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The University of Oxford is a leading centre for research in opera and music theatre, where the work of musicologists and practitioners intersects to mutual benefit, and outputs have attracted the wide attention of new audiences well beyond the academic community. Oxford Opera encompasses a broad historical range, but shares a set of common aims and objectives: exploring new and historical modes of performance and realisation; challenging received operatic conventions and performance traditions in a scholarly and creative manner; and disseminating research results to new listeners through professional collaborations. Young people, the general public, and other professional practitioners have all been beneficiaries.
This research investigating many aspects of the life and works of Ludwig van Beethoven led to the publication of a ground-breaking new edition of his 35 piano sonatas. The research has not only influenced and informed the professional and amateur performance practice of Beethoven's works but has also contributed to a wider public understanding of his music, particularly through the performance of previously unheard Beethoven works. It has also contributed to economic prosperity in the creative and publishing sectors. Professor Cooper has used his research to contribute to numerous programme notes, CD liner notes, lectures and pre-concert talks impacting on a diverse and wide-ranging audience.
Research by Professor Michael Finnissy at the University Southampton into the development of musical notation and works of extended duration has resulted in the composition of more than ninety new musical works, which have been publicly performed hundreds of times in classrooms, concert halls, at international music festivals and on radio, by both amateurs and professionals, to audiences totalling more than 700,000. Through concerts, recordings, public lectures and media coverage, Finnissy has disseminated his research insights and creative approach to a growing audience, contributing to popular knowledge of contemporary music and compositional practice, the democratisation of new music performance, and the involvement of new music in social and political debate.
Dibble's research on Britain and Ireland's neglected Victorian and Edwardian composers, particularly Hubert Parry (1848-1918), Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924) and John Stainer (1840-1901), together with his public engagement and media work, has had a considerable influence on British musical culture. As a result of Dibble's research there has been a substantial increase in the performance, programming and recording of works by these composers, leading to enhanced awareness, enjoyment and understanding of this repertory and its importance to the nation's musical heritage. This research has also led to increased public access to archival documents related to this music, brought work to orchestras and choirs and contributed to the sales generated by music, CD and DVD publishers.
This case study focuses on Angry Planet, an interdisciplinary choral collaboration between Charles Bennett, Associate-Professor in Creative Writing at the University of Northampton (2007 — present) and composer, Bob Chilcott. A blend of lyrics and composition, their investigation into the sounds and rhythms of nature in relation to musical creativity resulted in a performance at the BBC Proms (Angry Planet, The Royal Albert Hall, 5 August 2012), featuring The Bach Choir and its Musical Director, David Hill. The project's innovative methodology included training school children alongside professional singers, contributing to their educational advancement, social and cultural integration and developing their innate creative potential.
This case study describes the impact of Professor Mervyn Cooke's research on the music of Benjamin Britten. A six-volume edition of Britten's correspondence, new performance editions, public talks, and programme notes for concerts and CDs has enhanced the understanding of Britten's music amongst a wide general audience, contributed to the educational and outreach remit of performance organisations, and stimulated creative output in the form of performances, recordings, and popular biographies.
Research work on gangsta rap by Dr Eithne Quinn has had a significant impact on the legal interpretation of lyrics. Dr Quinn has acted as an expert witness in a number of criminal cases to demonstrate that violent rap lyrics written by defendants cannot be taken as autobiographical statements. She has developed a track record as the leading legal expert on violent rap lyrics in the UK, and in one 2010 case her testimony led to a judicial ruling that set a legal precedent. Rap is a highly relevant form of popular culture made by young people who are marginalized by race and class. It is often misunderstood, or even reviled, in mainstream debate. Dr Quinn's research impacts on society by challenging social assumptions about this controversial music.
Stowell's research into historically informed performance (HIP) resulted from his concern that performances of music of the `long 18th century' have lacked historical accuracy and fidelity, and that genuine `period' techniques have been widely misrepresented. Through his publications, outreach and public engagement activities he has fired imaginations and illuminated practice, influencing performers and conductors to revise their performance approaches and transform their interpretations by drawing on the evidence-based `period' string techniques and style that he promotes. His making more explicit the relationship between musicology and practice has also enhanced audiences' knowledge and understanding of HIP, with `knock-on' impacts on the trans- national music entertainment and recording industries, and on individual professional careers.
Three research projects emerging from audio materials in the University of Edinburgh's Scottish Studies Archives (SSA) and from the Greig-Duncan folksong collection have forged a new understanding of the role of tradition in Scotland and internationally. These projects contribute to the reanimation of Scotland's rich traditional heritage by transferring into a contemporary context music and song preserved in these cultural artefacts. Through our websites (since 2010 ca. 9,000 hits per month from 98 different countries), public performances in Scotland, Ireland and North America, educational packages, CDs and radio broadcasts (ca. 50,000 weekly listeners 2008-13) we combine the old with the new, and have thus influenced the way the cultural and educational professions, performers and the general public engage with the traditional arts of Scotland.
The Rylands Cairo Genizah Project has had impact through its conservation, presentation, and interpretation of an internationally important archive of manuscripts which illuminate all aspects of the history, and the religious, social, and commercial life of the Jews in the Levant from the 9th to the 19th centuries. This collection is of deep interest to the Jewish community in the UK and abroad, and forms part of the cultural capital of this country, where the vast bulk of it is now housed. The project has also had an impact on heritage experts, by developing methods which have been applied to recording and disseminating other cultural assets.