based singer-songwriter. They are the founder and artistic director of the annual arts event Transpose at Barbican–one of many initiatives they lead to celebrate UK trans creatives and communities. Their widely popular 2018 essay collection Trans Like Me, which explores trans lived experiences and dominant narratives, continues to be impactful in our current moment of widespread anti-trans sentiments and legislation. Lester’s interdisciplinary research on Barbara Strozzi was recently published in Barbara Strozzi in Context through Cambridge University Press. While working on a new hybrid opera/spoken word/electronic soundscape interpretation of Frankenstein this year, they are also preparing a forthcoming original opera on Strozzi titled The Unknown Goddess. Lester and Tonelli, in partnership with other members of the AMS LGBTQ Study Group, will discuss the intersections among Lester’s wide-ranging musical and activist work, as well as what it means to pursue queer music studies and platform trans artists in a time when queer and trans academics and musicians face increasing precarity. | |