We are pleased to announce that the Music Department is involved in the Sutton Trust summer schools scheme, which is designed to give bright students from under-represented backgrounds an experience of studying at a leading university.

It is with great sadness that the Music Department shares the news of the death of Emeritus Professor Peter Manning.

New research from Durham University’s Music & Science Lab suggests that while biology may determine which sounds we perceive as unpleasant, musical preference is culturally acquired.

A new study by Dr Kelly Jakubowski and Professor Tuomas Eerola has shown that music evokes fewer, but more emotionally positive, autobiographical memories than other cues.

Rita Ueda (PhD research student in composition) has been awarded the 2022 Azrieli Music Prize for Canadian Music with a portfolio that includes as the spring blossoms awaken through the snow for intercultural orchestra, supervised by Prof. Richard Rijnvos and Dr James Weeks.

(Durham - 3 November 2021)  On 13 November 2021 Slagwerk Den Haag and the Residentie Orchestra will perform the world première of Richard Rijnvos' Afrique. 

On 6 November 2021 Ensemble Musikfabrik (Cologne) performed the world première of Richard Rijnvos' Riflesso sull’incontro.

A festival dedicated to the choral and chamber music of Charles Villiers Stanford, his contemporaries and his pupils will take place in Galway from 21-23 January 2022. The festival will also feature two lectures by Professor Jeremy Dibble.

Anthony Edward Payne was an English composer, music critic and musicologist. He died at the age of 84 on 30 April 2021. Professor Jeremy Dibble (Department of Music) has shared his memories.

At least 58 new Steinway & Sons pianos are be to be installed across our campus as we join the All-Steinway Initiative, with an intention to become an All-Steinway University in 2022. Joining the initiative makes a significant statement about our commitment to excellence in music, with the new pianos set to join our existing collection of nine Steinway instruments.

Durham's Music Department has been ranked first in all three of the UK's major university league tables this year - the Complete University Guide, the Sunday Times Good University Guide and the Guardian League Table.