Symposium on Musical Research

The Music Research Symposium is the flagship event of IMPCA (Puerto Rico and Caribbean Music Research Institute). Held annually since 2014 at the Conservatory of Music, the event has become one of the most renowned academic forums in Puerto Rico for research on music-related topics. One of the Symposium's main goals is to present music from a multidisciplinary perspective, relating this art form to different aspects of life. Past editions have included “Caribbean Bridges: Art Music across the Caribbean”; “Sound Consciousness: Music, Art, and Climate Change”; and “Waves and Sands: The Music of Sylvia Rexach.”.

Previous Symposia:

“Dreaming of Puerto Rico”: music, tourism, and sustainability

9th Symposium on Musical Research

Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music

October 16, 17 and 18, 2024

In collaborative alliance with the Puerto Rican Foundation for the Humanities, the Conservatory of Music presents the 9th Symposium “Dreaming of Puerto Rico”: music, tourism, and sustainability. The event, directed by Dr. Jaime O. Bofill Calero, will be held at the Conservatory facilities from October 16-18, 2024.

The symposium Dreaming of Puerto Rico seeks to offer a historical look at the development of the music industry in Puerto Rico from the perspective of tourism. Through engaging lectures, interactive sessions and workshops, academics, musicians and artists will participate in an interdisciplinary forum to discuss the not-so-obvious but very important interconnections that exist between tourism, music, the world of communications and nature. In light of the environmental and economic crisis facing the contemporary world, the symposium also aims to provide a critical look at the dark side of tourism and open a dialogue on sustainable practices that could help mitigate environmental degradation.

The symposium features two keynote lectures, the first “This is Puerto Rico!” Music and the creation of tourist imaginaries” by Dr. Hilda Blanch Miranda and the second “Artificial Intelligence and Musical Production, The future has arrived” by Dr. Luis Pérez Valero, which aim to guide and frame the general discussion of the event theoretically and historically.

The artistic program includes a performance by the Conservatory's Jazz Band, who will perform the music of Cesar Concepción, and a concert by the young artist Dayme Arocena, who will close the symposium with the Afro-Caribbean fusion of her latest album, Alkemi. The Symposium is grateful for the support of the Cesar Concepción Foundation and Cervercera de Puerto Rico.

To access the full Symposium program:

All events will be held in the rooms
from the Conservatory of Music in Miramar. And they are free of charge.

Symposium - Musical Research - Wednesday, October 16, 2024

Symposium - Musical Research - Wednesday-Thursday - October 17, 2024

Symposium - Musical Research - Wednesday - Thursday - Lectures - Friday - October 18, 2024

SYMPOSIUM-Musical-Research-Wednesday-Thursday-Lectures-Friday-October-18-2024-2

Daymé Arocena in Concert – Alkemi

As part of the 9th Symposium “Dreaming of Puerto Rico”: Music, Tourism and Sustainability organized by musicologist Jaime Bofill Calero, we invite you to be part of the grand closing concert titled “Alkemi” by the talented Cuban artist, Daymé Arocena.

It will be presented in the Jesús María Sanromá Hall of the Bertita and Guillermo L. Martínez Theater of the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music in Miramar, he Friday, October 18, 2024, of 7:30pm – 8:30pm.

The entrance is completely free of charge.

Daymé Arocena (born January 1992) is an Afro-Cuban jazz singer from Havana, who has been described as "Cuba's best young singer". He won the 2015 Juno Award for Best Jazz Album, as a member of the jazz band Maqueque performing with Canadian musician Jane Bunnett. Arocena began acting semi-professionally when she was eight years old; at the age of 14, she became the lead singer of the band Los Primos. Arocena is on National Public Radio's (NPR) list of 50 Favorite Albums of 2015, with the album Nueva Era. Describing Arocena's voice, NPR host Felix Contreras called her "a cross between Celia Cruz and Aretha Franklin," saying that Arocena's name "deserved to be next to those two legendary voices."

She is considered a musical prodigy, and is a composer, arranger, choir director and band leader, in addition to being a singer.