Friday, October 27, 2023

13:00 Conference registration

14:00 Welcome and institutional greetings

14:30 Keynote presentation: Jim Beloff, UKEtopia: Adventures in the Ukulele World

15:45 Paper session #1

• Serena Taretto (Conservatorio di Musica “A. Vivaldi” di Alessandria, IT), Enhancing Music Education in Italian Primary Schools: a Proposal for Integrating Historic Methods and the Ukulele
• João Tostes (independent scholar, BR), The Organization, Methodology, Challenges and Outcomes of an Online Ukulele Orchestra with Participants Aged 7 to 87 Years Old
• Marta Bianchi (Conservatorio di Musica “A. Vivaldi” di Alessandria, IT) and Peter Luongo (independent scholar, CA), Teaching Ukulele: the Canadian Experience
• Alessandra Scalese (Istituto Clinico Città Studi di Milano, IT), Posture, Musculoskeletal Pathologies and What to Do to Prevent Them

18:15 Roundtable: Ukulele Teaching (chair: Giovanni Albini, speakers TBD)

20:30 Conference dinner (all audience is welcome)

Saturday, October 28, 2023

10:00 UIC 2021 proceedings presentation

11:00 Paper session #2

• Elisabeth Pfeiffer (University of Surrey, Guildford, UK), Ernest Ka’ai and Ukulele Tone Production
• Davide Donelli (Associazione “C. Monteverdi”, Cologno Monzese, IT), Exploring an Identity of the Ukulele by Arranging Hawaiian Melodies
• Kate Lewis (Brunel University, London, UK), Somewhere Over the Rainbow: The Ukulele in Mainstream Popular Music

14:00 Paper session #3

• Fabrizio Nastari (Eesti Muusika- ja Teatriakadeemia, Tallinn, EE), Ukulele as a Toy … for Classical Composers
• Enrico Dorigatti (University of Portsmouth, UK) and Andrea Beggio (independent scholar, IT), Ukulele and Electronics: Pushing the Boundaries of the Repertoire for Ukulele

15:15 Roundtable: Composing for Ukulele: Challenges and Perspectives (chair: Federico Favali, speakers TBD)

17:00 Roundtable: Ukulele Identities (chair: Giovanni Cestino, speakers TBD)

19:00 Final concert: Jim Beloff and the Conservatorio “A. Vivaldi” String Quartet (Margherita Fratini, Matteo Rolando, Enrico Lucchetti, and Giulia Roveta) perform a chamber arrangement of Jim Beloff’s ukulele concerto Uke Can’t Be Serious. The concert ends with Isabella Sophie Paruzzo, the youngest student of the conservatory ukulele course.

Organizing committee

• Giovanni Albini, Conservatorio di Musica “A. Vivaldi” di Alessandria (IT)
• Giovanni Cestino, Università degli Studi di Milano (IT)

Scientific committee

• Federico Favali, Conservatorio di Musica “A. Vivaldi” di Alessandria (IT)
• Evangelina Mascardi, Conservatorio di Musica “A. Vivaldi” di Alessandria (IT)
• Samantha Muir, University of Surrey (UK)
• Emanuele Segre, Conservatorio di Musica “A. Vivaldi” di Alessandria (IT)
• Amy Stillman, University of Michigan (USA)
• Jim Tranquada, Occidental College (USA)

Special guest

• Jim Beloff