durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Musicon is back next month: Tanja Orning on the Hardanger cello, Matthew Schellhorn playing David Lancaster on Bede and time, Sam Cave on guitar, and Royal Northern Sinfonia's Brahms — the first of three RNS visits this season. 000
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 25/09/2026On 25th October, jazz pianist Dean Stockdale brings his acclaimed celebration of the artistry of Oscar Peterson to the Concert Room – bold new quartet arrangements of Peterson's lesser-known compositions, in a special collaboration with Durham Jazz Festival. 000
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 17/09/2026Durham Music has been ranked second in the UK in the Guardian University Guide 2027 — one of nineteen Durham subjects in the Guardian's top five this year. Congratulations and thanks to everyone in the department who made it happen! 000
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 16/09/2026On 14th September, Norwegian cellist Tanja Orning brings a rare opportunity to hear the Hardanger cello, a folk instrument with sympathetic strings that give it a distinctive, resonant sound – a programme of Bach, Norwegian folk music, and a new work by Eric Egan. (Photo Credit: Juliane Schütz) 000
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 15/09/2026Our 2026–27 season: Royal Northern Sinfonia returns three times, from Brahms in November to Bruckner's Second Mass in the Cathedral in February. Tanja Orning brings a Hardanger cello, the Dean Stockdale Quartet plays Oscar Peterson with Durham Jazz Festival, and the Monteverdi String Band and more. 000
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Congratulations to @ardi-echevarria.bsky.social, appointed to a permanent lectureship at @somervillecollege.bsky.social and St Catherine's, Oxford, teaching music analysis and music history! He completed his Durham PhD on form in nineteenth-century symphonic music under Professor Julian Horton. 001
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 14/08/2026Plain Air, for voice, piano and electronics by Dr James Weeks, is released on First Hand Records. Lucy Goddard and Siwan Rhys perform his setting of Nan Shepherd's crystalline prose from The Living Mountain. Listen/buy: bit.ly/4gamme7 000
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 15/07/2026New from Durham Music: a six-part video series on Bach chorales—18th-century harmony explained by Dr Ian Dickson, produced by Dr Simone Tarsitani, ending with a performance by four Durham students. Watch on YouTube: youtu.be/EgIcQcT3Ppo 000
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 14/07/2026We are pleased to see that Durham University has been ranked 85th in the fiercely competitive QS World University Rankings, up nine places from last year. The arts and humanities department, of which music is a part, is ranked 31st globally in the QS World University Rankings. 000
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 20/06/2026Tomorrow from 1.30pm, SongPath comes to Durham University Botanic Garden. Join singers Jess Dandy and @joannaharries.bsky.social for an uplifting blend of music, nature, and wellbeing – a musical trail from the woodland garden to the wildflower meadow. Free with entry. 020
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 15/06/2026Join us on Sunday at the Botanic Garden for SongPath – an afternoon of walking, talking, and music-making in nature. Singers Jess Dandy and @joannaharries.bsky.social lead a musical trail through the garden. Free with Botanic Garden entry, from 1.30pm. 011
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 28/05/2026Last night's Musicon concert of music from the South Korean shaman tradition was remarkable: warm, serious, and joyous—and with a dose of audience participation! Thank you so much to Hong Hyojin and Jung Younrak for the mesmerising performance. 000
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 28/05/2026A remarkable evening last night as Hong Hyojin and Jung Younrak brought the songs, dances and rhythms of Korea's East Coast shaman tradition to Palace Green with extraordinary energy. Thank you to all who came — and don't miss their free paper flower workshop at the Oriental Museum today, 1–3pm. 000
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 26/05/2026Tomorrow evening: Songs beneath the Sacred Tree. A wife-and-husband pair of senior Korean ritualists — Hong Hyojin singing, dancing and playing hand-gong, Jung Younrak on drum — bring the thrilling music of the East Coast shaman tradition to Palace Green. With Prof. Simon Mills. 7.30pm. 000
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 21/05/2026On 21st June, join SongPath for a unique afternoon of music, nature, and wellbeing in Durham University Botanic Garden. Singers Jess Dandy and @joannaharries.bsky.social lead an uplifting, interactive musical trail from the woodland garden to the wildflower meadow. 011
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 20/05/2026Next Wednesday: Songs beneath the Sacred Tree. Hong Hyojin and Jung Younrak — both officially recognised as Cultural Assets 82-1 — perform the extraordinary songs, dances and drumming of South Korea's East Coast shaman tradition, with Prof. Simon Mills. Palace Green, 7.30pm. 011
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 19/05/2026Durham Music shone at the RMA Southeast Asia Chapter conference 🎉 Current students Ardi Echevarria and Yan Xin Ng presented — and won the Springer Researcher Student Prize! Indonesia-based alumnus Matthew Hansel also presented. Full programme: www.nafa.edu.sg/ebook/RMA_SEA_Confe… 020
