Performance

Performance is central to the work of the Department of Music at Sheffield. It interfaces with every research area and the history and development of performance practice is a viable research topic in its own right. Composers and performers work closely together to develop new work. Researchers in Ethnomusicology employ performance as a means of developing and disseminating research findings – performance features prominently in most fieldwork. Musicology now more than ever requires an holistic approach that includes the study of recordings and performances. And from the sway of the pianist coaxing notes from the piano to an MRI scan of a performer indicating brain activity, Music Psychology attempts to understand how performers translate the notes on the page into music.

It is via performance that the department meets the City. Public concerts on a Tuesday evening invite international performers to Sheffield. Weekend concerts afford a platform for our large ensembles. Free lunchtime concerts on Thursdays provide an opportunity for students to prepare for their recitals and chamber music examinations.

Find out more about the department's music making

The Department´s full-time staff includes professional musicians with established careers as performers. Staff members are also active in facilitating performance from a variety of different perspectives, including those of conductor and theatre director.

Two staff members active in this field are:

Mary Dullea is Director of Performance at the University of Sheffield and is active internationally as a pianist, performing and recording. She has a particular interest in the piano trio repertoire and commissioning and developing new work with her own trio, the Fidelio Trio. As a soloist she is regularly invited to premiere new works. She has given masterclasses and workshops throughout the UK and Ireland and further afield in the USA and China. More information on Mary's activities as a performer are to be found on her staff profile or at www.marydullea.com

Peter Hill (Professor Emeritus). Publications and research extend from musicology to practical issues of performance. As a pianist his repertoire includes composers ranging from Bach to Olivier Messiaen, with whom he studied. His discography includes Messiaen's complete works for solo piano, as well as music by Beethoven, Berg, Schoenberg, Webern, Stravinsky and contemporary composers, including Paul Archbold and Howard Skempton.