Forum for Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Music
Intersecting with the French Music Research Hub, the Forum for Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Music (formally created in autumn 2016) aims to promote research into, and performance of, music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
It brings together the strongest concentration of expertise in this area within the UK. The close links with performance, through work on performance practice and the creation of critical editions that lead to research-informed performance, mean that the Forum’s work is ideally situated in a Conservatoire setting. The Forum’s research expertise informs the curriculum at all levels; courses in performance practice, critical editing and the music of the period are offered to PG and UG students.
Specialisms and core themes:
- 17th–18th century French music (Thompson, Sadler, Skidmore)
- 17th–18th century Italian music (Churnside, Perkins)
- 18th-century English music (Perkins)
- 17th-century performance practices (Savan, Thompson)
- Latin American Baroque music (Skidmore)
- Late 18th-century Austro-Germanic music (Derry and Pilcher)
Three key approaches present in much of the Forum’s work:
- Critical editing (Thompson, Sadler, Savan, Perkins, Churnside, Skidmore, Derry)
- Performance practice (Thompson, Sadler, Savan, Perkins, Skidmore, Derry)
- Historically-informed performance (Skidmore, Savan, Perkins, Derry, Knight; doctoral students: Roberts, Hunt, Horseworth, Waggott).
Main research objectives are:
- To promote research-informed performances and performance-informed research of music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
- To organise seminars and conferences of international significance
- To develop international partnerships
- To produce world-leading research that draws on the collective expertise of the members
Key Staff
- Dr Carrie Churnside: Forum Director (especially Italian baroque cantata)
- Dr Shirley Thompson: (especially Marc-Antoine Charpentier)
- Professor Graham Sadler: (Rameau, including the new edition of the Complete Works)
- Martin Perkins: (Italian sonata and regional British music-making, especially the Midlands, in the 18th century)
- Dr Siân Derry: (Beethoven studies)
- Jeffrey Skidmore OBE: (especially performance practice and Latin American baroque)
- Dr Jamie Savan (especially performance practices of the late-sixteenth and early-seventeenth centuries)
- Dr Matthew Pilcher: (Beethoven studies)
PhD Students and Awards (2014–)
- Giulia Galasso
- Martin Perkins
- Helen Roberts
- Adrian Powney
- Joseph Waggott
- Adrian Horsewood
- William Hunt