European Music Studies

This area of research has been led by the significant contributions of Emeritus Professor David Tunley, a distinguished scholar of the French Baroque period. Projects have included work on the 18th century French Cantata.

In the area of performance practice, the French Baroque work was the focus of a partnership with the ABC (ARC Linkage Grant 2003 - 2005) which resulted in the production of a series of five recordings involving Associate Professors Paul Wright and Suzanne Wijsman along with other artists.

Associate Professor Peter Moore has been a long-standing member of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, exploring performance practice techniques and researching Baroque repertoire in this prestigious professional context.

Closer to the UWA campus, Associate Professor Paul Wright has been founding artistic director of the Juniper Chamber Orchestra, a new Perth-based chamber orchestra focusing largely on repertoire of the Baroque and Classical periods.

The School also possesses a fine collection of historical instruments including an original “Kirkman” harpsichord, string and woodwind instruments and other keyboard instruments, making it one of the most important collections in the southern hemisphere, and providing crucial resources for historical performance practice research.

A recent addition to historical research in the School has been Associate Professor Suzanne Wijsman’s work on musical iconography in the medieval Hebrew illuminated manuscript Bodleian MS Opp. 776, a 15th-century manuscript with numerous illustrations of musicians.

Winthrop Professor Jane Davidson’s collaborative research with Andrew Lawrence-King and Anthrony Trippett on Spanish Baroque works, the operas La púrpura de la rosa and Celos aun del aire matan, and the Oratorio sacro al nacimiento de Christo Señor Nuestro, has led to premiere performances of these early 18th century works which she has directed.