17 June 2023
Christopher Wiley
Media, Public Output, Research, Teaching
blog, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Instagram, Music, musicology, news, research, social media, Surrey, teaching, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley has started to maintain an Instagram account, posting at @dr_chris_wiley: https://www.instagram.com/dr_chris_wiley/.
Dr Wiley’s Instagram feed comprises news and events from the Department of Music and Media at the University of Surrey, including (but not limited to) that involving Dr Wiley and the BMus (Hons) Music programme.
Dr Wiley’s personal news highlights in research, teaching, and academic leadership will continue to appear on this website below and at the ‘Archive’ tab, in the form of republished Instagram posts, fully captioned, dated, and categorized.
Dedicated posts previously published on this blog will continue to be accessible, below and from the ‘Archive’ tab, as well. Dr Wiley’s full Instagram feed will now appear as the blog’s home page.
News of Dr Wiley’s activities and achievements will also continue to be posted at @dr_chris_wiley on X (formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/dr_chris_wiley
23 February 2022
Christopher Wiley
Colloquium, Educational Research, Research
arts, autoethnography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, education, Lincoln, Martin Scheuregger, Music, musicology, presentation, research, School of Fine and Performing Arts, Surrey, teaching, University, University of Lincoln, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley took part in the inaugural event in the ‘Research Conversations’ series, hosted by the School of Fine and Performing Arts at the University of Lincoln, on Wednesday 23 February 2022.
The first of several such events, this 60-minute research open, on the subject of ‘Autoethnography in the Arts’, featured Dr Wiley in conversation with Dr Martin Scheuregger.
Speaking to 20 academics and researchers, Dr Wiley discussed autoethnography as a research method applicable to arts disciplines, as well as his own scholarship in the field, including his recent article on autoethnography in music studies.
1 December 2021
Christopher Wiley
Media, Publication, Research
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Company, film musicals, Gypsy, Into the Woods, media, Music, musical theatre, musicals, musicology, Stephen Sondheim, Surrey, Sweeney Todd, The Conversation, The Conversation UK, theatre, University of Surrey, West Side Story, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley has written an article for The Conversation (by invitation) on Stephen Sondheim (pictured), who died on 26 November 2021 at the age of 91.
Dr Wiley’s contribution, entitled ‘Five of Stephen Sondheim’s best shows’, was published just a few days later on 1 December 2021. It discussed Sondheim alongside his musicals West Side Story, Gypsy, Company, Sweeney Todd, and Into the Woods, each of which was profiled in the article.
This is the fourth time that Dr Wiley has contributed to The Conservation, a global news website that offers commentary on news stories from leading academics. His most recent article, again on musical theatre, was published just over a year ago.
Bibliographic citation
Wiley, Christopher. ‘Five of Stephen Sondheim’s best shows’. The Conversation, 1 December 2021. <https://theconversation.com/five-of-stephen-sondheims-best-shows-172916>.
Update: Dr Wiley’s article has now been viewed over 30,000 times. It has been republished multiple times, including by The Theatre Times, Facts & Acts, and New York City News. It was the ninth most-read piece written by University of Surrey academics for The Conversation in 2021–22.
17 November 2021
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Performance, Presentation, Public Output, Research
Alexander S. Bermange, Bermange, British song, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, comic songs, composer, lecture, lecture-recital, lyricist, Music, musical theatre, musicals, musicology, recital, Surrey, theatre, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley delivered a lecture-recital on ‘The Comic Songs of Alexander S. Bermange’ on Wednesday 17 November 2021, as part of the lunchtime recital series at the University of Surrey.
The lecture-recital was given alongside Alexander S. Bermange (pictured) himself, who illustrated the talk with a series of performances of his comic songs. It opened the event ‘Laughing and Crying: Perspectives on 20th and 21st Century British Song’ held at the University that day.
Dr Wiley’s talk focused on musical allusion and compositional process in three songs by Alexander S. Bermange, ‘I Wish That My Life Were Like a Musical’, ‘I Think I Might Be Jesus’, and ‘The Seven Georges’, each performed by the composer-lyricist at the piano. Some 30 academics and students were in attendance.
14 August 2021
Christopher Wiley
Public Output, Publication, Research
Bard Music Festival, Bard SummerScape, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, ethel smyth, Fête Galante, Music, musicology, opera, programme notes, Publication, research, Surrey, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley has written programme notes for a performance of Ethel Smyth’s opera Fête Galante given as part of the Bard Music Festival/Bard SummerScape at the Fisher Center, New York, on Saturday 14 August 2021.
The Bard Music Festival takes place in August each year, dedicated to a specific composer (this year’s festival centred on Nadia Boulanger), on the campus of Bard College.
An internationally acknowledged expert on Smyth, Dr Wiley has previously given many public talks on the composer and written programme notes and liner notes including for the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and for the CD recording of Fête Galante.
The full text of Dr Wiley’s programme note is available for download here: https://www.academia.edu/65112002/Programme_note_for_Ethel_Smyth_F%C3%AAte_Galante
14 July 2021
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Publication, Research
arts, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, Drama, Emmeline Pankhurst, ethel smyth, feminism, feminist musicology, feminist opera, gender and sexuality, gender studies, literature, literature and music, Lucy Ella Rose, Music, music and literature, musicology, opera, Pankhurst family, research, Routledge, screen, stage, suffragette, suffragette movement, Surrey, The Boatswain's Mate, theatre, University, University of Surrey, visual arts, Wiley, women's history
Dr Christopher Wiley has edited, together with Dr Lucy Ella Rose (University of Surrey), a new volume entitled Women’s Suffrage in Word, Image, Music, Stage and Screen: The Making of a Movement, published by Routledge in 2021.
The essay collection incorporates chapters written by authors who presented papers at a conference co-organized by Dr Wiley and Dr Rose at the University of Surrey in 2018, together with other invited contributors.
Authors range from distinguished senior academics to up-and-coming postgraduate researchers, and include Anne Anderson, Kathy Atherton, V. Irene Cockroft, Elizabeth Crawford, Brigitte Caroline Dale, Kristin M. Franseen, Amy Galvin, Marleen Hoffmann, Eleanor March, Gursimran Oberoi, Naomi Paxton, Sarah Pedersen, June Purvis, Lucy Ella Rose, Christopher Wiley, and Marion Wynne-Davies. The full table of contents may be viewed here.
Dr Wiley’s chapter in the volume, ‘Ethel Smyth, music and the suffragette movement: Reconsidering The Boatswain’s Mate as feminist opera’, discusses Ethel Smyth’s opera The Boatswain’s Mate in relation to the composer’s recent service to the suffragette movement, and subjects the common supposition that the work constitutes a ‘feminist opera’ to fresh scrutiny.
Dr Wiley and Dr Rose also co-authored the editorial introduction, ‘Women’s suffrage and cultural representation: The making of a movement’, in which they provide some historical context for the women’s suffrage movement and the many ways in which art intersected and engaged with it.
For further information (including reviews), and to purchase the volume: https://www.routledge.com/Womens-Suffrage-in-Word-Image-Music-Stage-and-Screen-The-Making-of/Wiley-Rose/p/book/9780367361983
Bibliographic citations
Wiley, Christopher. ‘Ethel Smyth, music and the suffragette movement: Reconsidering The Boatswain’s Mate as feminist opera’, in Christopher Wiley and Lucy Ella Rose eds. Women’s Suffrage in Word, Image, Music, Stage and Screen: The Making of a Movement. London: Routledge, 2021, pp. 169–85.
Wiley, Christopher and Lucy Ella Rose. ‘Women’s suffrage and cultural representation: The making of a movement’, in Christopher Wiley and Lucy Ella Rose eds. Women’s Suffrage in Word, Image, Music, Stage and Screen: The Making of a Movement. London: Routledge, 2021, pp. 1–14 .
Wiley, Christopher and Lucy Ella Rose eds. Women’s Suffrage in Word, Image, Music, Stage and Screen: The Making of a Movement. London: Routledge, 2021. pp. xxxv, 288. ISBN 978-0-367-36198-3 (hardback), 978-1-032-02492-9 (paperback).
Full text
The full text of Dr Wiley’s chapter is available here: https://www.academia.edu/65113008/Ethel_Smyth_Music_and_the_Suffragette_Movement_Reconsidering_The_Boatswains_Mate_as_Feminist_Opera
And the full text of the co-authored editorial introduction may be downloaded here: https://www.academia.edu/65112276/Womens_Suffrage_and_Cultural_Representation_The_making_of_a_movement
Update: The volume has received an excellent review by Katy Owen in the journal Women’s History Review: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/N36ZJDRPGIQHRC2K7D2X/full
26 May 2021
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Educational Research, Publication, Research, Teaching
25, Adele, Adele Adkins, autoethnography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, course design, curriculum design, education, educational research, Higher Education, learning and teaching, module, Music, musicology, popular music, popular music education, popular music studies, research, Surrey, teaching, teaching innovation, teaching practice, undergraduate, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley has published an article on the relationship between teaching and research in contemporary higher education, drawing autoethnographically on his experiences of delivering an undergraduate module on Adele (specifically her 25 album, pictured) and popular music.
