Contact
Biography
I earned a BA in Music and MA in piano performance from the University of Bristol before completing my PhD in historical musicology at the University of Manchester. I have worked as a Teaching Associate at the University of Manchester (2015-20), and as a lecturer at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance (2020-21) and the University of Glasgow (2021-23). At the University of Nottingham I taught in the Department of Music (2023-2025) before joining the Department of History in March 2025.
Expertise Summary
I am a cultural historian specialising in the intersection between culture, society, politics, and identity in European, Slavonic, and Eurasian contexts during the Long 19th and 20th Centuries. My research explores the construction and expression of complex hybrid identities (both individual and collective) within hegemonic power structures with a particular focus on voice, song, poetry, music, and sound. I have specific contextual expertise on the late Romanov Empire, the Soviet Union, and the post-socialist era, including the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War.
Teaching Summary
This year I am convening courses in the Department of History on European Fascisms 1900-1945 and Russia in Revolution 1905-1921. I also supervise supervise final-year dissertations, and contribute… read more
Research Summary
I am currently writing up an analysis of Valentin Silvestrov's Symphony No. 5 (1980-1982) for the RMA Short Monograph Series. The monograph focusses on what Silvestrov described to me in 2019 as an… read more
This year I am convening courses in the Department of History on European Fascisms 1900-1945 and Russia in Revolution 1905-1921. I also supervise supervise final-year dissertations, and contribute teaching to the core first-year modules Learning History and The Contemporary World.
I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), accredited by Advanced HE.
Current Research
I am currently writing up an analysis of Valentin Silvestrov's Symphony No. 5 (1980-1982) for the RMA Short Monograph Series. The monograph focusses on what Silvestrov described to me in 2019 as an 'immediate kinship' that he felt between this symphony and Andrei Tarkovsky's 1979 film Stalker, which he saw shortly before completing his symphony. The research highlights the centrality of time and memory in the aesthetic philosophies of both artists, and situates this within the context of post-war Soviet culture, which was characterised by a fascination with dialogues between past, present, and future, the relationships between time and space, and a revival of interest in pre-revolutionary culture, mythology, religious and spiritual practices, mysticism, esotericism, occultism, metaphysics, eschatology, prophecy, and apocalypse.
Past Research
My first book explores the intersection between music, poetry, and cultural identity in the post-Stalinist period of Soviet history through close readings of three vocal cycles by Dmitri Shostakovich, Georgy Sviridov, and Valentin Silvestrov. (DOI: 10.4324/9780429274077).
My most recent article explores the evolution of Valentin Silvestrov's musical aesthetics and his international reputation in the wake of Russia's full-scale military invasion of Ukraine in 2022. (DOI: 10.1017/s0040298222001140).
More details of my research interests and outputs can be found here: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2874-4269
Future Research
I am preparing a large-scale research project focussing on the early recording industry during the late Russian Empire and early Soviet period. The project spans the two decades between 1902 and 1922 and explores the ways in which the production and consumption of recorded music and sound intersects with the construction and expression of complex hybrid identities within the Russian Empire. It argues for an understanding of recordings as an essential means of identity expression and conceptualises both the creation and the consumption of recorded sound as contiguous elements that are fundamental to the construction and performance of selfhood in both public and private spheres.