"'Sing unto the LORD a New Song’: status and identity in synagogue choirs”
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Monday 20 February 2012
Dr Stephen Muir will be giving a public research presentation on Monday 20 February entitled, “‘Sing unto the Lord a New Song’: status and identity in synagogue choirs.” It will be held from 13h15-14h00 in Bangor Room 7 (building next door to Beethoven House). Following this at 14h15 (also in Bangor Room 7) will be a Q&A session open to all students regarding the student exchange programme between Rhodes University and the University of Leeds. This event has been funded and facilitated by the International Office at Rhodes University.
Dr Muir graduated with a first-class BMus degree (1994) and PhD from the University of Birmingham (2000). Currently a lecturer at the University of Leeds, Dr Muir teaches a variety of modules including Russian and East European Music, Music and the Abrahamic Faiths, Introduction to Musical Scholarship, and Introduction to Conducting. His primary research focus over the years, including his PhD thesis (The Operas of Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov from 1897 to 1904), has been on the music of Russia and Eastern Europe, with a particular emphasis on critical editing of opera. This has resulted in many contributions to books, periodical articles, and encyclopaedias, and presentations at Russian conferences. Recent research involves the investigating of the use of liturgical music in British Jewish communities, particularly in Leeds.
Dr Muir has also worked as a professional percussionist and conductor, and has been on conference organising committees for the 12th Biennial Conference on Nineteenth-Century Music (Bretton Hall, 2002) and International Conference on Baroque Music (University of Leeds, 2008). He is Assistant Director of Leeds University Liturgical Choir, and a member of Leeds Baroque Choir.
He is visiting Rhodes University under the title of ‘International Officer for the School of Music at the University of Leeds’ in the hope to strengthen existing partnerships and to negotiate possible new collaborations between Music Departments.
