University News Last updated 31 May 2019
Birmingham City University music academic Dr Adam Whittaker has been awarded the prestigious Albi Rosenthal Visiting Fellowship.
Awarded by the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford, the fellowship will enable Dr Whittaker to work with the rare and unique Bodleian special collections for his research.
The special collections contain rare printed books, classical papyri, medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, literary, political and historical papers, archives, printed ephemera, as well as maps and music in both manuscript and printed form.
The fellowship is awarded to only one music researcher each year and Dr Whittaker is the first academic from Birmingham City University to receive it.
Dr Whittaker will begin the fellowship in the autumn of this year, benefitting from uninterrupted research time and access to the exclusive special collections.
His research focuses on the historical methods and practices of teaching music, the ways that these have changed over time, and what they can tell us about how music is taught today.
Dr Whittaker said: “I am absolutely delighted to have been awarded this fellowship. I’m really looking forward to looking closely at manuscripts in the special collections to explore the musical examples that survive in these texts.
“My fellowship will build upon my ongoing work on historical musical examples and, I hope, enable me to further contribute significantly to the discipline.
“It is a privilege to have access to these unique and rare resources and I am thrilled to have received the fellowship this year.”
Find out more about Dr Whittaker’s research on the University’s website.