Dr Wiley’s full-length article, ‘Exploring the integration of teaching and research in the contemporary classroom: An autoethnographic enquiry into designing an undergraduate music module on Adele’s 25 album’, appeared in the top-quartile journal Arts & Humanities in Higher Education, published online on 26 May 2021 (and subsequently in print on 1 February 2022).
Previous versions of this article had been presented as papers at high-profile international conferences in the UK and Canada.
Further information on Dr Wiley’s article, including the abstract and full text, is available here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14740222211013759
Bibliographic citation
Wiley, Christopher. ‘Exploring the integration of teaching and research in the contemporary classroom: An autoethnographic enquiry into designing an undergraduate music module on Adele’s 25 album’. Arts & Humanities in Higher Education: An international journal of theory, research, and practice, Vol. 21, No. 1 (February 2022), pp. 74–93. doi: 10.1177/14740222211013759.
Full text
The full text of Dr Wiley’s journal article is available here: https://www.academia.edu/65483928/Exploring_the_integration_of_teaching_and_research_in_the_contemporary_classroom_An_autoethnographic_inquiry_into_designing_an_undergraduate_music_module_on_Adeles_25_album
22 February 2021
Christopher Wiley
Media, Public Output, Research
BBC Radio Surrey, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Dukes Court, Dukes Court Plaza, ethel smyth, feminism, gender studies, interview, Lesley McCabe, LGBT History Month, live interview, media, Music, musicology, North Surrey, radio, research, suffragettes, Surrey, University, University of Surrey, Wiley, Woking, women's enfranchisement, women's suffrage
Dr Christopher Wiley was interviewed live on BBC Radio Surrey for the ‘Breakfast on BBC Radio Surrey’ show presented by Lesley McCabe (pictured) on Monday 22 February 2021.
Dr Wiley was interviewed as an expert on Dame Ethel Smyth, who is due to be recognized in her home town of Woking with a statue as part of the development works for Dukes Court Plaza.
The full interview is available on BBC iPlayer here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p096gmrr (listen from 1.23.38-1.26.24)
Dr Wiley was previously interviewed on BBC Radio Surrey in 2018, in connection with the centenary of many women receiving the parliamentary vote in the UK.
10 November 2020
Christopher Wiley
Media, Publication, Research
A Chorus Line, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, film music, film musicals, Les Misérables, Mamma mia!, media, Music, musical theatre, musicals, musicology, Netflix, stage, Surrey, The Conversation, The Conversation UK, The Prom, theatre, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley contributed an article to The Conversation (by invitation) on film adaptations of stage musicals, published on 10 November 2020.
Entitled ‘The Prom: the challenges of adapting the stage to the screen’, Dr Wiley’s article was prompted by the upcoming release of the film adaptation of the musical The Prom on Netflix on 11 December 2020, while also discussing other examples such as A Chorus Line, Mamma mia!, and Cats.
This is the third time that Dr Wiley has written for The Conversation, his other articles being a piece on the 30th anniversary of the musical Les Misérables, and a scholarly response to Stephen Fry. Collectively these have received some 8,000 hits to date.
Founded in Australia in 2011 and launched in the UK in 2013, The Conversation is an independent global news website featuring stories and opinions from the scholarly community. The University of Surrey is one of its 13 founding UK partners.
Bibliographic citation
Wiley, Christopher. ‘The Prom: the challenges of adapting the stage to the screen’. The Conversation, 10 November 2020. <https://theconversation.com/the-prom-the-challenges-of-adapting-the-stage-to-the-screen-149783>.
28 October 2020
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Publication, Research
Amsterdam, artist biography, biofiction, biography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, Dodo, E.F. Benson, ethel smyth, fiction, historiography, history, keynote, life-writing, literature, literature and music, Music, music and literature, music history, musical biography, musicology, national, nationality, Palgrave, Palgrave Macmillan, presentation, research, Surrey, The Netherlands, transnational, transnationality, University, University of Amsterdam, University of Surrey, Wiley, workshop
Dr Christopher Wiley has co-edited, together with Dr Marleen Rensen (University of Amsterdam), a new volume entitled Transnational Perspectives on Artists’ Lives, published by Palgrave Macmillan and including chapters on artists from Europe, North America, Africa, and Australasia representing a range of arts disciplines.
The book’s international contributors include Sander Bax, Suzanne Bode, Tamar Hager, Maximiliano Jiménez, Jane McVeigh, Anna Menyhért, Manet van Montfrans, Samantha Niederman, Suze van der Poll, Josiane Ranguin, Maria Razumovskaya, Marleen Rensen, Marc Röntsch, Maryam Thirriard, and Christopher Wiley. The table of contents is available here.
This essay collection was developed from a 2018 conference held at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, at which Dr Wiley, an internationally acknowledged expert on musical biography, gave a Keynote lecture.
Dr Wiley’s chapter in the volume, ‘Ethel Smyth as the composer Edith Staines in E.F. Benson’s Dodo trilogy’ (abstract available here), discusses the depiction of the composer Ethel Smyth as a fictional character in E.F. Benson’s sensational book Dodo and its sequels Dodo Wonders and Dodo’s Daughter.
Dr Rensen and Dr Wiley also co-authored the editorial introduction, ‘Writing Artists’ Lives Across Nations and Cultures: Biography, Biofiction and Transnationality’, which considers issues raised by writing the lives of artists, as well as the significance of transnationality to biography.
This is the second volume that Dr Wiley has published with Palgrave Macmillan this year, the first being on researching and writing about contemporary art and artists.
For further information, and to purchase the book: https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030451998
Bibliographic citations
Wiley, Christopher. ‘Ethel Smyth as the composer Edith Staines in E.F. Benson’s Dodo trilogy’, in Marleen Rensen and Christopher Wiley eds. Transnational Perspectives on Artists’ Lives. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, pp. 255–69.
Rensen, Marleen and Christopher Wiley. ‘Writing Artists’ Lives Across Nations and Cultures: Biography, Biofiction and Transnationality’, in Marleen Rensen and Christopher Wiley eds. Transnational Perspectives on Artists’ Lives. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, pp. 1–24.
Rensen, Marleen and Christopher Wiley eds. Transnational Perspectives on Artists’ Lives. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020. pp. xv, 276. ISBN 978-3-030-45200-1, 978-3-030-45200-1 (eBook)
Full texts
The full text of Dr Wiley’s chapter is available here: https://www.academia.edu/65118145/Ethel_Smyth_as_the_composer_Edith_Staines_in_E_F_Bensons_Dodo_trilogy
And the full text of the co-authored editorial introduction may be downloaded here: https://www.academia.edu/65117588/Writing_Artists_Lives_Across_Nations_and_Cultures_Biography_Biofiction_and_Transnationality
7 August 2020
Christopher Wiley
Publication, Research
anecdote, biography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, gender studies, intellectual culture, life-writing, literature and music, Michael Allis, Music, music and gender, music and literature, music historiography, music history, musical anecdote, musical biography, musical canon, musicology, OUP, Oxford University Press, Paul Watt, Publication, research, Sarah Collins, Surrey, University, University of Surrey, Wiley, women in music
Dr Christopher Wiley has written a major book chapter on musical biography for a new essay collection published by Oxford University Press, The Oxford Handbook of Music and Intellectual Culture in the Nineteenth Century, edited by Paul Watt, Sarah Collins, and Michael Allis.
Dr Wiley’s 12,000-word chapter, entitled ‘Biography and Life-Writing’ (abstract available here), discusses the advent of musical biography, its proliferation in the long nineteenth century, and its legacy up to the present. It includes two case studies: a compilation of anecdotes, to explore how Victorian values were reflected in contemporaneous life-writing; and a collected biography, to investigate the role of women as characters within musical biographies.
Dr Wiley is an internationally acknowledged expert on musical biography, the subject of his doctoral dissertation, and has previously published widely on the subject.
Bibliographic citation
Wiley, Christopher. ‘Biography and Life-Writing’, in Paul Watt, Sarah Collins, and Michael Allis eds. The Oxford Handbook of Music and Intellectual Culture in the Nineteenth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020, pp. 77–101. doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190616922.013.4.
Full text
The full text of Dr Wiley’s chapter is available here: https://www.academia.edu/35186914/Biography_and_Life_Writing_Oxford_Handbook_of_Music_and_Intellectual_Culture_in_the_Nineteenth_Century_
31 July 2020
Christopher Wiley
Publication, Research
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Delia da Sousa Correa, Edinburgh University Press, EUP, Fanny Burney, Frances Burney, gender studies, Jane Austen, literature and music, Music, music and gender, music and literature, music historiography, music history, musicology, Publication, research, Samuel Richardson, Surrey, University, University of Surrey, Wiley, women in music
Dr Christopher Wiley has contributed an essay to a major 70-chapter anthology, The Edinburgh Companion to Literature and Music, edited by Delia da Sousa Correa and published by Edinburgh University Press.
Dr Wiley’s chapter, entitled ‘The Eighteenth-Century English Novel and Music: Virtuous Performers and Well-Mannered Listeners’, discusses the role of music in selected novels by Samuel Richardson and Frances Burney.