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 07/05/2026Tomorrow evening: Royal Northern Sinfonia at Elvet Methodist Church. Haydn's Seven Last Words — music of extraordinary reflective grace — followed by Schubert's great String Quintet in C major, lyrical, serene, and profoundly moving. 000
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 01/05/2026On Friday, the Royal Northern Sinfonia close their MUSICON season in style. Haydn's magnificent Seven Last Words — slow, searching, sublime — and Schubert's String Quintet in C, written just weeks before his death. Two masterworks at Elvet Methodist Church, 7.30pm. 000
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 30/04/2026We are thrilled to announce 'Songs beneath the Sacred Tree' on 27 May. Two senior ritualists from South Korea's East Coast hereditary shaman tradition bring their extraordinary songs, dances and rhythms to Durham in a lecture-concert with Prof. Simon Mills. Department of Music, Palace Green, 7.30pm. 000
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 29/04/2026Three extraordinary events close our MUSICON season this term. RNS return on 8 May with Haydn and late Schubert. On 27 May, two Korean ritualists bring thrilling songs and dances of the East Coast shaman tradition to Durham. In June, SongPath — song, nature and wellbeing at the Botanic Garden. 000
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 17/03/2026Tomorrow at 7pm at the Lafcadio Hearn Centre, four new works for piano and recitation bring Hearn's literary universe to life. Japanese and Irish composers respond to a writer whose complex identity gave him a unique perspective on other cultures. 000
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 11/03/2026Join us next Wednesday at Teikyo University's Lafcadio Hearn Centre for music inspired by early translations of Japanese literature. Four composers respond to Hearn's ghost stories and dialogues, performed by pianist Satoko Inoue and reader John McLachlan. 001
Reposted by @durhammusicdept.bsky.socialDurham University @durham.ac.uk · 26/02/2026Do you know which band has changed their music the most over the years - Coldplay, Radiohead, or R.E.M.? Using computer analysis of music recordings 🎶, Professor Nick Collins from our Music Department has shed some light on this. tinyurl.com/ytdwtvze @durhammusicdept.bsky.social 061
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 05/03/2026Next week, Thursday 19th March at 4.30pm, join Prof John Snijders and artist Graham Dolphin for a free conversation on art, performance & contemporary music at the Dead Dog Gallery, Durham Sixth Form Centre. Tickets: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/graham-dolph… 010
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 03/03/2026Thank you to @joebates.bsky.social for last night's MUSICONversation on Wendy Carlos –an ear-opening evening! 021
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 03/03/2026Join Durham composer Richard Rijnvos tomorrow for a special viewing of Mike Collier's exhibition at @vanegallery.bsky.social! Collier's exquisite art, drawing on stars, birdsong, and Persian poetry, has been developed into an animation that accompanies Richard's Aphrodite for shō & string sextet. 010
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 02/03/2026Don't miss our annual International Women's Day Concert tomorrow night! New music, great student ensembles, free entry. Concert Room, Palace Green, 7.30pm. 000
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 01/03/2026Tomorrow at 7pm at the Music Department on Palace Green, @joebates.bsky.social introduces Wendy Carlos's Beauty In The Beast. Carlos has resisted digitisation, and her CDs are out of production – a rare chance to hear her novel tuning systems. Free admission, booking advised. 010
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 18/02/2026Thank you to @musicaantica.bsky.social, Camilla Seale, and Tristram Cooke for last night's gorgeous concert! Hearing this seventeenth-century music brought back to life with such verve was a rare treat. 000
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 17/02/2026On 4 March, we celebrate International Women's Day with a concert featuring outstanding women musical directors and conductors, plus new works by Durham student composers. Featuring Footnotes a cappella, Fullscore Durham, Bailey Chamber Orchestra and more. Free entry, Concert Room, Palace Green. 000
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 17/02/2026Indian Spring Colours returns this Friday and Saturday. Santoor, bansuri and tabla honouring the legendary Call of the Valley, and the haunting taus, a rare bowed string instrument played by its only female UK exponent. Two concerts celebrating the season through Hindustani classical music. 010
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 16/02/2026Tomorrow at 7.30pm, @musicaantica.bsky.social bring music from Venice's mid-seventeenth-century theatres to Elvet Methodist Church. Cavalli, Barbara Strozzi, and contemporaries – much of it unheard for 350 years – with a recreated Venetian band. 000
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 11/02/2026Join us next Tuesday when @musicaantica.bsky.social perform Cavalli, Strozzi, and their contemporaries. Camilla Seale and Tristram Cooke sing, accompanied by violins, bass viol, theorbos, harpsichord, and pentagonal virginal – Venice, 1650, in Durham. 000
