University of Oxford
In October 2025, I started an MSt in Musicology at Somerville College, University of Oxford.
My Research
My research aims to understand and make visible musical performance as a locus of communities – an intersection that both transcends local and national borders, and co-creates an intercultural musical ecosystem that supports and sustains individual identity and purpose in a shared place or moment.
I have worked closely with Oxford Maqam Big Band exploring and workshopping the music of the 1950s Egyptian singer, Abd Al’Halim Hafez, resulting in two sell-out concerts in 2023 and 2024. I have subsequently written a paper examining the place of Abd Al’Halim Hafez in global jazz histography. I examined the music of Al’Halim as a means to reconfigure a growing jazz canon that embraces the diaspora as an integral component. His music becomes part of the process of de-centring jazz history, so that the genre no-longer becomes purely a reflection of a US art form but as a transnational art form that embraces identities of local, national and transnational art forms.
I am beginning work on a brand-new project with the Masters composition students at the University of Oxford that examines sites where local, national and international identities are integrated. Eight composers will bring forth their different backgrounds, working collaboratively through innovative workshops to write works reflective of their place in the local community and their backgrounds. The aim of the project is not to create pieces that propose homogenous versions of national cultures, but instead to consider how the local, national and global all intersect around a shared common point, using their own ethnic and local identities as inspiration. By positioning Oxford as the musical and geographical centre, we are hoping to highlight the positives of multicultural identities, expressed not purely through the composers’ work but a multi-cultural and diverse ensemble.
At the core of this research is the belief that music can and should be inclusive. I have spent several years working for Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and The Royal Academy of Music’s Open Academy and these experiences have demonstrated not only the ability of music and musicians to transcend boundaries, but that this process is symbiotic, involving multiple pathways that cross between the musician, the listener and vice versa.
More information on these projects soon.
Turtle Art Song, Oct - Dec 2025
I worked with Turtle Art Song on a community project for people living with dementia. Each Friday, we met as a group at the Jacqueline de Pre Music Building at St Hilda’s College, University of Oxford. We worked together to compose a set of songs all inspired by the senses and building a better future through imaginative inventions. We also engaged in a series of warm-up games and compositional processes, from brainstorming ideas to composing songs directly with the participants in small groups. There was a final showcase in December 2025 to friends, family and fundraisers.
The project was a fantastic example of intergenerational music-making. The participants were from a wide variety of ages, with often their (adult) children joining in with the process. The final performance was live-streamed, with relatives from Australia watching the performance at midnight local time.
The sessions were led by Jon Petters and Carolyn von Stumm. The project was also supported by the University of Oxford Music Faculty, St Hilda’s College and the Royal College of Music Sparks Programme.
Photograph credit: Simon Hutchins
Oxford Millenium Orchestra
I performed with the Oxford Millennium Orchestra in their Autumn concert, tackling repertoire including Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite, Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet Suite (famous for its opening movement featured as the BBC’s ‘The Apprentice’ theme music) and Samuel Coleridge Taylor’s ‘Ballade in A Minor’. We performed in the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford to a crowd of 550 people.
The group is made up of University of Oxford staff, students and alumni alongside members of Oxford’s community, and frequently tackle diverse and challenging programmes. They enjoy expanding the canon of orchestral classical music, and the inclusion of Samuel Coleridge Taylor was a welcome step in that direction.
I am looking forward to supporting the performance of Mahler’s Third Symphony in March 2026.
University of Oxford Wind Orchestra
I was invited by Felix Thomson to join the Oxford University Wind Orchestra. Directed by Thomson and Nick Samuels, the group tackled an ambitious repertoire including Tull’s Sketches on a Tudor Psalm and Sowande’s Obangiji.
I was intrigued by the possibility of performing a brand new (and possibly only) arrangement for wind band of Stravinsky’s Petrouchka. This famous ballet suite was arranged by the band’s MD and third-year music student, Nick Samuel. This was an ambitious project that was hugely successful. It was a pleasure to support the project as part of the trumpet section.
