Beatles Symposium 2024

The Music Team members at Liverpool Hope University are delighted to announce an interdisciplinary, international Beatles symposium that will be held on July 5-7, 2024 at the School of Creative and Performing Arts, located in the heart of Liverpool’s vibrant city centre. This academic symposium honours the 60th anniversary of the release of the Beatles’ album and film, A Hard Day’s Night. As the dynamic opening chord of the title track signalled a sea change in popular culture, this moment in music history is worth further, in-depth exploration. The weekend will feature three days of presentations of the latest research on the Beatles from panels of international scholars, who will explore the musical, cultural, historical, political, and social contexts of the Beatles’ and solo Beatles’ works.

As part of the symposium, on Friday afternoon, we will begin with a plenary session by Dr. Christine Feldman-Barrett (Griffith University). On Friday evening, we will have the first of our keynote addresses from Prof. Kenneth Womack (Monmouth University).

On Saturday afternoon, National Television Award-nominated filmmakers Roger Appleton and David Bedford of Brightmoon Media Company, based in Liverpool, will provide a lunchtime presentation. After a dinner on Saturday evening, the symposium will feature a keynote address from Professor Walter Everett (University of Michigan). This will be followed by a gala dinner and a screening of the film A Hard Day's Night.

On Sunday afternoon, Brightmoon Media Company will host a lunchtime panel of local Merseyside musicians who were active on the Liverpool scene in the 1960s alongside the Beatles. Sunday afternoon features keynote speaker Prof. Katie Kapruch (Texas State University). The symposium will conclude with a screening of a film from Brightmoon Media Company.