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Department of Music

Durham University's Music Department has internationally recognised research expertise in a wide variety of topics including musicology, theory and analysis, ethnomusicology, music psychology, performance, composition, and music technology.
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Welcome to Music at Durham

We have been consistently rated as one of the top UK music departments in The Complete University Guide and Guardian University League Table.

Find out more about us
6th in the UK for Research Output Quality in Music, Research Excellence Framework 2021
Athena Swan
Athena Swan Bronze Award since 2022
1st
1st The Complete University Guide 2026
2nd in the Times / Sunday Times Good University Guide 2025
QS World University Rankings 2024

World-leading status affirmed in QS World University Rankings 2026

Durham University has been named in the QS World University Rankings world top 100, a position it has achieved every year since 2010. The rankings have confirmed the University’s strong global reputation for employability (64th) and it is also 22nd in the world for sustainability.

Learn more about the QS World University Rankings

Study with us

  

Undergraduate Study

Our expertise in this area impacts the lives of our students and many others, beyond Durham.
TAPPUCINO by DIM and Buttered Toast live performance

Postgraduate Study

The Music Department’s vibrant postgraduate research environment attracts high-calibre applicants from all over the world.
A person onstage reading a book during a lunchtime concert

 

 

Work with us

The Department of Music is one of the very best UK Music Departments with an outstanding reputation for excellence in teaching, research and employability of our students.

Ranked #3 in REF2014, the Department of Music has internationally renowned research strengths in interdisciplinary research in musicology, theory and analysis, ethnomusicology, music psychology, performance, composition, and music technology.
See our recruitment pages for more opportunities
Music Students Work in the Electroacoustic Studio

 

 

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Practice Research Prize for Sara Salloum

Congratulations to Dr Sara Salloum, who has been awarded the RMA Practice Research Prize for 2025.

Research news
A woman playing the lute

Durham Music Department's success in Number 1 ranking of the Complete University Guide 2026

The Department of Music is proud to announce again its number one ranking in the Complete University Guide 2026.
Durham news
The Music Department on Palace Green with Durham Cathedral in the background

‘Lost’ Durham piece featured on new recording of music by alumna composer

A recording of the chamber music of Durham alumna Ailsa Dixon (1932–2017) is to be released on 22 August 2025 on the Resonus Classics label, coinciding with the publication of her scores by Composers Edition.
Alumni news
A woman with a lute in front of a group of students

Using computers to track the changing sound of bands

Coldplay, Radiohead or R.E.M. – which band has changed their music the most over the years?
Research news
Lead singer of Coldplay, Chris Martin, performing at a concert.

Innovation In Teaching And Learning Awards for Music Department Educators

Congratulations! Dr Ian Dickson won the ‘Innovation in Teaching and Learning’ award, for his hugely popular gamification of music theory and techniques.
Durham news
Five members of the music department at an awards ceremony

Thea Constantinou wins Music Department Undergraduate EDI Prize 2024/25

Congratulations to Thea Constantinou for winning the Music Department’s Undergraduate Prize for 2024/25.
Student news
A student in front of a brick wall

Faculty of Arts and Humanities Earns Prestigious Athena Swan Silver Award

The Faculty of Arts and Humanities has been awarded a highly regarded Athena Swan Silver Award, becoming only the second faculty of its kind in the UK to receive this distinction. This milestone acknowledges the significant progress made in advancing gender equality across all departments and highlights a firm commitment to continued improvement through to 2030.
Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion
Group picture with Executive Dean Janet Stewart and Deputy Executive Dean (People and Workplace Culture) Alexandra Harrington.
More departmental news

Durham Music Department's success in Number 1 ranking of the Complete University Guide 2026

The Department of Music is proud to announce again its number one ranking in the Complete University Guide 2026.

The Music Department on Palace Green with Durham Cathedral in the background

Innovation In Teaching And Learning Awards for Music Department Educators

Congratulations! Dr Ian Dickson won the ‘Innovation in Teaching and Learning’ award, for his hugely popular gamification of music theory and techniques.
Five members of the music department at an awards ceremony

Durham’s Dr Katherine Hambridge speaks on BBC’s Woman’s Hour about girls in cathedral choirs

On Good Friday Dr Hambridge outlined for Radio 4 listeners the history of the exclusion of women and girls from church music as part of a segment on the admission of girls to St Paul’s Cathedral Choir
Dr Katherine Hambridge

Practice Research Prize for Sara Salloum

Congratulations to Dr Sara Salloum, who has been awarded the RMA Practice Research Prize for 2025.

A woman playing the lute

Using computers to track the changing sound of bands

Coldplay, Radiohead or R.E.M. – which band has changed their music the most over the years?
Lead singer of Coldplay, Chris Martin, performing at a concert.

Durham PhD Student Wins Prize For Outstanding Paper

Ardi Echevarría, a third-year PhD student in the Department of Music, has been awarded the TAGS Prize for the best student presentation at this year’s Theory and Analysis Graduate Students Conference, hosted by the Society for Music Analysis at Royal Holloway, University of London.
A head shot of a man in glasses

Upcoming events

Royal Northern Sinfonia I – Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence

Friday 10 October 2025 - Friday 10 October 2025
7:30 PM to 9:30 PM
Elvet Methodist Church, 8 Old Elvet, Durham, DH1 3HL
A group of string players performing together

John Snijders (piano): Iberian Nights

Wednesday 22 October 2025 - Wednesday 22 October 2025
7:30 PM to 9:30 PM
Concert Room, Music Department, Palace Green
John Snijders at the piano

Svetlana Rudenko: Dreaming with Mixed Reality

Wednesday 19 November 2025 - Wednesday 19 November 2025
7:30 AM to 9:30 PM
Music Department, Palace Green
A pianist and a person in a leather jacket wearing a VR headset in a concert hall

James Weeks: weatherworld quartets

Tuesday 25 November 2025 - Tuesday 25 November 2025
7:30 PM to 8:45 PM
Department of Music, Palace Green, Durham
weatherworld
See all events

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We strive to provide innovative, research-led teaching that will assist our students to achieve their full potential as thinking, creative musicians and scholars.

Department of Music
Durham University
Palace Green
Durham
DH1 3RL
UK