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 08/02/2026Tomorrow at 7pm in the Birley Room, for John Snijders’s (free!) introduction to Matthijs Vermeulen – a composer whose innovative handling of melody, harmony, and instrumentation makes him a true original. Two symphonies brimming with sheer musical power. 000
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 06/02/2026Our apologies for incorrect post published earlier today: the Verdi come-and-sing event is cancelled, but a pre-scheduled post slipped through the net! Sorry for any confusion caused. 000
Reposted by @durhammusicdept.bsky.socialMusic Psychology Lab - Durham @musicpsychologylab.bsky.social · 04/02/2026What’s in your head while you listen to music? Share your thoughts as you listen to music during a 40-minute survey we are running @durhammusicdept.bsky.social from the 18-20th February. Sign up at www.signupgenius.com/go/10C044EA5... to book your preferred time slot. #MusicSciencesignupgenius.comMusic & Thought: Earn £5 cash!Sign up here to book your preferred time slot. All participants who complete the survey will receive £5 cash as a token of our appreciation. What's involved? Watch a video of classical music perform... 052
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 03/02/2026On 2nd March, @joebates.bsky.social introduces Wendy Carlos – a legendary synthesiser composer who has resisted all efforts to digitise her music. With her CDs out of production, this is a rare chance to hear her ground-breaking album Beauty In The Beast. 040
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 02/02/2026Join us next Monday when John Snijders, pictured here at his Muiscon concert last term, presents two symphonies by Matthijs Vermeulen. The Second (1920) is a non-conformist's response to the avant-garde; the Fourth (1941), written under occupation, is full of hope that victory will come. 000
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 21/01/2026On 17th February, @musicaantica.bsky.social bring the Golden Age of Venetian opera to Durham – cantatas and opera extracts from the mid-seventeenth century, much of it unperformed for over 350 years, with an ensemble recreating a Venetian theatre band. 000
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 20/01/2026Tomorrow at 7.30pm, harpsichordist Jane Chapman gives the UK premiere of Richard Rijnvos's lettura del labirinto. Fifty-five miniatures trace a path through Venice where no location is visited twice – a parallel universe to Calvino's Invisible Cities. 000
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 20/01/2026Thank you to everyone who joined us for the first MUSICONversation last night! Julian Horton's time-travelling symphony prompted a wonderful discussion. The series continues on 9th February when John Snijders introduces the music of Matthijs Vermeulen. 000
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 19/01/2026On 9th February, John Snijders introduces Matthijs Vermeulen – one of the most neglected but original voices in twentieth-century music. His astoundingly energetic symphonies point forward to sounds and textures we don't hear until decades later. 000
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 18/01/2026Congratulations to Dr James Weeks for last night’s delicate, ear-opening concert with the Royal Northern Sinfonia and Ben Smith, including a stunning new work by former Durham student Elisabet Dijkstra. 000
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 18/01/2026Tomorrow at 7pm in the Birley Room is the first of our free MUSICONversations. Julian Horton presents a symphony he composed in an authentic 1850s idiom. How would you write a symphony if you could time-travel to 1856? Come and find out. 000
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 17/01/2026Join us on Friday when Royal Northern Sinfonia return, directed by violinist Maria Włoszczowska. Haydn's 'Joke' Quartet, Hasenöhrl's brilliant reduction of Strauss's Till Eulenspiegel, and Beethoven's Septet – an instant hit at its 1800 premiere. Last term’s concert was packed out, so book ahead! 000
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 16/01/2026On 7th February we host a Come and Sing workshop marking 125 years since Verdi's death. Led by Katherine Hambridge, singers of all ages are welcome to come and tackle thrilling music, including the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves, the Triumphal Scene from Aida, the Brindisi, and more. 000
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 15/01/2026On Friday 23rd, Royal Northern Sinfonia return for an evening packed with wit, sparkle, and passion. Haydn's genial 'Joke' Quartet, a trickster from German folklore in Hasenöhrl's chamber Till Eulenspiegel, and Beethoven's ever-delightful Septet. 000
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 14/01/2026Join us next Wednesday for the UK premiere of Richard Rijnvos's lettura del labirinto. Harpsichordist Jane Chapman performs 55 miniatures, each set against contemplative footage of Venice – a meditation on getting lost in a labyrinth of alleys, bridges, and little squares. 010
durhammusicdept.bsky.social @durhammusicdept.bsky.social · 13/01/2026Join us next Monday for the first MUSICONversation. Julian Horton introduces a symphony of his own, composed in an authentic mid-nineteenth-century style – the fruit of a decade researching thousands of symphonies for Cambridge University Press. 010