Further information about the volume (including the table of contents) may be found here: https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-edinburgh-companion-to-literature-and-music.html
Bibliographic citation
Wiley, Christopher. ‘The Eighteenth-Century English Novel and Music: Virtuous Performers and Well-Mannered Listeners’, in Delia da Sousa Correa ed. The Edinburgh Companion to Literature and Music. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2020, pp. 318–26.
Full text
The full text of Dr Wiley’s chapter is available here: https://www.academia.edu/35119223/The_Eighteenth_Century_English_Novel_and_Music_Virtuous_Performers_and_Well_Mannered_Listeners
30 June 2020
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Publication, Research
Annie Yim, artists, arts, biography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, contemporary artists, creative practice, Dance, film, Guildford, Ian Pace, IAS, Institute of Advanced Studies, life-writing, literature, literature and music, Music, music and literature, musical biography, musicology, Palgrave, Palgrave Macmillan, practice as research, research, Surrey, theatre, University, University of Surrey, visual arts, Wiley, writing
Dr Christopher Wiley has edited, together with Dr Ian Pace (City, University of London), a new book entitled Researching and Writing on Contemporary Art and Artists: Challenges, Practices, and Complexities, published by Palgrave Macmillan and encompassing music, literature, dance, theatre and the visual arts.
Developed from a conference held at the University of Surrey in 2017, the volume includes contributions by Joel Baldwin, Richard Birchall, Jill Brown, Miriam Cabell and Phoebe Stubbs, Vered Engelhard, Christopher Leedham and Martin Scheuregger, Ian Pace, Andy W. Smith, Joanne ‘Bob’ Whalley, Christopher Wiley, Annie Yim, and Lorraine York.
Dr Wiley has co-authored two chapters in the collection: the editorial introduction, ‘Researching and Writing on Contemporary Art and Artists’, with Ian Pace; and the chapter ‘MusicArt: Creating Dialogues Across the Arts’, in conversation with Dr Annie Yim.
For further information, and to purchase the book: https://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9783030392321
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/3030392325
Bibliographic citations
Wiley, Christopher and Ian Pace. ‘Researching and Writing on Contemporary Art and Artists’, in Christopher Wiley and Ian Pace eds. Researching and Writing on Contemporary Art and Artists: Challenges, Practices, and Complexities. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, pp. 3–15. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39233-8_1
Yim, Annie and Christopher Wiley. ‘MusicArt: Creating Dialogues Across the Arts’, in Christopher Wiley and Ian Pace eds. Researching and Writing on Contemporary Art and Artists: Challenges, Practices, and Complexities. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, pp. 259–76. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39233-8_14
Wiley, Christopher and Ian Pace eds. Researching and Writing on Contemporary Art and Artists: Challenges, Practices, and Complexities. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020. ISBN 978-3-030-39232-1, 978-3-030-39233-8 (eBook). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39233-8
Full texts
The full text of the editorial introduction is available for free download under licence from Surrey Research Insight Open Access: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/857053/
18 June 2020
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Presentation, Research
autoethnography, composition, conference, creative practice, education, ethnomusicology, Glasgow, Iain Findlay-Walsh, Music, musicology, Peter Gouzouasis, popular music studies, practice as research, presentation, research, songwriting, sonic autoethnography, Surrey, teaching, University, University of Glasgow, University of Surrey
Dr Christopher Wiley has co-organized, with Dr Iain Findlay-Walsh, a major two-day conference entitled ‘The Autoethnography of Composition and the Composition of Autoethnography’, held on 17–18 June 2020.
Hosted online by the University of Glasgow and the University of Surrey, the event brought together over 250 delegates from across the globe. It featured Professor Peter Gouzouasis as keynote speaker, multiple panel sessions (one of which was chaired by Dr Wiley), and a concluding roundtable discussion (including Dr Wiley as co-chair and speaker).
Click here to download the Conference Programme: Conference brochure PDF
For the video recording of the conference, please contact Dr Wiley directly.
The event followed a previous two-day international conference on music and autoethnography held at the Institute of Musical Research, London in April 2018.
For additional information and the call for papers (now closed): https://goldenpages.jpehs.co.uk/2019/12/09/the-autoethnography-of-composition-and-the-composition-of-autoethnography/
9 January 2020
Christopher Wiley
Media, Publication, Research
Australia, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Composer of the Month, ethel smyth, Limelight, Limelight magazine, magazine, Music, music history, musicology, opera, research, suffragette, Surrey, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley has contributed an article on Ethel Smyth for the January/February 2020 issue of Limelight, Australia’s classical music and arts magazine, for its ‘Composer of the Month’ feature.
In the four-page article (pp. 76–79), Dr Wiley, an internationally acknowledged expert on Smyth, introduces the composer to the readers, discussing her life story as well as drawing attention to salient features of her musical works.
The full text of the article may be read here: https://www.academia.edu/65115923/Ethel_Smyth_Composer_of_the_Month
21 November 2019
Christopher Wiley
Presentation, Public Output, Research
Byfleet, Byfleet Heritage Society, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, ethel smyth, Music, music and literature, music history, musicology, presentation, research, suffragette, suffragette movement, Surrey, University, University of Surrey, Wiley, women's suffrage
Dr Christopher Wiley delivered a talk entitled ‘Dame Ethel Smyth (1858–1944), Composer, Author, Suffragette, and Surrey Resident’ for Byfleet Heritage Society at St Mary’s Centre for the Community, Byfleet on Thursday 21 November 2019.
Speaking to an audience of some 50 society members, Dr Wiley introduced Smyth’s life, music, and connections to the local area, in a 50-minute talk illustrated with musical excerpts.
An acknowledged expert on Smyth, Dr Wiley has previously given many public talks on the composer, writer, and suffragette including those for Woking Historical Society, Guildford Hard of Hearing Support Group, and at Smyth’s childhood home in Frimley Green.
15 November 2019
Christopher Wiley
Publication, Research
ballads, Berkeley Ensemble, booklet, CD, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Elizabeth Marcus, ethel smyth, Fête Galante, liner notes, Lucy Stevens, Music, musicology, Odaline de la Martinez, opera, Publication, research, Retrospect Opera, SOMM, songs, Surrey, University, University of Surrey, Valerie Langfield, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley has co-written, with Dr Valerie Langfield, an essay published in the accompanying booklet to Retrospect Opera’s new CD of Ethel Smyth’s Fête Galante, entitled ‘Fête Galante: Ethel Smyth’s Neoclassical Dance-Opera’. He also contributed the work’s synopsis.
The disc represents the first recording of Smyth’s opera Fête Galante, conducted by Odaline de la Martinez. It also includes Liza Lehmann’s recitation The Happy Prince, recorded at the University of Surrey (Dr Wiley arranged and helped out with the recording sessions), together with some historical transfers of recordings of Smyth’s operas made during her lifetime.
This is the seventh CD release by Retrospect Opera, for whom Dr Wiley serves as one of four Trustees. Dr Wiley previously wrote essays for the liner notes to Retrospect Opera’s releases of Smyth’s operas The Boatswain’s Mate and The Wreckers.
For further information, and to buy the CD: https://retrospectopera.org.uk/SMYTH/FeteG.html
Full text
The full texts of both Dr Wiley’s synopsis and co-written essay are available for free download under licence from Surrey Research Insight Open Access: https://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/853063/
Update: Dr Wiley has also co-written, with Lucy Stevens and Odaline de la Martinez, the liner notes for the CD Dame Ethel Smyth: Songs and Ballads (SOMM 2020), featuring Lucy Stevens (contralto), Elizabeth Marcus (piano), and the Berkeley Ensemble conducted by Odaline de la Martinez. Further information: https://www.somm-recordings.com/recording/dame-ethel-smyth-songs-and-ballads/
27 October 2019
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Publication, Research
Bach, biography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, historiography, history, J. S. Bach, JMR, Journal of Musicological Research, literature, literature and music, Marchand, Music, music and literature, music history, musical biography, musicology, myth, mythology, Paul Watt, research, Surrey, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley has guest-edited a special double-issue of the Journal of Musicological Research together with co-editor Dr Paul Watt (Monash University, Melbourne).
Entitled ‘Musical Biography: Myth, Ideology, and Narrative’, the special issue comprises Vol. 38, Nos. 3–4 of the journal, and developed originally from a conference on musical biography co-organized by the editors in 2015.
The special issue includes articles by a wide range of international scholars: Kirsty Asmussen, Anna Maria Barry, Joanne Cormac, Uri Golomb and Ronit Seter, Markéta Kratochvílová, Emily MacGregor, Richard Parfitt, Paul Watt, and Christopher Wiley.
Dr Wiley’s contribution to the special issue includes his 10,000-word article, ‘Myth-Making and the Politics of Nationality in Narratives of J.S. Bach’s 1717 Contest with Louis Marchand’ (pp. 193–215), which examines the widely divergent writing on a single biographical episode across the countries and centuries (see abstract here).
