Loading…

Welcome to the APMExMEMECO Italy 2026 Conference!
Here you can register and update your Sched profile. A draft schedule will be available May 15th, when you’ll be able to explore sessions and build your agenda.

Questions? Visit our website or email [email protected].

Join us July 14–16 in Sulmona, Italy, as we share voices and shape the future of popular music, identity, and education.

← Back to schedule
From the Levant to Lubbock Texas: Bridging Cultures through Music
Thursday July 16, 2026 12:25pm - 12:50pm CEST
Liceo Ovidio - Room 3
This presentation highlights the impact of an engaged scholarship initiative that brings Palestinian violist and composer Ramzi Aburedwan and his Dal’Ouna Ensemble to Texas Tech University for a week-long residency connecting students, artists, and the local Arab community through music of the Levant region. Building on successful residencies in 2018 and 2024, the 2025 project expands the collaboration to include a research component designed to measure the impact of cross-cultural music-making on student learning, community engagement, and cultural perception.

Through lectures, masterclasses, collaborative composition, and a culminating public concert, undergraduate and high school students work alongside world-class musicians to explore Levantine/Mediterranean  popular music traditions that are underrepresented on American music programs. Participating students learned not only about musical systems and popular songs associated with the Medditerranean, but also about the role of art in society and in culture creation. Surveys and qualitative reflections gathered from students and audience members assess how musical collaboration fosters empathy, curiosity, and intercultural understanding.

Our findings suggest that experiential, cross-cultural, and collaborative encounters with global popular musics such as those presented by the Dal'Ouna ensemble can transform how students perceive both music and the world around them. The presentation situates this project within broader conversations about popular music education and global music traditions as well as how to incoporate these through education, community engagement, and musical performance. It offers a replicable model for how universities can partner with international artists, students, and local communities to bridge cultures, strengthen community ties, and foster cross-cultural understanding through music. 
Speakers
avatar for Sarai Brinker

Sarai Brinker

Associate Director for Academic Studies and Affairs, Texas Tech University
Sarai Brinker is the Associate Director for Academic Studies and Affairs at the Texas Tech University School of Music, where she also serves as a professor of practice of music humanities. Her courses examine a variety of popular music styles, and she is perhaps best known across... Read More →
Thursday July 16, 2026 12:25pm - 12:50pm CEST
Liceo Ovidio - Room 3 PIAZZA XX SETTEMBRE 13, 67039 SULMONA (AQ)
  Research
  • global Y

Sign up or log in to save this to your schedule, view media, check-in, leave feedback and see who's attending!

Tweet Share

Get help with the event

Contact event planner Event login
View support guides Find upcoming events
Create an event you'd love to attend!
Explore why organizers choose Sched • Success stories
Event App • Event scheduling • Event registration • Event ticketing • Sched forms • Call for papers • Badges • Conferences
© 2026. SCHED LLC - All rights reserved - Helping events since 2008
Conference Scheduling Software • Privacy • Terms
Share Modal

Share this link via

Or copy link