About the Speaker

Huib Schippers is a world well-known ethnomusicologist, educator, and expert in promoting and preserving intangible heritage in music. He has a long and diverse history of engagement with music performance, community engagement, sustainability, education, and training across cultures. Hailing from a family of Western classical music industry professionals but trained as an Indian sitar player, he proceeded with (partially overlapping) careers in performance, education, research, journalism, the record trade, arts policy, development, and project management. Major positions he placed included President of the Queensland Conservatorium of Music and Queensland Conservatorium Research Centre of Griffith University in Brisbane (2003 - 2016). Most recently, he was Regents' Professor in Ethnomusicology at UCLA and is currently a Distinguished Professor at the Central Conservatory of Music. Major projects he led include the World Music School in Amsterdam (1990-1996), the World Music & Dance Centre in Rotterdam (2001-2006), Queensland Conservatorium Research Centre in Brisbane (2003-2016), and Smithsonian Folkways Recordings in Washington DC. Schipper's innovative work in culturally diverse music education and music sustainability culminated in dozens of influential publications, including three books with Oxford University Press: Facing the Music: Shaping Music Education from a Global Perspective (2010; also published in Mandarin by China Conservatory of Music Press in 2022); Sustainable futures for Music Cultures: An ecological perspective (2016); and Music, communities, and sustainability: Developing policies and practices (2022).