Home

Dr Christopher Wiley gives talk on Ethel Smyth for Surrey Local History Symposium at Surrey History Centre

21 April 2018

Christopher Wiley Presentation, Public Output, Research , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Surrey History CentreDr Christopher Wiley delivered a talk entitled ‘Dame Ethel Smyth, Ground-breaking Composer, Writer, and Suffragette’ at the Annual Symposium of Surrey Local History Committee on Saturday 21 April 2018.

The one-day symposium, whose theme was ‘The Changing Role of Women’, featured presentations from five speakers who work in areas of local history. Organized by a committee of Surrey Archaeological Society, the event was held at Surrey History Centre, Woking, and attracted around 40 audience members from across the county.

In addition to his internationally recognized academic research, Dr Wiley has previously spoken on Ethel Smyth at a range of local history events in the Surrey area, including talks at The Lightbox, Woking, The Guildford Institute, and at Smyth’s childhood home in Frimley Green.

The programme for the Surrey Local History Symposium is available at the following links:

Surrey History Centre – https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/heritage-culture-and-recreation/archives-and-history/surrey-history-centre/heritage-events

Surrey Archeological Society – https://www.surreyarchaeology.org.uk/content/changing-role-of-women-surrey-local-history-symposium

Celebrate Woking – https://www.celebratewoking.info/events/annual-symposium-changing-role-of-women

Dr Christopher Wiley organizes and presents paper at major international conference at the Institute of Musical Research, London

17 April 2018

Christopher Wiley Conference, Educational Research, Presentation, Research , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 3 Comments

Institute of Musical Research - Court Room

Dr Christopher Wiley has organized the two-day international conference, ‘Beyond “Mesearch”: Autoethnography, Self-Reflexivity, and Personal Experience as Academic Research in Music Studies’, held at the Institute of Musical Research, University of London, on 16-17 April 2018.

The conference, which was supported by the Institute of Musical Research as well as the University of Surrey, drew strong interest from a large international delegation of around 80 participants from across the UK, Europe, North America, and Australia.

It featured three keynote addresses and 20 papers arranged in a series of parallel sessions, together with an innovative group discussion session (which may form a model to be adopted more widely at future conferences in music studies) in which delegates separated into smaller breakout groups led by a senior academic before reporting back to the conference.

Dr Wiley also chaired a number of sessions and facilitated discussions on a range of topics, as well as delivering his paper ‘From Research-led Teaching to Teaching-led Research: An autoethnographic enquiry into keeping curricula contemporary in higher education popular music’, elements of which have previously been presented at academic forums in both music and education studies.

This event followed the success of the multi-disciplinary conference recently co-organized by Dr Wiley, ‘Writing About Contemporary Artists: Challenges, Practices, and Complexities’, held at the University of Surrey from 20-22 October 2017.

Dr Wiley previously co-organized a two-day international conference, ‘Musical Biography: National Ideology, Narrative Technique, and the Nature of Myth’, at the Institute of Musical Research in April 2015.

Further information about the ‘Beyond “Mesearch”’ conference may be found at the website: https://www.surrey.ac.uk/department-music-media/research/autoethnography-and-self-reflexivity-music-studies

The full programme, including abstracts, is available here: https://christopherwiley.files.wordpress.com/2018/04/imr-beyond-mesearch-conference-programme-16-17-april-2018.pdf

 

Dr Christopher Wiley contributes Foreword to CD booklet for re-issued recording of Ethel Smyth’s opera The Wreckers

13 April 2018

Christopher Wiley Publication, Research , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

The Wreckers booklet front coverRetrospect Opera’s re-release of the Conifer Classics recording of Ethel Smyth’s opera The Wreckers includes a newly written Foreword by Dr Christopher Wiley in the accompanying CD booklet.

The 2-CD set is a live recording of the performance at The Proms in 1994 with the Huddersfield Choral Society and the BBC Philharmonic, conducted by leading Smyth interpreter Odaline de la Martinez.

An acknowledged expert on Ethel Smyth, Dr Wiley is one of the four-strong team of academics at Retrospect Opera, whose debut release, the first complete modern recording of Ethel Smyth’s opera The Boatswain’s Mate, also included an essay by Dr Wiley for the CD liner notes.

The CD of The Wreckers is available direct from Retrospect Opera at the following link: http://www.retrospectopera.org.uk/CD_SALES/CD_Sales_Wreckers.html

Full text

The full text of Dr Wiley’s Foreword is available for free download under licence from Surrey Research Insight Open Access: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/842086/

Dr Christopher Wiley gives interview on Ethel Smyth for Pyrford TV ARTS

4 April 2018

Christopher Wiley Media, Public Output, Research , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

Dr Christopher Wiley at Woking Golf Club

Dr Christopher Wiley is featured in an eight-minute segment for the Spring Edition 2018 of Pyrford TV ARTS, on Woking’s famous former resident, Dame Ethel Smyth.

Speaking to presenter Tim Matthews (see picture), Dr Wiley discussed Smyth’s activity as composer, author, and suffragette, as well as her passion for sports including golf.

The eight-minute segment was filmed at Woking Golf Club in Hook Heath, near Woking, of which Smyth was a member for many years. So keen was she on the sport that she had her house built adjacent to the golf course, where she lived from 1910 until her death in 1944.

Pyrford TV ARTS produces 20-minute programmes several times a year, featuring the arts and creative worlds of Pyrford, Woking, and North Surrey. The segment on Smyth was included to tie in with the centenary of women’s enfranchisement in the UK, which falls this year.

The segment on Ethel Smyth is available for viewing online here: https://vimeo.com/262660959

The full 23-minute programme may be viewed here (the segment on Smyth starts at 09:18): https://youtu.be/fFAuVmbmmPw

The programme is also available at the Pyrford TV ARTS website: https://www.pyrfordtvarts.com/

In addition, it is featured on the webpage of the Woking Remembers 2018 programme, part of the Celebrate Woking festival: https://www.celebratewoking.info/woking-remembers

Credits: Pyrford TV (video); Surrey History Centre (images); Retrospect Opera (musical excerpt from Smyth’s opera The Boatswain’s Mate)