Dr Wiley and Dr Watt also co-authored an introductory article, ‘Musical Biography in the Musicological Arena’ (pp. 187–92), in which they reflect on the current status of musical biography within the discipline of musicology.
The full table of contents for the special issue is available here: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/gmur20/38/3-4
Bibliographic citations
Wiley, Christopher and Watt, Paul (eds.). ‘Musical Biography: Myth, Ideology, and Narrative’, Journal of Musicological Research, Special Issue, Vol. 38, Nos. 3–4 (2019).
Wiley, Christopher and Watt, Paul. ‘Musical Biography in the Musicological Arena’, Journal of Musicological Research, Vol. 38, Nos. 3–4 (2019), pp. 187–92. doi: 10.1080/01411896.2019.1644140
Wiley, Christopher. ‘Myth-Making and the Politics of Nationality in Narratives of J.S. Bach’s 1717 Contest with Louis Marchand’, Journal of Musicological Research, Vol. 38, Nos. 3–4 (2019), pp. 193–215. doi: 10.1080/01411896.2019.1644141
12 September 2019
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Presentation, Research
annual conference, autoethnography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, critical self-reflection, Darla Crispin, Esther Cavett, Ian Pace, Manchester, Music, music studies, musicology, research, RMA, RNCM, roundtable, Royal Musical Association, Royal Northern College of Music, self-reflection, Surrey, University, University of Manchester, University of Surrey
Dr Christopher Wiley has chaired and presented at a roundtable discussion at the 55th Annual Conference of the Royal Musical Association, hosted by the University of Manchester and the Royal Northern College of Music on 11–13 September 2019.
Entitled ‘What is the place for storytelling in academia? Autoethnography, critical self-reflection, and arts-based practice in music studies’, the roundtable was held in the Carole Nash Recital Room at the Royal Northern College of Music, and was attended by some 50 music scholars representing a wide range of institutions internationally.
The 90-minute roundtable included Dr Wiley’s paper ‘Stories of the self(s) in music studies: method, self-reflexivity, and narrative enquiry’, in which he discussed the potential applications of autoethnography to the discipline of music as well as criticisms that the methodology has elicited, alongside presentations by fellow panellists Esther Cavett, Ian Pace, and Darla M. Crispin.
The conference website is located here: https://www.alc.manchester.ac.uk/music/connect/events/rma2019/
The full programme may be downloaded here: https://www.alc.manchester.ac.uk/music/connect/events/rma2019/programme/
30 July 2019
Christopher Wiley
Educational Research, Publication, Research, Research Supervision
ACT journal, arts, autobiography, autoethnography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, creative art, creative arts, creative writing, education, ethnodrama, Higher Education, MayDay Group, Music, music studies, Peter Gouzouasis, research, research supervision, Surrey, teaching, University, University of Surrey
Dr Christopher Wiley ha
s published an article in a special issue of Action, Criticism, and Theory in Music Education (the refereed journal of the MayDay Group) on autoethnography and related methodologies, guest-edited by Peter Gouzouasis.
Entitled ‘Autoethnography, Autobiography, and Creative Art as Academic Research in Music Studies: A Fugal Ethnodrama’, the article is written creatively as an imagined dialogue between Dr Wiley and two fictional doctoral students, constructed according to the principles of fugue.
In successive sections, it discusses the application of autoethnography to music studies, the difference between autoethnography and autobiography, and the types of materials that represent valid sources for autoethnography, including creative writing as well as musical works themselves.
Dr Wiley’s article may be read online in HTML format here: http://act.maydaygroup.org/act-18-2-wiley/
It may be downloaded as a PDF here: http://act.maydaygroup.org/articles/Wiley18_2.pdf
The full issue of the journal may be accessed here: http://act.maydaygroup.org/volume-18-issue-2/
31 May 2019
Christopher Wiley
Publication, Research
Cambridge, Cambridge Haydn Encyclopedia, Caryl Clark, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, encyclopedia, Haydn, Joseph Haydn, Music, music reception, musical biography, musicology, Publication, reception history, Sarah Day-O’Connell, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley has written the entry on ‘Contemporary Reception’ in the Cambridge Haydn Encyclopedia, edited by Caryl Clark and Sarah Day-O’Connell.
The Cambridge Haydn Encyclopedia features over 80 interlocking entries fanning out from seven extended essays at the heart of the volume, and includes a total of 67 contributors.
Dr Wiley’s 1500-word encyclopedia entry discusses Haydn’s reception during his lifetime and immediately afterwards, including the earliest biographies by Griesinger, Dies, and Carpani.
Dr Wiley previously contributed to Haydn scholarship in a major volume on the composer published in 2013.
Further information on the volume may be found at the publisher’s website: https://www.cambridge.org/de/academic/subjects/music/eighteenth-century-music/cambridge-haydn-encyclopedia
Bibliographic citation
Wiley, Christopher. ‘Reception, Contemporary’, in Caryl Clark and Sarah Day-O’Connell eds. Cambridge Haydn Encyclopedia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019, pp. 321–5. ISBN 978-1-1071-2901-6.
3 April 2019
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Educational Research, Presentation, Teaching
assessment, BMus, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, discussion forum, education, educational research, Higher Education, learning, Music, Music Project, musical theatre, panel discussion, presentation, student-staff partnerships, students as partners, Surrey, Surrey ExciTeS, teaching, teaching innovation, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley facilitated a student discussion panel at the University of Surrey’s sixth annual Surrey ExciTeS (Excellence in Teaching Symposium) on Wednesday 3 April 2019, on the subject of student-staff partnerships.
The forum, entitled ‘Giving music students ownership of their learning’, discussed the Music Project module that had taken place during the previous semester on the theme of musical theatre, and the wide range of activities that students undertook in their assessments, from performances to compositions to organizational roles.
The panel of undergraduate Music students – Diana Nemyrovska, Katy Jackson, Heather Neele, and Edward Bellett-Travers (pictured, l-r) – answered questions from academics and learning support staff from across the University.
Dr Wiley has delivered sessions at Surrey ExciTeS events in 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, and 2014, including a previous student discussion panel in 2017.
6 February 2019
Christopher Wiley
Colloquium, Presentation, Research
Cambridge, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, colloquia, colloquium, colloquium series, Emmeline Pankhurst, ethel smyth, Faculty of Music, feminism, feminist musicology, feminist opera, gender and sexuality, gender studies, Music, music and literature, music history, musicology, opera, presentation, research, suffragette, suffragette movement, Surrey, The Boatswain's Mate, University, University of Cambridge, University of Surrey, W.W. Jacobs, Wiley, women's history, women's suffrage
Dr Christopher Wiley presented a 45-minute version of his paper ‘Reconsidering Ethel Smyth’s The Boatswain’s Mate as Feminist Opera’ in the Faculty of Music Colloquium Series at the University of Cambridge.
Dr Wiley’s talk, given to an audience of some 40 academics and graduate students in the Faculty’s lecture room, was a much extended version of the paper he has delivered at women’s history events at UK universities including Kent, Portsmouth, Surrey, Royal Holloway, and Edge Hill.
Dr Wiley previously gave an unrelated paper in an Oxbridge colloquium series in 2015.
Further information about Dr Wiley’s colloquium may be found here: https://www.mus.cam.ac.uk/events/current-events/Christopher-Wiley
8 December 2018
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Presentation, Research
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, community, community workshop, Emmeline Pankhurst, ethel smyth, feminism, feminist musicology, feminist opera, gender and sexuality, gender studies, Kent, Music, music and literature, music history, musicology, opera, presentation, research, suffragette, suffragette movement, Surrey, The Boatswain's Mate, University, University of Kent, University of Surrey, W.W. Jacobs, Wiley, women's history, women's suffrage, workshop
Dr Christopher Wiley has spoken at the ‘100+ years of the women’s movement in Kent, Sussex, and Surrey’ community workshop held in the Tonbridge Centre at the University of Kent on Saturday 8 December 2018.
Dr Wiley’s paper, entitled ‘Ethel Smyth, Music, and the Suffragette Movement: Reconsidering The Boatswain’s Mate as Feminist Opera’, had previously been presented at UK universities including Portsmouth, Surrey, Royal Holloway, and Edge Hill. The day ended, rather fittingly, with an impromptu rendition of Smyth’s ‘The March of the Women’.
The full programme for the workshop may be found at the following link: https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/womenshistorykent/programme-of-community-workshop-on-8th-december/
25 November 2018
Christopher Wiley
Publication, Research
A Furious Longing, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Emmeline Pankhurst, ethel smyth, feminism, feminist musicology, Frimley Green, gender and sexuality, gender studies, Grasp The Nettle, Hook Heath, journal, Music, music and literature, music history, musicology, research, suffragette, suffragette movement, Surrey, University, University of Surrey, WCPA, WHN, Wiley, Woking, Woking Community Play Association, women's history, Women's History journal, Women's History Network, women's suffrage
Dr Christopher Wiley has contributed two articles to the latest issue of Women’s History, the journal of the Women’s History Network.
The special double-issue, ‘1918-2018’, was dedicated to the women’s suffrage movement in the centenary year of women gaining the parliamentary vote in the UK, and features essays by a range of leading scholars of women’s history.
