About the Faculty

Elizabeth Eva Leach (c) Benedict Johnson (British Academy)

The Oxford University Music Faculty is one of the largest and liveliest music departments in the UK. As an internationally renowned centre of teaching and research in all aspects of music, it is an exciting and stimulating environment in which to work and study.

Our undergraduate and graduate curricula are strong in traditional musicological and musical skills – for musicologists, performers and composers – but are also notably wide-ranging and imaginative. They reflect the spectrum of contemporary developments in music and musicology: from the 13th-century motet to global hip-hop; from ethnomusicology to music psychology; from historically informed performance practice to electroacoustic composition. Alongside our formal programmes, we organise a wide variety of concerts, masterclasses, workshops, public lectures and conferences. Our resources include the celebrated Bate Collection of Musical Instruments, a high-spec electronic music studio, a prize-winning library, an Indonesian gamelan and specialised resources for the study of performance. And all this is complemented by the exceptionally rich musical and academic life of the wider University and its colleges, with world-famous choirs, University orchestras and chamber groups, jazz and contemporary music ensembles, as well as the unrivalled resources of the Bodleian Library.

Our research, too, covers a broad spectrum, including European music from 800 to the present day, ethnomusicology, composition, opera studies, film and popular musics, music theory and analysis, the psychology of music and performance studies.  And our own work is greatly enriched by a roster of regular visitors from the worlds of musicology, performance and composition, and from the wider professional musical world.

Whether you are interested in studying in Oxford, or you want to find out more about who we are and what we do, or you want to discover what seminars and concerts we have on offer, or you are simply an alumnus wanting to keep in touch, we hope you find all the information you need on our website.

Professor Elizabeth Eva Leach (Chair, Music Faculty Board)