Giorgio Moroder’s biographical and professional history is remarkable and quite peculiar: belonging to a linguistic minority, raised in a region culturally and geographically removed from the main centres of the music industry, without any formal musical education, he nonetheless managed to become one of the most innovative and successful musicians on the planet.
This conference will be an opportunity to take a closer look Giorgio Moroder’s role in music and media, as well as broader, interconnected themes such as dance music, studio production, arts entrepreneurship, film music, intermediality, and remix cultures. The conference will also explore cultural heritage, sociolinguistics and migration routes in music and the arts, drawing on Moroder’s history as an artist born and raised in the predominantly Ladin-speaking Val Gardena/Gröden/Gherdëina in South Tyrol, Italy, then professionally matured in Germany and eventually relocated to the United States.

Giorgio Moroder – From Here to Eternity
Known as the ‘father of disco’ especially for his acclaimed work with Donna Summer and Pete Bellotte, his achievements span a wide range of pursuits: he pioneered synthesizers, innovated dance music, produced eminent pop stars, composed successful film music (a few examples: Midnight Express, American Gigolo, Flashdance, The NeverEnding Story, Top Gun), provided the soundtrack for sport mega-events, and played a crucial part in the revival of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. To date, Moroder has won three Oscars, four Golden Globes, four Grammy Awards, and more than one hundred platinum records.
Although his most famous works date back to the 1970s and 1980s, Moroder has remained active, often behind the scenes, composing the soundtrack for Leni Riefenstahl’s last film (2002), writing songs for the choir Croz Corona, creating music and soundtracks for brands and art exhibitions, designing sound for the automotive industry, and embarking on a new career as a DJ.
In 2013, he recorded the song “Giorgio by Moroder” with Daft Punk, which propelled him back into the limelight. Since then, he has produced a new studio album Déjà Vu featuring guests such as Kelis, Charli XCX and Britney Spears, composed the soundtrack for Queen of the South, and collaborated with various artists (Duran Duran, Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft, and The Weeknd) as a producer or remixer.
Moroder’s songs continue to exert a profound influence on the music of recent decades and he is part of today’s media ecosystem. Just to give a couple of examples, “The NeverEnding Story” featured in a memorable scene in Stranger Things. On 31 December 2025, when all MTV thematic music channels were shut down, “Together in Electric Dreams” was the last video played on MTV 80s. Songs such as “Take My Breath Away” and “Call Me” are now considered classics, while others such as “I Feel Love” and “Love To Love You Baby” have been covered/sampled/mashed up by Beyoncé, Kylie Minogue, Madonna, No Doubt, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Timbaland and others.
In addition to his artistic role, his name has been associated with remarkable entrepreneurial skills, which allowed him, at a particular moment in history, to embody the then much-celebrated figure of the innovative and independent artist-entrepreneur.

Conference themes
This conference builds on Moroder’s role in music history to reflect on some of the processes in which he played a leading role, along with all the ramifications that have ensued to date. In hindsight, can we still say that Moroder’s was the sound of the future, as Brian Eno allegedly told David Bowie about “I Feel Love”? If so, what does this anecdote suggest about how we interpret the past and present in terms of musical creativity and topicality?
With these (and other) questions on the table, in addition to presentations dealing with various aspects of Moroder’s life and work, we welcome papers that address the context in which he operated or which he affected. In fact, we propose that Moroder and his achievements could serve as a starting point to explore some fundamental changes in the music industry starting at least from the last quarter of the twentieth century.
The conference also aims to investigate, from a sociolinguistic, semiotic, and historical-cultural perspective, the processes of construction, redefinition, and representation of the identity of artists from linguistic minorities, such as Ladin speakers, who live and work in migratory contexts. Particular attention will be paid to the dynamics of identity, linguistic, and cultural negotiation that have characterized their artistic and professional careers. Contributions based on theoretical and comparative approaches aimed at analysing the link between linguistic minorities, geographical mobility, and artistic production, from both a diachronic and synchronic perspective, are welcome.
The conference venue in Moroder’s homeland offers the opportunity to involve local organizations, such as the Department of Ladin Education, Training and Culture, as well as to retrace the career of the artist from Scurcià, Urtijëi, exploring his formative and migratory journey which, especially since the 1960s, has involved many well-known and lesser-known figures in the fields of culture and entertainment. IASPM-Italy and IASPM-DACH, acting jointly as the organising committee, will create a bridge across the Alps, metaphorically recreating one of those routes.

Keynote speakers: Ewa Mazierska (University of Lancashire); Paul Théberge (Carleton University).

Guest panellists: Mark J. Butler (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, TBC); Julin Lee (Hochschule für Musik und Theater München).

Other keynote speakers, special guests and side events will be announced soon.