Dr Wiley’s first article, ‘Ethel Smyth, Suffrage and Surrey: From Frimley Green to Hook Heath, Woking’, combines women’s history and local history in order to illustrate how the suffragette campaign was highly dependent on rural locations through the example of Ethel Smyth.
His other article is ‘A Fresh Start and Two (More) Portraits: Theatrical Shows on the Life and Work of Ethel Smyth for 2018’, a review-article of Ethel Smyth: Grasp the Nettle and Ethel Smyth: A Furious Longing (the latter having been co-written by Dr Wiley).
Further information on the journal special issue is available here: https://womenshistorynetwork.org/womens-history-autumn-2018/
Bibliographic citations
Wiley, Christopher. ‘Ethel Smyth, Suffrage and Surrey: From Frimley Green to Hook Heath, Woking’, Women’s History: The Journal of the Women’s History Network, Vol. 2, No. 11 (Autumn 2018), pp. 11–18.
Wiley, Christopher. ‘A Fresh Start and Two (More) Portraits: Theatrical Shows on the Life and Work of Ethel Smyth for 2018’, Women’s History: The Journal of the Women’s History Network, Vol. 2, No. 11 (Autumn 2018), pp. 39–40.
Full texts
The full texts are available for free download under licence from Surrey Research Insight Open Access: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/849970/ and http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/849971/
15 November 2018
Christopher Wiley
Public Output, Publication, Research
Barbican, Barbican Centre, BBC, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, concert, ethel smyth, London, Mass in D, Music, music history, musicology, performance, suffragette, Surrey, The Barbican, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley has written programme notes for the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus concert at The Barbican, London (pictured) on Thursday 15 November 2018.
Dr Wiley contributed programme notes for Ethel Smyth’s Mass in D as well as a biographical profile of the composer.
Dr Wiley previously wrote programme notes for a BBC Proms concert featuring Smyth’s music in August of this year.
The concert presented Smyth’s Mass in D alongside Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1 (original version).
Further information on the event may be found here: https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2018/event/bbc-sobrabbins-ethel-smyth-mass-in-d
3 November 2018
Christopher Wiley
Presentation, Public Output, Research
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, ethel smyth, London, London Oriana Choir, Mass in D, Meridian Sinfonia, Music, music history, Southwark Cathedral, Surrey, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley has given a pre-concert talk on Ethel Smyth for a performance of the composer’s Mass in D in Southwark Cathedral, London (pictured) on Saturday 3 November 2018.
In the 15-minute talk, Dr Wiley addressed some 150 audience members in the Cathedral’s transepts.
The concert, by the London Oriana Choir and Meridian Sinfonia, presented Smyth’s Mass in D alongside J.S. Bach’s Magnificat.
The listing for the concert may be found here: https://www.londonoriana.com/past-performances
Further information on the concert is available here: https://www.planethugill.com/2018/10/ethel-smyths-mass-in-g-at-southwark.html
4 October 2018
Christopher Wiley
Performance, Public Output, Research
A Furious Longing, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, community play, ethel smyth, historical adviser, Music, music history, opera, play, scriptwriting, suffragette, Surrey, The Boatswain's Mate, The Wreckers, University of Surrey, Virginia Woolf, WCPA, Wiley, Woking, Woking Community Play Association
Dr Christopher Wiley has acted as historical adviser as well as one of the team of scriptwriters for the community play Ethel Smyth: A Furious Longing – The Story of Woking’s Composer.
Several years in the planning, the play was performed by Woking Community Play Association from Thursday 4–Saturday 6 October 2018 at the H.G. Wells Centre, Woking.
Dr Wiley was one of five scriptwriters who collaborated on the 90-minute play, as well as advising on its historical and musical elements.
Dr Wiley’s contributions to the script drew directly on his research on Ethel Smyth, including her involvement with the suffragette movement, her operas The Wreckers and The Boatswain’s Mate, and her relationship with the writer Virginia Woolf.
15 September 2018
Christopher Wiley
Media, Presentation, Public Output, Research
ATD Fourth World, blue plaque, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, ethel smyth, Frimhurst, Frimhurst Family House, Frimley Green, Heritage Open Days, HOD, media, Music, music and literature, music history, musicology, presentation, research, suffragette, suffragette movement, Surrey, television, That’s Surrey TV, University, University of Surrey, Wiley, Woking, women's suffrage
Dr Christopher Wiley has given a talk on Ethel Smyth at her childhood home, Frimhurst Family House, Frimley Green, on Saturday 15 September 2018.
The event was organised for Heritage Open Days by Surrey Heath Museum and the charity ATD Fourth World, which now operates at Frimhurst Family House.
It marked the unveiling of blue plaques commemorating both Smyth and the philanthropist Grace Goodman, who transformed the house into its present function as recuperative facility for families in extreme poverty.
An acknowledged expert on Smyth, Dr Wiley previously gave a talk at Frimhurst Family House on the composer and suffragette back in 2016.
Further information on the event is available here: https://www.surreyheath.gov.uk/residents/surrey-heath-museum/museum-events/heritage-open-days-surrey-heath
Update: The following weekend, on Saturday 22 September, Dr Wiley attended a private ceremony (pictured, above) at which a blue plaque was unveiled at Smyth’s former house in Woking.
Dr Wiley’s interview about the event for That’s Surrey TV may be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiBN2ZXVPz0
Media coverage may also be found at the following link: http://surreyresidents.co.uk/2018/09/24/blue-plaque-marks-the-duchess-of-wokings-former-home/
As well as on Woking Borough Council’s website: https://www.woking.gov.uk/news/blue-plaque-marks-duchess-woking%E2%80%99s-former-home
14 September 2018
Christopher Wiley
Presentation, Public Output, Research
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, ethel smyth, Farham, Farnham Maltings, Heritage Open Days, HOD, Music, music and literature, music history, musicology, presentation, research, suffragette, suffragette movement, Surrey, University, University of Surrey, Wiley, women's suffrage
Dr Christopher Wiley delivered a talk on Ethel Smyth in the Cellar Bar at Farnham Maltings as part of the annual programme of Heritage Open Days on Friday 14 September 2018.
Speaking to an audience of over 50 people, Dr Wiley discussed Smyth’s music, literature, and activity as a suffragette, illustrating his presentation with music examples.
Further information about Dr Wiley’s talk may be found at the following link: https://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/visiting/event/dame-ethel-smyth-composer-and-suffragette
Media coverage of the Heritage Open Days activities taking place in the local area may be viewed online here: http://www.farnhamherald.com/article.cfm?id=129364, http://www.farnhamherald.com/article.cfm?id=129629
3 September 2018
Christopher Wiley
Presentation, Public Output, Research
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, ethel smyth, Music, music and literature, music history, musicology, presentation, research, suffragette, suffragette movement, Surrey, University, University of Surrey, Wiley, Woking, Woking History Society, women's suffrage
Dr Christopher Wiley gave a talk on Ethel Smyth for Woking History Society in The Gallery at Christ Church Woking on Monday 3 September 2018.
Addressing over 50 audience members, Dr Wiley’s hour-long presentation discussed Smyth’s activity as composer, author, suffragette, and, for the last several decades of her life, a Woking resident.
Dr Wiley previously spoke about Ethel Smyth at The Lightbox, Woking for International Women’s Day earlier in the year, as well as hosting and performing in a concert of Smyth’s music at Christ Church Woking in 2014, to mark the 70th anniversary of her death.
1 September 2018
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Presentation, Research
annual conference, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, Emmeline Pankhurst, ethel smyth, feminism, feminist musicology, feminist opera, gender and sexuality, gender studies, Music, music and literature, music history, musicology, opera, Portsmouth, presentation, research, suffragette, suffragette movement, Surrey, The Boatswain's Mate, University, University of Portsmouth, University of Surrey, W.W. Jacobs, WHN, Wiley, women's history, Women's History Network, women's suffrage
Dr Christopher Wiley was among the many speakers who presented at the 27th Annual Conference of the Women’s History Network, held at the University of Portsmouth on Friday 31 August–Saturday 1 September 2018.
Entitled ‘The Campaign for Women’s Suffrage: National and International Perspectives’, the conference attracted a large delegation of scholars of women’s history internationally.
Dr Wiley’s paper, ‘Ethel Smyth, Music, and the Suffragette Movement: Reconsidering The Boatswain’s Mate as Feminist Opera’, was presented in one of the conference’s parallel sessions to an audience of some 25 academics.
Dr Wiley considered the extent to which Smyth’s The Boatswain’s Mate might be considered a feminist opera, with reference to the composer’s suffragette activity, the story on which the work was based, and her creative process, including her adaptation of pre-existing music in the score.
Dr Wiley has presented previous versions of his paper at several other UK universities including Surrey, Royal Holloway, and Edge Hill.
