RCM Research makes an impact

Monday 27 January 2014

RCM students made a great impact at the Royal Music Association’s (RMA) 2014 Research Students’ Conference.

The conference took place from 6 to 8 January 2014 at the University of Birmingham. Of the 104 speakers, no fewer than six were from the RCM, all reflecting different aspects of the RCM’s unique research environment. The six RCM speakers and their subjects were:

Bruno Bower: Grieg, Schubert, Beethoven: Varieties of National Identity in the Programme Notes of the Crystal Palace Concerts, 1865-1879

Erin McHugh: Das wahre Tier: Lulu’s vocal music as commentary on her otherness and autonomy

Steven Daverson: A Humanising Strategy in Complex Music

Balder Gerhardt Neergaard: Schumann as Piano Student

Maria Razumovskaya: Climbing Towards the Summit of Knowledge: Heinrich Neuhaus’s Interpretation of Beethoven

Fiona Gibbs: Innovation through vision? Prince Albert and the Royal Albert Hall

Founded in 1874, the RMA is dedicated to the study of music. Its Research Students' Conference is open to postgraduates studying in the UK or abroad, and offers the opportunity for students to present research in music, musicology and related areas in a friendly and supportive atmosphere, while gaining valuable skills and networking opportunities.

In his report on the conference, the RMA’s student blogger Alexi Vellianitis wrote “it was heartening to note the very high number of speakers undertaking doctoral research at conservatoires, many of whom presented the freshest and most impressive papers: pianist Maria Razumovskaya (Royal College of Music) provided a sensitive and nuanced reading of Heinrich Neuhaus’s interpretation of Beethoven’s piano music, and Erin McHugh (Royal College of Music) drew upon her own singing experience to provide an impassioned discussion of the gendering of vocal registers in Berg’s Lulu and Strauss’s Salome.”

If you are interested in pursuing research interests at the RCM, please email researchdegrees@rcm.ac.uk