“Singing in the Lion’s Mouth”:
Music as Resistance to Genocide

International Conference

University of Southern California

October 10-11, 2015

"Singing in the Lion's Mouth: Music as Resistance to Genocide" is an event sponsored by USC Visions and Voices, and organized by the USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research in collaboration with the Thornton School of Music. The event will include two days of programming that highlight the use of music as a tool to resist oppression and spread awareness.

The first day of the program will feature the screenings of two documentaries: the first, Screamers, observes how the rock band "System of a Down" employed their songs and did advocacy work to raise awareness of the Armenian Genocide, and the second, Following the Ninth, examines how people around the world have used Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" to resist dictatorships.

The second day of the event will feature an international academic symposium. Speakers will discuss how music has been used as tool of resistance during various genocides in the 20th century, including the Holocaust, the Armenian and Indonesian genocides. The program will conclude with a concert featuring students from the USC Thornton School of Music performing music that has been used as a vehicle for resistance.

Film Screenings will be held at Ray Stark Theatre, SCA 108 (for more information click here...)

Academic Symposium will be held at Ronald Tutor Campus Center, The Forum (for more information click here...)

Concert will be held at Alfred Newman Recital Hall (for more information click here...)