The conference website is here: http://www2.port.ac.uk/centre-for-european-and-international-studies-research/events/womens-suffrage-2018/
The complete programme for the event is available for download here: http://www2.port.ac.uk/media/contacts-and-departments/ceisr/events/Suffrage-Conference-2018.pdf
28 August 2018
Christopher Wiley
Media, Public Output, Research
broadcast, Cathrine Winnes, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, ethel smyth, interview, Music, music history, musicology, research, Surrey, Sveriges Television, SVT, Swedish Television, television, University, University of Surrey, Wiley, Woking, women composers
Dr Christopher Wiley has been interviewed for Sveriges Television (SVT) as part of a mini-series of half-hour programmes focusing on orchestral music composed by women.
Talking about Ethel Smyth, Dr Wiley was filmed in conversation with the acclaimed Norwegian conductor, Cathrine Winnes.
Filming took place on Tuesday 28 August 2018 both in Dr Wiley’s office, and on location at Smyth’s former home in Woking.
This television appearance evidences Dr Wiley’s reputation as an internationally leading researcher on Smyth, and follows his previous interviews on Smyth for radio and television earlier in the year.
The television series is due to be broadcast in Sweden in early 2019.
1 August 2018
Christopher Wiley
Public Output, Publication, Research
Albert Hall, BBC, BBC Proms, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, ethel smyth, London, Music, On the Cliffs of Cornwall, opera, Proms, Royal Albert Hall, suffragette, Surrey, The Proms, The Wreckers, University, University of Surrey, Wiley, women's suffrage
Dr Christopher Wiley has contributed notes to the programme for The BBC Proms concert at the Royal Albert Hall, London (pictured) on Wednesday 1 August 2018.
Prom 24, ‘A Hero’s Life’, presented Ethel Smyth’s ‘On the Cliffs of Cornwall’ (Prelude to Act 2 of her opera The Wreckers), as well as Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B minor and Richard Strauss’s tone poem Ein Heldenleben.
As an internationally leading researcher on Ethel Smyth, Dr Wiley was invited to write programme notes for ‘On the Cliffs of Cornwall’ as well as a brief biographical profile for the composer.
A regular fixture at The Proms during her own lifetime, Smyth’s ‘On the Cliffs of Cornwall’ was programmed for the 2018 season mindful of the composer’s period of activity as a leading suffragette, in the centenary year of many women receiving the parliamentary vote in the UK for the first time.
30 June 2018
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Media, Presentation, Research
#Emilymatters, Amy Zigler, arts, BAVS, British Association for Victorian Studies, Charlotte Mathieson, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, Elizabeth Crawford, Emily Davison, Emily Wilding Davison, Emmeline Pankhurst, ethel smyth, feminism, feminist musicology, feminist opera, FWSA, gender and sexuality, gender studies, Grasp The Nettle, Jacqueline Mulhallen, Kate Willoughby, literature, Lucy Ella Rose, Lucy Stevens, Lynx Theatre, Lynx Theatre and Poetry, Music, music and literature, musicology, opera, presentation, research, School of Literature and Languages, SLL, suffragette, suffragette movement, Surrey, Sylvia, Sylvia Pankhurst, The Boatswain's Mate, The Feminist and Women’s Studies Association, University, University of Surrey, W.W. Jacobs, Wiley, women's history, women's suffrage
Dr Christopher Wiley served as one of three conference co-chairs for the two-day international conference ‘Centennial Reflections on Women’s Suffrage and the Arts – Local : National : Transnational’ held at the University of Surrey on 29-30 June 2018, together with two colleagues from the University’s School of Literature and Languages, Dr Charlotte Mathieson (pictured with Dr Wiley, right) and Dr Lucy Ella Rose.
The conference incorporated more than 25 papers including Dr Wiley’s own ‘Ethel Smyth, Music, and the Suffragette Movement: Reconsidering The Boatswain’s Mate as Feminist Opera’, which he had previously given at Edge Hill University earlier in the year. The panel on which he spoke, ‘Women’s Suffrage in/and Music’, led to an animated question and answer session (pictured, left).
Dr Wiley also convened and participated in a roundtable discussion (pictured, right) featuring three professional actresses who have recently developed shows on themes of women’s suffrage, Jacqueline Mulhallen (Sylvia, based on Sylvia Pankhurst), Lucy Stevens (Grasp The Nettle, on Ethel Smyth), and Kate Willoughby (#Emilymatters, a social media campaign inspired by Emily Wilding Davison), all of whom performed extracts from their plays as part of the conference.
Finally, Dr Wiley chaired a session on ‘Ethel Smyth, Suffrage, and Transnationality’, drawing on his reputation as an acknowledged expert on the composer, and was privileged to introduce Keynote speaker Elizabeth Crawford (pictured, left), who had been awarded the OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List earlier in the month for services to education in relation to women’s history.
The event attracted more than 40 delegates (pictured, below), with speakers ranging from University of Surrey academics and postgraduate researchers to museum-based archivists to international scholars from the UK, Continental Europe, and North America representing the disciplines of literature, music, film, and the visual arts.
The conference organizers gratefully acknowledge the support of the School of Literature and Languages at the University of Surrey; The British Association for Victorian Studies; and The Feminist and Women’s Studies Association UK & Ireland.
Further information may be found at the conference website: https://suffragecentennial.wordpress.com/
The full programme, including abstracts, is available here: https://suffragecentennial.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/suffrage-conference-programme-2018.pdf
Update: A news piece on the conference has appeared on the the University of Surrey’s website: https://www.surrey.ac.uk/news/surreys-centennial-reflection-womens-suffrage-and-arts
Several postgraduate research students have contributed reviews to the conference website: https://suffragecentennial.wordpress.com/reviews/
See also the reviews on the School of Literature and Language’s website: http://blogs.surrey.ac.uk/english/2018/08/02/looking-back-at-centennial-reflections-on-womens-suffrage-and-the-arts-local-national-transnational/
Update: An article co-authored by Dr Wiley and Dr Amy Zigler, entitled ‘The Suffragette Movement and the Music of Ethel Smyth: The String Quartet and The Boatswain’s Mate’, is available on the Exploring Surrey’s Past website: https://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/themes/subjects/womens-suffrage/suffrage-biographies/dame-ethel-smyth-composer-and-suffragette/the-suffragette-movement-and-the-music-of-ethel-smyth-the-string-quartet-and-the-boatswains-mate/
20 June 2018
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Presentation, Research
anecdote, biographical anecdote, biography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, history, life-writing, Music, music and literature, music history, musical biography, musicology, narrative, Nottingham, presentation, public history, research, Surrey, University, University of Nottingham, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley has presented a paper at the multi-disciplinary conference ‘Biography and Public History: Constructing Historical Narratives through Life-Writing’, held in the Department of Music at the University of Nottingham on Wednesday 20 June 2018.
Dr Wiley’s paper, ‘Anecdote as a Genre in Musical Biography’, drew primarily on his recent research on Victorian life-writing, while also discussing the foundational role of anecdote within musical biography from its advent at the turn of the nineteenth century onwards.
Proposing that biographical anecdote warrants recognition as a genre in its own right given its extraordinary staying power and the sophisticated narratives that developed around specific examples, Dr Wiley demonstrated its potential to contribute to a greater understanding of associated culture through the recounting of stories of its most cherished figures.
The one-day conference was attended by some 50 international delegates. Dr Wiley also chaired the opening session, which featured papers on archaeology, buildings architecture, and literature.
Further information may be found at the conference webpage: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/conference/fac-arts/humanities/music/biography-and-public-history/biography-and-public-history.aspx
The full conference programme is available online here: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/humanities/departments/music/documents/2018/final-programme.pdf
15 June 2018
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Presentation, Research
autobiography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Napier University, ethel smyth, history, literature, Master Musicians series, memoirs, Mozart, Music, music and literature, music history, music reception, musical biography, musicology, Napier, presentation, Requiem, research, Scotland, Surrey, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley has delivered a paper on musical biography at the ‘Music and Literature: Innovations, Intersections, and Interpretations’ conference hosted at Merchiston Campus, Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh, Scotland on 14-15 June 2018.
Entitled ‘Musical biography and the (non-)consonance of music and literature’, Dr Wiley’s paper revealed how biographical narratives might actually contradict the evidence of the music itself, or they may represent an appropriation of specific works for a given time and place, or function to promote them within wider reading communities who may otherwise be unfamiliar with that music.
Dr Wiley drew case studies from his wider research conducted over the years on musical biography, including the apocryphal story of Mozart’s Requiem, the earliest 12 volumes of the ‘Master Musicians’ series, and Ethel Smyth’s autobiographies. The two-day conference was attended by some 50 delegates.
Further information may be found at the conference website: https://musicandliteratureconference.wordpress.com/
The full programme for the event is available online here: https://musicandliteratureconference.wordpress.com/programme/
13 June 2018
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Educational Research, Presentation, Research
Bedford Centre, Bedford Centre for the History of Women, Bedford Centre for the History of Women and Gender, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, educational research, Egham, Emmeline Pankhurst, ethel smyth, feminism, feminist musicology, feminist opera, gender and sexuality, gender studies, Higher Education, London, Music, music and literature, musicology, opera, presentation, research, Royal Holloway, Royal Holloway University of London, suffragette, suffragette movement, Surrey, The Boatswain's Mate, University, University of London, University of Surrey, Wiley, women's history, women's suffrage
Dr Christopher Wiley has addressed the ‘Education, College Women, and Suffrage: International Perspectives’ conference held at his alma mater, Royal Holloway, University of London, on 13–14 June 2018.
