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News

New College Choir Messiah

New College Choir and the EUBO tour Europe with Handel to great acclaim
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Painted Quartets

The Bate Collection celebrates curves, colours and fantasy
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Events

12 March 2010 Mahan Esfahani Solo Harpsichord Concert

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2 March 2010 Graduate Colloquium

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Welcome to the faculty of music 

Welcome to the Faculty of Music of Oxford University, one of the largest and liveliest music departments in the country, and an internationally renowned centre of musical teaching and research. The Faculty came top of the ‘research power’ rankings in the most recent (2008) Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), with 50% of its research rated as ‘world-leading’ and the largest number of research active staff submitted by any Higher Education Institution in the UK. It gained the highest (5*) rating in the two previous RAEs of 1996 and 2001, and was ranked best UK music department by both The Times and The Independent in their most recent surveys.

Through its undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, the Faculty offers a highly stimulating environment for anyone interested in a practical, scholarly and creative engagement with music - musicologists, performers and composers.  The exceptionally rich musical life of the University and its Colleges - including world-famous choirs, University orchestras and chamber groups, jazz ensembles, and contemporary music groups – is complemented by the wide range of musical activities to be found in and around the city,  drawing on numerous musical traditions.

Our undergraduate and graduate curricula are strong in traditional musicological and musical skills, but are also notably wide-ranging and imaginative, reflecting contemporary developments in music and musicology; and alongside these formal programmes we organise and participate in a stimulating variety of concerts, masterclasses, workshops, public lectures, and conferences. Our resources include the internationally important Bate Collection of Musical Instruments, a high specification electronic music studio, an Indonesian gamelan,  and specialised resources for the study of performance. The Faculty's research and teaching strengths cover a broad spectrum, including European music of many periods, ethnomusicology, composition, opera, film music, analysis and music theory, the psychology of music, performance, and performance practice.