Music

Wadham admits students to all the graduate courses run by the Faculty of Music.

Oxford University’s Faculty of Music has one of the largest and liveliest communities of graduate students in the United Kingdom. Graduate students have the benefit of a team of international experts to supervise their research, access to outstanding libraries, and the stimulus of a committed group of like-minded students and scholars in many subject areas.

Subject areas, approaches, and modes of study are varied. Students may concentrate on Western music history (from chant to film music), source studies, music theory, aesthetics and criticism, composition and analysis, the psychology of music, ethnomusicology, musical performance and interpretation. Many individual research projects are unique in their blend of approaches; frequently they extend into other academic disciplines such as literature, art history, anthropology, theatre and film studies, psychology and neuroscience, philosophy or general history. Further details of these courses can be found here.

Wadham College is home to the Holywell Music Room; built in 1748, it is said to be the oldest purpose-built music room in Europe, and hence England’s first concert hall. It is used today by both the Music Faculty and Wadham College for a variety of musical performances throughout the year. The College also has a dedicated music rehearsal room (the David Richards Music Room), and thanks to a generous bequest a Wadham graduate student is regularly appointed to a music scholarship (the Brookman Music Scholar).

Wadham Chapel Choir is a mixed, auditioned choir that sings at weekly Sunday services throughout term-time. Once a year Wadham College gardens play host to Wadstock, a music festival organised by the College’s Student Union, and in recent years the whole college community has been involved in large-scale musical performance projects (the Haydn Nelson Mass, and the Fauré Requiem).