Postgraduate performance opportunities
The music department’s postgraduate degree programmes provide performers, composers, and scholars with many opportunities to work alongside expert musicians and ensembles.
Our partnership with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic offers postgraduates masterclass and performance opportunities as well as the chance to compose for their Ensemble 10:10, which is based in the University’s 400-seat Tung Auditorium. The department’s Ensemble Research Residency programme provides yearly opportunities for composers and scholars to develop projects in collaboration with a world-class contemporary music ensemble (the Riot Ensemble is currently in residence from 2023-2026). Finally, the department’s ensemble in residence (currently the Solem String Quartet) works with both performers and composers on developing unique and forward-looking concert programmes.
MA Music and Audiovisual Media
Composers in the MA Music and Audiovisual Media benefit greatly from the expertise of the world-class musicians in our affiliate ensembles. Students have several chances to write new compositions which are workshopped and recorded by our ensembles in residence, including the Solem String Quartet and musicians from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. Later in their degree, students also have the opportunity to write an audiovisual work for the Screen Composer Showcase concert, which features professional musicians such as those from the RLP performing live to picture in front of an audience in the Tung Auditorium.
MMus Performance
Our MMus course incorporates three strands: research, pedagogy, and performance. Alongside the 20 one-to-one lessons with specialist instrumental/vocal tutors that MMus students receive, performance modules are central to the course with weekly performance seminars in the 400-seat Tung Auditorium. The initial focus in Semester 1 is on solo performance with masterclasses from Tung artists and musicians of the partnerships, including the Solem Quartet and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. All students perform with members of the RLP in Semester 2, with varied interactions including masterclasses, rehearsal opportunities, and recitals. There are also opportunities to perform in the Victoria Gallery & Museum concerts and to participate in the Tung’s Lunchtime Concert Series.
The culmination of the MMus degree is a major project. This offers the opportunity for students to specialise in an area of performance in a 45–50 minute recital, as well as the chance to combine performance with research or pedagogy. A combined project can take many forms, and can provide a springboard for further study at PhD level where practice-led research is a focus of performance lecturers in the department.
Composition MRes and PhD
Postgraduate composition students at the University of Liverpool gain insights and form lasting relationships with our external affiliate ensembles. The Ensemble Research Residency programme, run by the Interdisciplinary Centre for Composition and Technology (ICCaT), provides yearly opportunities for composers to devise projects in collaboration with preeminent ensembles; the Riot Ensemble are currently in residence until 2026. Performances of postgraduate student work are also possible through RLP’s Ensemble 10:10, who are based in the university’s Tung Auditorium, and the Solem String Quartet, the department’s ensemble in residence. Many collaborative projects with the aforementioned ensembles are promoted and produced as part of our Musical Futures concert series. Students also meet guest composers, performers, and technologists through ICCaT’s Creative Open Forum series of seminars and presentations.