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MA Music Performance with Management
Become an accomplished and entrepreneurial musician
Year of entry: 2026 (September)
A Masters for the modern musician that combines advanced performance skills with essential business and management practices.
Why study Music Performance with Management at York?
Develop your instrumental or vocal abilities, critical awareness and artistic voice. Regular one-to-one tuition is at the heart of the course. Combining performance excellence with professional management skills, our team of professional performers and experienced music industry practitioners will support your artistic development. Learn to communicate your understanding of repertoire to audiences, fellow performers and industry stakeholders.
Build leadership and entrepreneurial skills in a musical context. Study fundamental business skills including marketing, finance, operations, project management and business strategy. Our case-based assessments are tailored to your professional aspirations, so you can apply what you learn to the rapidly evolving music industries.
You'll join a vibrant, supportive academic community and performance culture. There's a huge range of ensembles to join, from orchestras and choirs to improvisation groups, modular synths and gamelan. You’ll have opportunities to perform in our own concert spaces to the historic York Minster in the city centre.
Gain career insight to help you market and manage your career. We host workshops, masterclasses and talks with professional partners and artists-in-association. Gain careers insight and become a creative, business-aware graduate ready to navigate the demands of the modern music industry.
York offers a lot of career support. There are talks, workshops, and people who can help, whether you want to go on to further study or find a job. You often leave with a clearer plan than you expected. The modules have helped me explore new areas and connect management and marketing ideas to wider arts industry contexts.
Course content
You’ll combine modules in developing advanced musical performance training with essential management and business skills.
Modules
- Principles of Music Management
- Recital 1
- Creative Industries Project Management
- Music Psychology for Marketing: The Influence of Music on Behaviour
- Empirical Research Skills for Music
Our modules may change to reflect the latest academic thinking and expertise of our staff, and in line with Department/School academic planning.
Final project
Your course concludes with a substantial public recital and accompanying reflective management essay that brings together your artistic and professional development.
You will demonstrate advanced technique, musical communication and interpretative ability as well as the capacity to critically integrate management principles into your current and future professional practice.
- Final Recital and Management Essay
Learning outcomes
Every course at York is built on a distinctive set of learning outcomes. These will give you a clear understanding of what you will be able to accomplish at the end of the course and help you explain what you can offer employers. Our academics identify the knowledge, skills, and experiences you'll need upon graduation and then design the course to get you there.
Learning outcomes for this course
- Design and deliver performances through rigorous planning and the application of appropriate principles and methods, theoretical knowledge, practical techniques, and artistic imagination.
- Communicate at an advanced level on issues relating to musical repertoire and its performance, music management, the arts, society and culture, using appropriate written and oral media in both artistic and organisational contexts.
- Critically examine, analyse and evaluate existing material and research literature on performance and music management practice.
- Apply and contextualise business and management skills including marketing, market research, financial planning, operations, and project management to real-world work settings including self-employment, portfolio work, and roles in music and arts organisations.
- Use subject-specific knowledge and transferable skills (e.g. critical thinking, analysing, writing, research skills, problem-solving and digital literacy) gained throughout the course with confidence and critical awareness in a range of national and international professional music-making contexts.
- Apply self-evaluative skills of reflective practice to inform current work and continuing professional development in both performance and management contexts, demonstrating creativity, imagination, and initiative.
Fees and funding
Annual tuition fees for 2026/27
| Study mode | UK (home) | International and EU |
|---|---|---|
| Full-time (1 year) | £12,000 | £27,250 |
Fees information
UK (home) or international fees? The level of fee that you will be asked to pay depends on whether you're classed as a UK (home) or international student. Check your fee status.
Find out more information about tuition fees and how to pay them.
Funding information
Discover your funding options to help with tuition fees and living costs.
We'll confirm more funding opportunities for students joining us in 2026/27 throughout the year.
If you've successfully completed an undergraduate degree at York you could be eligible for a 10% Masters fee discount.
Funding opportunities
Chevening Scholarships
We are pleased to work with Chevening Scholars to offer funding for our Masters programmes. Chevening Scholarships provide one year of fully-funded postgraduate study in the UK for international (including EU) students. The scholarships are open to early and mid-career professionals who have the potential to become future leaders.
Teaching and assessment
You’ll work with world‐leading academics who’ll challenge you to think independently and excel in all that you do. Our approach to teaching will provide you with the knowledge, opportunities, and support you need to grow and succeed in a global workplace.
