About Us
A view of the main Music building at Cardiff University.
The School of Music at Cardiff University is one of the most vibrant in the UK. It is home to about 240 undergraduate and 40 postgraduate students, 17 full-time and almost as many part-time academic staff, five academic support staff, and a large number of part-time tutors, many of whom are members of the BBC National Orchestral of Wales or Welsh National Opera. The School has a high reputation, monitored by external examiners and assessors, for the quality of its undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. The School of Music is also noted for the international significance of its research (70% of its research was judged to be either "internationally excellent" or "world-leading" in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise).
Music school students
Today's students are the successors to those who read music when University College first opened in Cardiff in 1883. Many distinguished musicians - students, staff and visitors - have participated in its developing history and are now alumni of the School. This places 21st-century students in an ideal position to benefit from and contribute to the School of Music's local, national and international profile.
The School's aim is simple: to provide a stimulating and supportive environment where students and staff can flourish and work together in a wide range of musical scholarship, composition and performance. Students may draw on areas of specialist expertise such as historical studies, popular culture, ethnomusicology, performance and performance practice, composition, analysis, music of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, or British, French and Central European music. There are also guest lectures, a full programme of concerts by visiting artists and by student orchestras, choirs, ensembles and soloists, and other events, such as masterclasses and composition workshops.
The academic and practical life of the School is enhanced by the excellent facilities offered within its own buildings. These facilities include the University Concert Hall, the extensive holdings of the Music Library, and the practice rooms, electronic studios and IT suites for student use. Postgraduates have their own dedicated suite of rooms. There is also a Research Centre specialising in historically informed performance (CRHIP).
Last, but not least, there is all that the cultural and social life of Cardiff itself offers (the School is just ten minutes' walk from the city centre). The famous St. David's Hall (where the University Choir and Symphony Orchestra give their annual Spring Concert), New Theatre and Sherman Theatre are within easy walking distance, as are restaurants, bars and cinemas. Further out there is the adventurous Chapter Arts Centre and the rejuvenated Cardiff Bay, the site of the Welsh Assembly, a multiplex cinema and the Wales Millennium Centre for the performing arts. And there are plenty of other musical and cultural opportunities which the eager student will discover!