Staff in Music

The staff of the Music Department comprises internationally recognised scholars, composers, and performers. 

Head of Department

Dr Ben Earle

Dr Ben Earle

Senior Lecturer
Head of Department of Music

I specialise in twentieth-century repertory, analysis, critical theory and aesthetics.

Academic staff

Dr Nicholas Attfield

Dr Nicholas Attfield

Associate Professor in Music

I am a musicologist specialising in German music and culture from c.1870 to 1945. 

Dr Amy Brosius

Lecturer in Music

I specialize in seventeenth-century Italian singers, singing culture, vocal music and early modern gender construction. My approach to research is interdisciplinary, employing methodologies from art history, critical theory, gender studies, and performance studies.

Dr Alexander M. Cannon

Dr Alexander M. Cannon

Senior Lecturer in Music

I am an ethnomusicologist of southern Vietnamese traditional music, creativity, and popular culture.

Dr Ben Curry

Dr Ben Curry

Lecturer in Music

I am a musicologist specialising in the fields of musical meaning and music analysis.  My scholarly interests stretch from the eighteenth century to the present day and focus on twentieth-century popular music, film music and late eighteenth-century music.

Dr Luis-Manuel Garcia-Mispireta

Dr Luis-Manuel Garcia-Mispireta

Associate Professor in Ethnomusicology and Popular Music Studies

I research electronic dance music scenes (e.g., house, techno, etc.), with a special focus on issues of affect, sexuality, tourism, and the creative industries. My ethnographic fieldwork focuses primarily on Berlin, Germany.

Professor Michael Zev Gordon

Professor Michael Zev Gordon

Professor of Composition

I am a composer, principally of instrumental and vocal music. I have written for a wide variety of forces and genres, from orchestral work and chamber opera to solo work and song.

Professor Simon Halsey

Professor Simon Halsey

Professor and Director of Choral Activities

I am a conductor and educator in choral music and particularly proud to try to bring together all the singers of Birmingham, one of the great international centres of choral endeavour.

Dr Christopher Haworth

Dr Christopher Haworth

Senior Lecturer in Music (20th / 21st Century Musical Studies)

My scholarly interests lie in the broad areas of electronic music and sound art, which I research using a mixture of historiographic, philosophical, and ethnographic research methods. I also compose computer music, often incorporating principles from psychoacoustics, music psychology, and cybernetics.

Professor Andrew Kirkman

Professor Andrew Kirkman

Peyton and Barber Professor of Music

I work on sacred music of the fifteenth century music, which I also direct with my professional vocal ensemble, The Binchois Consort. I teach on a wide range of topics from medieval to popular music and have also had a busy career as a freelance professional violinist.

Dr Daria D. Kwiatkowska

Dr Daria D. Kwiatkowska

Teaching Fellow

I am a composer of instrumental and vocal music, interested in timbre and the use of unusual instruments. I teach composition, tonal theory and 18th century counterpoint.

Dr Ryan Latimer

Dr Ryan Latimer

Lecturer in Music

I am a composer, primarily of instrumental and vocal music.  I have written for variety of forces ranging from music for orchestras, choirs and ensembles; to opera and theatre; and more recently, for dance. I am also a passionate collaborator and actively seek out and encourage creative partnerships with practitioners from other disciplines.

Dr Annie Mahtani

Dr Annie Mahtani

Associate Professor in Music

I am a composer of electroacoustic music, specialising in acousmatic composition and multichannel audio.

Dr Ceri Owen

Dr Ceri Owen

Lecturer in Performance and Director of Performance

I am a pianist and musicologist. I work on intersections between music, identity, and performance, and on music and musicians in Britain and Ireland during the late nineteenth- and twentieth centuries. As a professional pianist I appear at leading concert halls and festivals in the UK and further afield, and collaborate with both classical and traditional musicians.

Professor Matthew Riley

Professor Matthew Riley

Professor of Music

My scholarly interests lie in the analysis and criticism of Western art music from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. I aim to preserve and enhance literacy in the traditions of classical music so that people can make sense of this extraordinary heritage. Through music analysis and cultural history I try to understand the techniques and strategies of the leading composers of the tradition ...

Dr Paul Rodmell

Dr Paul Rodmell

Senior Lecturer

I am a musicologist who focuses primarily on music in the British Isles in the later nineteenth century (from about 1850 to 1918), with particular interests in opera and church music.

Mr Daniele Rosina

Director of Orchestral Studies

I am a conductor working with orchestras, ballet and opera companies in repertoire from the baroque through to the present day. As an educator I teach at this University and Birmingham Conservatoire.

Mr Jonathan Silk

Mr Jonathan Silk

Director of Jazz Studies


I am a jazz drummer, composer/arranger and bandleader performing extensively on the UK Jazz scene. I have released two big band albums to critical acclaim and multiple releases with my contemporary quartet FORJ.

Professor Scott Wilson

Professor Scott Wilson

Professor of Composition and Electronic Music
Director of BEAST and of the Electroacoustic Studios

I am Professor of Composition and Electronic Music in the Music Department, where I teach composition and work with Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre (BEAST).

Dr Maria Witek

Dr Maria Witek

Senior Birmingham Fellow

I’m a research fellow investigating music cognition, psychology and neuroscience, with a special focus on rhythm, body-movement, affect and musical groove.

Emeritus and Honorary Academic Staff

Professor Jonty Harrison

Emeritus Professor of Composition and Electroacoustic Music

I am a composer, primarily of multichannel acousmatic electroacoustic music, with a particular interest in the use of real-world sounds.

Emeritus Professor Vic Hoyland

Professor in Composition

Late modernist composer of symphonic works, music theatre and new music ensemble works for BCMG, Endymion, Lontano, Arditti Quartet.

Professor Colin Timms

Emeritus Professor of Music

I am a musicologist specialising in Italian secular vocal music (opera and chamber cantata) of the late Baroque period, especially Agostino Steffani, and in the music of George Frideric Handel.

Professor John Whenham

Emeritus Professor of Music History

I am a specialist in Italian music of the late 16th and early 17th centuries and, in particular, on the music of Claudio Monteverdi. From 2001 to 2011, as Head of Department, I successfully argued for new facilities for University music, drew up an architects’ brief for a new building and led the departmental team during the processes of developing the plans, fundraising, and constructing ...


Professional Services Staff

University Music and Concerts Team

Visiting Instrumental and Vocal Teachers


Honorary Professors and Research Fellows

  • Koen Kessels Honorary Professor. Music Director, Birmingham Royal Ballet and Artistic Director of the HERMESensemble.
  • Lewis Foreman - Honorary Senior Research Fellow. Musicologist.
  • Andrew Parrott - Honorary Senior Research Fellow. Conductor and musicologist.
  • Jim Berrow - Honorary Research Fellow. Musicologist.
  • Jeffrey Skidmore - Honorary Research Fellow. Conductor and artistic director of Ex Cathedra, a professional chamber choir and orchestra specialising in Renaissance and Baroque music.
  • Paul Spicer - Honorary Research Fellow. Conductor and musicologist.
  • Paula Chateauneuf - AHRC Funded Research Fellow. Lutenist, theorbist, baroque guitarist.
  • Monika Hennemann - Honorary Research Fellow and Visiting Lecturer.  Musicologist.