Dr Emily Worthington
Lecturer in Music (Historical Performance)

Profile

Biography

I joined the University of York in 2022 as Lecturer in Historical Performance Practices at the University of York. I am also a Research Fellow at the Orpheus Instituut in Gent. I combine my research and teaching activities with an active international performance career, specialising in historical clarinets from the late-18th to early-20th century.

My research focuses on the performance practices and cultures in the long 19th century. I am also interested in the epistemology and methodology of practice research as it relates to historical cultures and practices. In 2023 I was awarded a substantial Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK) grant for the project 'Baermann's Body: Understanding Embodied Research in Historically Informed Performance', a historical and artistic research into the 19th century clarinettist Carl Baermann. The focus of the project is the creation of The Digital Baermann, an online resource for performers and scholars, containing sources, articles and recordings exploring Baermann's musical world and the methodology of historical practice research.

Alongside my academic posts I continue to perform with orchestras around the world, including the Les Arts Florissants, Oh! Orkiestra, Orchestra of the 18th Century, Anima Eterna, Orchestre des Champs-Elysées, Gabrieli Consort, and the Academy of Ancient Music. From 2013-2023 I co-directed historical wind ensemble Boxwood & Brass, whose recordings were hailed as ‘revelatory’ (Early Music Today) and ‘dazzlingly persuasive’ (BBC Music Magazine).

I studied at the University of York, the Royal College of Music (London) and the Abbaye aux Dames de Saintes. Previously, I held the post of Senior Lecturer in Music Performance at the University of Huddersfield, where I co-founded the interdisciplinary Research Centre for Performance Practices (later Centre for Experimental Practices) with Dr Ben Spatz. My writing has appeared in numerous magazines, CD booklets and concert programmes as well as academic publications.

Research

Overview

My main research interests are:

• The practice and culture of music performance in Western Classical Music 1750-1950
• Historically Informed Performance in repertoire 1780-1930
• Wind music performance and repertoire
• Theory and methodology of embodied knowledge and historical practice research
• History of sound recording and broadcasting (particularly the early BBC)

I am a research fellow at the Orpheus Instituut in Gent, where I collaborate with Prof. Catherine Laws in the Performance and Embodiment research cluster. I am also a member of the Cultures, Histories and Legacies research cluster in the School of Arts and Creative Technologies and the Royal Musical Association Practice-Research Study Group.

Teaching

Undergraduate

• Playing with the Past: sources and methods in Historically-Informed Performance
• The Romantic Performer

Postgraduate

• Programme leader: MA in Music Performance (Historical Performance Practices)
• Developing Your Artistic Practice 1 and 2

Other teaching

• 2018-2022 External Examiner, MMus Music Performance, University of Sheffield
• 2020-2024 External Examiner, MMus Music Performance and Related Studies, Goldsmiths, University of London