Teaching format
Classes are formed of a variety of taught and discussion-based formats and regularly involve practical work.
You'll be taught via seminars and practical sessions in which you'll have the opportunity to teach others and receive feedback. Regular meetings with course tutors will allow you to discuss your progress and prepare for assessments.
You'll receive a generous allowance of hours of one-to-one instrument tuition over the duration of your course.
Facilities
The School of Arts & Creative Technologies is home to outstanding facilities, including a variety of seminar rooms for class teaching. These rooms have an array of specialised teaching equipment including pianos, interactive whiteboards and audio equipment.
The John Paynter Music Library is an elegant facility, located within the University Library, and houses the main music collections. It is also equipped with digital pianos, and media replay equipment.
The University Library houses an extensive collection of CDs and DVDs, which are available for listening and research. There are also archival recordings available for student use in the University of York Sound Archives.
The Document Supply Centre of the British Library is located in Boston Spa, near to York. A weekly bus service runs during term-time.
Teaching location
Your teaching will take place within the School of Arts & Creative Technologies. Most teaching will take place in either the Ron Cooke Hub on Campus East and the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall buildings on Campus West.
About our campus
Our beautiful green campus offers a student-friendly setting in which to live and study, within easy reach of the action in the city centre. It's easy to get around campus - everything is within walking or pedalling distance, or you can always use the fast and frequent bus service.
Assessment and feedback
You will design and present two recitals which will be assessed on criteria including technical command, interpretative and historical insight, and creativity. Other modules often include a choice of assessment formats such as exams, oral presentations and coursework.
You’ll design and present two recitals. These will be assessed on criteria including technical command, interpretative and historical insight, and creativity, with feedback to help develop your performance skills at a professional level. Other modules are assessed through coursework and presentations.
Throughout your course, you submit work which does not count towards your final grade. This is a chance for you to receive feedback from your tutors, discover your strengths and identify areas for improvement.
Careers and skills
Your understanding of technique and interpretation will cover a range of instrumental repertoire. You can apply this with confidence in business and management settings. Your insight and business expertise will enable you to navigate the modern music industries.
Career opportunities
- Music teacher
- Artist manager
- Marketing manager
- Community arts worker
- Freelance solo performer
- Executive in leading creative institutions and media companies
Transferable skills
- Team-working and collaboration
- Critical analysis
- Research skills
- Leadership and strategy
- Project management
- Budgeting and fundraising
- Communication, negotiation and presentation skills
Turn ambition into achievement with our expert guidance and connections. From your first day here to life after graduation, we'll help you find your career advantage.
Entry requirements
| Qualification | Typical offer |
|---|---|
| Undergraduate degree | 2:2 or equivalent in Music or another relevant subject. |
| Other international qualifications | Equivalent qualifications from your country |
Additional requirements
Performance ability will need to be demonstrated through submission of a recording. You will need to submit a sample of your creative work with your application. Please see our guidance on submitting creative work.
English language
If English isn't your first language you may need to provide evidence of your English language ability. We accept the following qualifications:
| Qualification | Minimum requirement |
|---|---|
| IELTS (Academic and Indicator) | 6.5, minimum 6.0 in each component |
| Cambridge CEFR | B2 First: 176, with 169 in each component |
| Oxford ELLT | 7, minimum of 6 in each component |
| Oxford Test of English Advanced | 136, minimum 126 in each component |
| Duolingo | 120, minimum 105 in all other components |
| LanguageCert SELT | B2 with 33/50 in each component |
| LanguageCert Academic | 70 with a minimum of 65 in each component |
| Kaplan Test of English Language | 478-509, with 444-477 in all other components |
| Skills for English | B2: Merit overall, with Pass with Merit in each component |
| PTE Academic | 61, minimum 55 in each component |
| TOEFL | 87, minimum of 21 in each component |
| Trinity ISE III | Merit in all requirements |
For more information see our postgraduate English language requirements.
If you haven't met our English language requirements
You may be eligible for one of our pre-sessional English language courses. These courses will provide you with the level of English needed to meet the conditions of your offer.
The length of course you need to take depends on your current English language test scores and how much you need to improve to reach our English language requirements.
After you've accepted your offer to study at York, we'll confirm which pre-sessional course you should apply to via You@York.
Next steps
Contact us
Get in touch if you have any questions
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