Dr Wiley’s paper, ‘Gender Studies and Multi-Disciplinary Teaching: A Case Study of Ethel Smyth, Music, and the Suffragette Movement’, discussed the challenges presented by the delivery of tuition in gender studies within higher education contexts given the necessarily interdisciplinary nature of the field.
Presenting to an audience that itself encompassed a wide variety of different arts disciplines and educational backgrounds, Dr Wiley illustrated his arguments by drawing on his current research on the relationship between Ethel Smyth, her suffrage activity, and her opera The Boatswain’s Mate.
Organized by The Bedford Centre for the History of Women and Gender at Royal Holloway in conjunction with the Centre for the History of Women’s Education at the University of Winchester, the two-day conference attracted some 60 delegates.
Further information is available at the conference website: https://educationcollegewomenandsuffrage.wordpress.com/
The full programme may be viewed online here: https://educationcollegewomenandsuffrage.wordpress.com/programme/
8 June 2018
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Educational Research, Presentation, Research, Teaching
Adele, Adele Adkins, autoethnography, Canada, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, course design, curriculum design, Don Wright Faculty of Music, education, educational research, Higher Education, learning and teaching, London, module, Music, musicology, Ontario, popular music, popular music education, popular music studies, presentation, progressive methods, research, Surrey, symposium, teaching, teaching innovation, teaching practice, undergraduate, University, University of Surrey, Western University, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley addressed the inaugural ‘Progressive Methods in Popular Music Education’ Symposium at Western University, London, Ontario, Canada, on Friday 8 June 2018, presenting remotely via video-conference link from his office at the University of Surrey.
Dr Wiley’s paper, ‘From Research-led Teaching to Teaching-led Research: Keeping Curricula Contemporary in Higher Education Popular Music’, discussed the relationship between teaching and research in twenty-first-century UK higher education, with specific reference to his delivery of an undergraduate module on Adele’s 25 album.
A previous version of his presentation had been given at an international conference at the Institute of Musical Research, London (UK) in April 2018, focussing on the use of autoethnography as the principal methodology for the study rather than (as at this conference) on the pedagogy of popular music education and the curriculum design itself.
The two-day Symposium was hosted by the Don Wright Faculty of Music, concurrently with MayDay Group Colloquium 30. Together, the two events attracted a diverse line-up of presenters as well as over 100 registered delegates.
Further information about the ‘Progressive Methods in Popular Music Education’ Symposium is available online: http://www.music.uwo.ca/outreach/symposium-on-progressive-methods.html
The conference programme may be downloaded here: http://www.music.uwo.ca/outreach/images-pdf/mayday-progressive-methods-conference-program-2018.pdf
And presenter abstracts and biographies are available here: http://www.music.uwo.ca/outreach/images-pdf/PM-Abstracts-Fri.pdf
21 April 2018
Christopher Wiley
Presentation, Public Output, Research
annual symposium, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, ethel smyth, local history, Music, music and literature, musical biography, musicology, opera, presentation, research, suffragette, Surrey, Surrey Archaeological Society, Surrey Heath, Surrey History Centre, Surrey Local History Committee, Surrey Local History symposium, symposium, University, University of Surrey, Wiley, Woking, women's suffrage
Dr 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
17 April 2018
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Educational Research, Presentation, Research
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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://chris-wiley.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/imr-beyond-mesearch-conference-programme-16-17-april-2018.pdf
13 April 2018
Christopher Wiley
Publication, Research
booklet, CD, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, ethel smyth, foreword, liner notes, Music, musicology, Odaline de la Martinez, opera, Publication, research, Retrospect Opera, Surrey, The Wreckers, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Retrospect 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/
4 April 2018
Christopher Wiley
Media, Public Output, Research
arts, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, ethel smyth, gender studies, golf, Hook Heath, interview, Music, music and literature, music history, musicology, Pyrford TV, Pyrford TV ARTS, research, suffragette, suffragette movement, Surrey, television, The March of the Women, TV, University, University of Surrey, Wiley, Woking, Woking Golf Club, women's enfranchisement, women's suffrage
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)
8 March 2018
Christopher Wiley
Presentation, Public Output, Research
Celebrate Woking, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, ethel smyth, gender studies, International Women's Day, Music, music and literature, music history, musicology, presentation, research, suffragette, suffragette movement, Surrey, The Lightbox, The March of the Women, University, University of Surrey, Wiley, Woking, women's enfranchisement, women's suffrage
Dr Christopher Wiley has delivered a public talk on Dame Ethel Smyth at The Lightbox, Woking for International Women’s Day (Thursday 8 March) 2018.
Addressing an audience of over 80 members of the public in The Lightbox’s Ambassador Room, Dr Wiley (pictured, left) spoke about Smyth’s life, music, and prose writings, with particular emphasis on her connections to Woking (her town of residence for over 30 years at the end of her life) and the surrounding area.
Dr Wiley also addressed the extent to which Smyth broke new ground for women both within and beyond the field of music composition, discussing her activity as a leading suffragette in the early 1910s as well as her war service, mindful of this year’s centenaries of women’s partial enfranchisement in the UK and of the end of the First World War.
A recognized expert on Smyth, Dr Wiley is frequently invited to give public lectures on the composer and writer, including recent appearances at The Guildford Institute and Frimhurst, Frimley Green (Smyth’s childhood home). This was the first of his several talks in the Surrey area this year, as well as one of a number of events commemorating Smyth for the Celebrate Woking Festival 2018.
Further information on Dr Wiley’s talk may be found here: https://www.thelightbox.org.uk/Event/ethel-smyth-composer-suffragette
The previous day, Dr Wiley had given an interview on Ethel Smyth at Woking Golf Club for an episode of Pyrford TV ARTS due to be released online in April.
28 February 2018
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Presentation, Public Output, Research
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Edge Hill, Edge Hill University, Emmeline Pankhurst, ethel smyth, feminism, feminist musicology, feminist opera, gender and sexuality, gender studies, GenSex, Music, music and literature, musicology, opera, presentation, research, suffragette, suffragette movement, Surrey, symposium, The Boatswain's Mate, The Gender and Sexuality Research Group, University, University of Surrey, W.W. Jacobs, Wiley, women's suffrage
Dr Christopher Wiley has spoken at the Suffragette Symposium hosted by the interdisciplinary Gender and Sexuality Research Group (GenSex) at Edge Hill University on Wednesday 28 February 2018.
His paper subjected to renewed critical scrutiny the claim that Smyth’s opera The Boatswain’s Mate, composed following her two years’ service as a suffragette in the 1910s, constitutes a ‘feminist opera’.
The presentation, entitled ‘Ethel Smyth, Music, and the Suffragette Movement: Reconsidering The Boatswain’s Mate as Feminist Opera’, explored the work’s refashioning of pre-existing music including two of Smyth’s suffrage songs used in its Overture, as well as a range of adaptations of traditional music.
Addressing an audience of some 35 delegates comprising both academics and members of the public, Dr Wiley also discussed the opera’s indebtedness to the short story by W.W. Jacobs on which it is based, and made consideration of Smyth’s creative process as documented in contemporaneous correspondence with Emmeline Pankhurst.
Further information on the Suffragette Symposium may be viewed online: https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/wonder-women/gensex/
The full programme is available here: https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/wonder-women/files/2018/02/Suffragette-Symposium-Programme.pdf
Speaker biographies and abstracts may be found at the following link: https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/wonder-women/files/2018/02/Suffragette-Panel-Bios.docx.pdf
6 February 2018
Christopher Wiley
Media, Public Output, Publication, Research
arts, BBC Radio Surrey, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Darling Magazine, ethel smyth, feminism, gender studies, Get Surrey, Guildford, Hannah Dodd, interview, James Cannon, Lesley McCabe, LGBT History Month, live interview, Lucy Ella Rose, Mary Watts, media, Music, musicology, North Surrey, radio, Representation of the People Act, research, Shona Duthie, suffragettes, suffragists, Surrey, Surrey Advertiser, Surrey Heath, The March of the Women, University, University of Surrey, video, Wiley, Woking, women's enfranchisement, women's suffrage
Dr Christopher Wiley has given expert comment to the media on the 100th anniversary of the Representation of the People Act 1918, which granted the vote to over 8 million women in the UK for the first time.
Coverage of Dr Wiley focussed on his research on Ethel Smyth, who, in addition to being an internationally successful composer, was active for two years as a leading suffragette in the early 1910s, developing a close friendship with Emmeline Pankhurst.
Together with a University of Surrey colleague, Dr Lucy Ella Rose, a leading expert on the suffragist Mary Watts and author of Suffrage Artists in Partnership: Gender, Word, and Image, Dr Wiley gave a live interview on BBC Radio Surrey for the ‘Breakfast on BBC Surrey’ show hosted by James Cannon and Lesley McCabe on Tuesday 6 February 2018.
