Working in partnership with the School of Music

Working in partnership

The School of Music has strong collaborative links with many creative partners in and around the Leeds region, across the country and internationally.

At a local level we are proud to work with organisations including Opera North, the Leeds International Piano Competition, where the University is the Principal Partner, the North Yorkshire Music Therapy Centre, East Street Arts, Ilkley Literature Festival and Skipton Camerata to deliver outstanding research-driven events and opportunities for students, staff and people living in the Yorkshire region.

Our researchers work closely with a wide variety of local and regional institutions such as schools, hospitals and museums on a diverse range of interdisciplinary and practice-based projects or as research-led consultants. These include: advising on the role of music to support wellbeing and recovery at the new Leeds Children’s Hospital; a collaboration with Leeds Museums and Galleries and the School of Media and Communication to design a range of new visitor experiences and installations for a music-themed exhibition; and consultancy for the National Science and Media Museum to advise on the acquisition, interpretation and display of objects of electronic sound for the Museum’s new Sound and Vision Galleries (due to open in 2022).

Nationally, we enjoy collaborations and research opportunities with many and varied individuals and organisations. Current and recent examples include: the Royal Northern College of Music; audiologists working in over 30 NHS Trusts across the UK; clarinettist Heather Roche; the UK’s largest music therapy charity Nordoff Robbins; experimental and avant-garde ensemble Apartment House; and Museums Sheffield.

Our researchers are regularly invited to contribute to programmes on BBC Radio 3, Radio 4 as well as local BBC radio channels, and have acted as consultants for numerous BBC television documentaries and major video games developers, such as Ubisoft.

Our Global Partnerships

Our international partnerships and opportunities are similarly diverse, representing the breadth of experience and range of interests among our researchers and composers. Recent research projects have resulted in collaborations with, amongst others: the Cape Town Holocaust and Genocide Centre, South Africa, in a project to uncover, preserve and perform lost Jewish music and theatre; and French sound artist, instrument builder and improviser Anton Mobin, as part of a project exploring the legacy of experimental composer, Hugh Davies. Some of our current research projects include collaborations with the Musical Instruments Museum in Brussels, the Canada Science and Technology Museum, Ottawa, and the Computer History Museum, Mountain View, California. Researchers from our School regularly participate as tutors and composers at the Darmstadt New Music Courses in Germany.

The School of Music has a long history of facilitating international collaborations for our students as well as our researchers. Students often spend a year with our European conservatoire partners on the BMus (Performance) programme, and others have studied at the Sorbonne, Paris, or at the University of Turku, Finland. We also have a Memorandum of Understanding with Athens Conservatoire. Further afield, we enjoy relationships with the University of North Texas College of Music, and Monash University, Melbourne, Australia — a collaboration that has resulted in conferences, study days, co-edited books and special issues of academic journals. We are proud to have joined the ranks of All-Steinway Schools across the globe.

Graduates are welcome to join our employability mentoring scheme, to share knowledge and build relationships with our current undergraduates.

School of Music employability mentoring scheme

The scheme links up our alumni, who are professionals from music and related industries, with current undergraduate music students.

To be a mentor, you'll need to be a professional with at least two years of work experience and able to commit a minimum of one hour per month for at least an academic year.

Find out more.

Image depicting Clothworkers Centenary Concert Hall, featuring seating, stage area, pianos and lighting.

More on University of Leeds International Concert Series

University of Leeds International Concert Series

The Concert Series plays an important role in the cultural life of Leeds and continues to employ high-calibre musicians presenting interesting and varied live music performances for students, staff and the general public.

The Series is directly related to the teaching and research outputs of the School of Music and other areas of the University, and offers a wide range of musical genres and styles.

More on University of Leeds International Concert Series

Music Research Colloquia

A wide-ranging programme of research colloquia, featuring invited guest speakers and staff, covering a broad view of current musicology and interdisciplinary research, including composition and technology; music and social sciences; music management; new approaches to music history; music psychology; and performance (analysis, history, pedagogy, practice).

Working in partnership with the School of Music