Staff profile
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Job title: Head of Department
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Dept: Music and Performing Arts
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Tel: 01227 782428
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Campus: Canterbury
Please contact john.irving@canterbury.ac.uk
John Irving joined Canterbury Christ Church University on 1 August 2011 as Head of Music and Professor of Music History and Performance Practice.
John has previously been Professor of Music at The Universities of Bristol and London, and immediately prior to his arrival in Canterbury was Director of The Institute of Musical Research, at London’s School of Advanced Study – the UK’s national music research institution. He has over 25 years experience in teaching and music research in Higher Education and is an internationally recognized Mozart scholar. He has published five books on Mozart, including an international best-selling biography, The Treasures of Mozart, and scholarly texts on Mozart’s Piano Sonatas and Concerti.
John Irving is also a performer, specialising in 18th-century historical performance practice as a fortepianist, clavichordist and harpsichordist. His recent performances include appearances at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama and King’s Place, London; a recital in the ‘Intimate Encounters’ series at Clare Hall, Cambridge; the North York Moors Music Festival; Petersham Festival; Tudeley Festival; and at the Greenwich Early Music Festival. He has worked closely with players from the celebrated Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
In spring 2011 he released (with his wife, the clarinettist, Jane Booth) a CD on the sfz label, Clarinets by Arrangement, exploring the early 19th-century vogue for duo arrangements of contemporary chamber works (including Mozart’s clarinet quintet). Earlier in 2011 he recorded a CD of Mozart’s solo keyboard works on a historic clavichord dating from 1763 in the Russell Collection, University of Edinburgh. His latest book, Understanding Mozart’s Piano Sonatas is now published by Ashgate: http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9780754667698|
John’s current research is centred on a British Academy funded project exploring the performance of Mozart’s keyboard works on the clavichord (comprising a CD recording and an associated web resource). He is also writing a chapter on 18th-century musical topics and historically informed performance for forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Topic Theory.
Besides research and performance, John’s career has also included many management positions in national music organisations, including his present appointments as Vice President of The Royal Musical Association and Trustee of the Horniman Museum, as well as being a member on various advisory boards, such as Répertoire Internationale d’Iconographie Musicale and the British Library Journal. He is a Fellow of The Royal Historical Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Webpage: www.johnirving.org.uk|
More information on John's research work and academic publications can be found on his page at
Academia.edu |