The Third Friday Colloquia: Essays in Music, curated by Colin McAllister in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts, showcases scholarship in the best sense, highlighting the power and range of human inquiry and creativity. Four times yearly, on Friday afternoons at the UCCS Downtown Center, UCCS faculty and select guests present creative work and research trajectories. Presentations begin at 4:00pm and last approximately 45 minutes, followed by discussion.

All events are hybrid, with the option to participate in-person, or virtually. The UCCS Downtown Center is located at 102 S. Tejon St., suite 105-a, Colorado Springs, CO 80903

March 18th, 2022

The Music of Homer
a roundtable discussion with Colin McAllister, composer Adam Greene, and classicists Mary France (University of Colorado, Colorado Springs) and Richard F. Thomas (Harvard University)

In just the past thirty years, there have appeared several new translations of both the Iliad and Odyssey. What is so compelling about these two ancient poems, and why does each generation feel the need to render them afresh? This roundtable of musicians and classicists will discuss the music of ancient Greece itself, modern compositions that are influenced by Homer, and a discussion of how differing translations render the music of Homer’s verse.

Adam Greene is a composer and writer whose work references interests in literature, linguistics, and cognitive science in music that explores multiplicity, fragility, and instability, often through intensive examination of instrumental practice. He has received grants and awards from The Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard, ASCAP, NACUSA, The Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI), The American Music Center, and The American Composers Forum. Born in Chicago and raised in New England, he now lives and works in San Diego.

Mary France is a classical language lecturer at UCCS, who not only has a passion for ancient Greek literature, but also has maintained an interest in music. She was a member of two early music groups while living in Albuquerque, NM, and after moving to Colorado, has attended the Spanish Peaks International Harp Retreat, and performed at Harp Fantasia concerts in Denver. Recently, she purchased a replica tortoise-shell lyre from Greece.

Richard F. Thomas, George Martin Lane Professor of the Classics, was born in London and brought up in New Zealand. He was educated at the University of Auckland (B.A. 1972; M.A. 1973), and at the University of Michigan (Ph.D. 1977). He taught at Harvard as Assistant and Associate Professor, 1977–84; as Associate Professor at the University of Cincinnati, 1984–86; as Professor at Cornell University, 1986–87; as Professor of Greek and Latin at Harvard from 1987–2010; as George Martin Lane Professor of the Classics since 2010; he was visiting Professor of Latin, University of Venice (Spring, 1991).