Dr Wiley was also featured alongside Dr Rose in an article in Get Surrey, ‘Suffragette Vote 100 anniversary: University celebrates two Surrey women who were highly influential during the suffrage movement’, by Shona Duthie and Hannah Dodd.
The online Get Surrey article includes a video in which both academics give interviews on their respective research subjects, with Dr Wiley performing Smyth’s famous suffragette anthem, ‘The March of the Women’, on piano.
The full Get Surrey article, including video, may be viewed here: https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/suffragette-vote-100-anniversary-university-14249832
The BBC Radio Surrey live interview may be heard here: https://mms.tveyes.com/Transcript.asp?StationID=7180&DateTime=2%2F6%2F2018+8%3A52%3A52+AM&Term=University+of+Surrey&PlayClip=TRUE
The live interview is also available on BBC iPlayer (listen from 2:52:11): http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05vm2m4
Update: A text on Ethel Smyth contributed by invitation by Dr Wiley has been printed in the North Surrey edition of darling magazine for Spring 2018 (see image above). It may be viewed online here (see pp. 12–13): https://issuu.com/darlingmagazine/docs/darling-north_surrey-spring_2018
An article on Smyth written by Dr Wiley, ‘Dame Ethel Smyth: Remembering a Pathbreaking Artist, Suffragette, and Lesbian’, has appeared on the LGBT History Month website here: https://lgbthistorymonth.org.uk/lgbt-history-month-resources/desarticle2018/
26 January 2018
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Presentation, Research
Amsterdam, artist biography, Bach, biography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, historiography, history, J. S. Bach, keynote, life-writing, literature, Marchand, Music, music and literature, music history, musical biography, musicology, myth, mythology, national, nationality, presentation, research, Surrey, The Master Musicians series, The Netherlands, transnational, transnationality, University, University of Amsterdam, University of Surrey, Wiley, workshop
Dr Christopher W
iley gave a Keynote lecture at the two-day international workshop, ‘Transnational Perspectives on the Writing of Artists’ Lives, 19th-21st centuries’, held at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands on 25–26 January 2018.
Dr Wiley’s 50-minute paper, entitled ‘Musical Biography as a National and Transnational Genre’, explored the extent to which composer life-writing reflects the preoccupations and concerns of its time and place of origin while simultaneously embodying pan-European values that remain strikingly robust across texts from different countries and centuries.
Addressed to an interdisciplinary audience primarily from The Netherlands, France, the UK, and US, Dr Wiley’s lecture developed research previously presented at the University of Oxford, and generated much productive discussion from delegates.
An internationally acknowledged expert in the field, Dr Wiley has given a number of previous keynotes at conferences on biography, including the four-day ‘(Auto)Biography as a Musicological Discourse’ held at the University of Arts, Belgrade in 2008.
The full schedule for the workshop may be viewed here: http://www.uva.nl/en/shared-content/subsites/amsterdam-institute-for-humanities-research/en/events/events/2018/01/transnational-perspectives-artists-lives.html
The programme is also available online as a PDF: https://www.huizingainstituut.nl/v02/wp-content/uploads/Programme-Workshop-Transnational-Perspectives-on-Artists-Lives-2-Jan-18.pdf
7 November 2017
Christopher Wiley
Presentation, Public Output
Ambassadors Theatre, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Così fan tutte, Glyndebourne, Glyndebourne Tour, Mozart, Music, New Victoria Theatre, opera, pre-event talk, pre-performance talk, presentation, Rhoda McGaw Theatre, Surrey, University, University of Surrey, Wiley, Woking
Dr Christopher Wiley delivered a pre-performance talk for Glyndebourne Tour 2017, to introduce its production of Mozart’s opera Così fan tutte at the New Victoria Theatre, Woking on Tuesday 7 November 2017.
Dr Wiley’s talk focussed on two principal issues, the portrayal of women in Così fan tutte and the work’s relationship with the genre of opera buffa, illustrated with a slideshow and audio excerpts. Held in the Rhoda McGaw Theatre adjacent to the main auditorium, it was attended by a large audience of some 150 opera-lovers.
A work well-known to Dr Wiley from his undergraduate teaching, he also discussed the opera’s historical background, characters and plot, and the ways in which its reception has changed over time, as well as the specific interpretation taken by Glyndebourne Tour in this revival of the 2006 production directed by Nicholas Hytner.
Dr Wiley has previously given pre-performance talks for Glyndebourne in 2016, 2015, and 2014, mainly on operas by Mozart.
22 October 2017
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Performance, Presentation, Public Output, Research
Annie Yim, artists, arts, biography, blog, blogging, Chris Wiley, Christopher Le Brun, Christopher Wiley, conference, contemporary artists, creative practice, Dance, film, Guildford, IAS, Institute of Advanced Studies, keynote, life-writing, literature, Music, music and literature, musical biography, musicology, practice as research, presentation, research, reviewing, Richard Birchall, roundtable, social media, Surrey, theatre, University, University of Surrey, Wiley, writing
Dr Christopher Wiley was Chair of the Conference Committee for an international, multi-disciplinary three-day conference entitled ‘Writing About Contemporary Artists: Challenges, Practices, and Complexities’, held at the University of Surrey from 20-22 October 2017.
Hosted and sponsored by the University’s Institute of Advanced Studies, the conference brought together scholars and practitioners in fields including musicology, theatre studies, dance and choreography, literature, film, digital media, and the visual arts. Its 70 participants represented a strongly international delegation drawn from North and South America, Australia, South Africa, and across Europe and the UK.
Dr Wiley compèred and co-authored the event’s central Keynote Concert and Dialogue (pictured above) given by MusicArt London, featuring the distinguished painter Christopher Le Brun (President of the Royal Academy of Arts) and pianist Dr Annie Yim (St John’s Smith Square Young Artist in Residence 2016/17), with additional contributions by composer Richard Birchall.
Dr Wiley also acted as chair and panel member for the final conference session (pictured below), a roundtable on ‘Contemporary artists, contemporary writing: Internet and social media’, at which he spoke about his reviewing activity across the art disciplines for digital magazine Musical Theatre Review as well as his guest-blogging for sites such as the Association of National Teaching Fellows blog and Oxford University Press Blog.
Further information may be found at the conference website: http://www.ias.surrey.ac.uk/workshops/artistswriting/
The full programme (including abstracts) may be downloaded here: http://www.ias.surrey.ac.uk/workshops/artistswriting/papers/Writing%20About%20Contemporary%20Artists%20conference%20_%20Proggramme.pdf
Update: Online reports on the conference are available at the following links:
http://www.planethugill.com/2017/10/writing-about-contemporary-artists.html
http://annieyim.com/keynote-concert-and-dialogue-at-an-international-multi-disciplinary-conference-at-the-university-of-surrey-21-october-2017/
http://blogs.surrey.ac.uk/arts/2017/10/22/international-conference-in-pats-building-writing-about-contemporary-artists/
6 September 2017
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Educational Research, Presentation, Publication, Research, Teaching
arts and humanities, autoethnography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, education, Franklin, Guildford School of Acting, Higher Education, Jo Franklin, Music, pedagogic frailty, presentation, reciprocal autoethnography, resilience, School of Arts, Surrey, symposium, teaching, technical theatre arts, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley and Jo Franklin (Guildford School of Acting) co-authored an interactive presentation delivered as part of the First International Symposium on Pedagogic Frailty and Resilience held at the University of Surrey on Wednesday 6 September 2017.
The session, entitled ‘Dialogic Approaches to Pedagogic Frailty’, explored how the authors had proactively sought to extend the results of two previous research projects in which they had been separately involved, including Dr Wiley’s co-authored autoethnographic study of pedagogic frailty in arts and humanities education.
They outlined the ‘reciprocal autoethnography’ approach by which they expanded the parameters of their earlier studies, as well as the methods by which they comparatively analysed the concept maps that resulted from previous research, independently of the original interviewer.
Based on their book chapter on autoethnography and pedagogic frailty, the presentation concluded by considering the potential for future expansion of the pedagogic frailty process as well as its benefits in terms of enhancing understanding of the preoccupations, priorities, and motivations of colleagues and teams.
The one-day symposium brought together some 40 academic colleagues from across the UK and internationally.
Further information about the symposium is available at the following link: https://www.surrey.ac.uk/department-higher-education/events/pedagogic-frailty
The full programme, including abstracts, may be downloaded here: https://www.surrey.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Pedagogic-frailty-symposium-programme.pdf
26 May 2017
Christopher Wiley
Presentation, Public Output, Research
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Cranleigh, Cranleigh Arts Centre, ethel smyth, Jacqueline Mulhallen, Lynx Theatre, Lynx Theatre and Poetry, Mulhallen, Music, suffrage activity, suffragette, suffragette movement, Surrey, Syliva Pankhurst, Sylvia, University, University of Surrey, Wiley, women's suffrage
Dr Christopher Wiley addressed an audience of theatre-goers on Ethel Smyth as part of a post-show discussion following the one-woman play Sylvia, presented by Lynx Theatre and Poetry at Cranleigh Arts Centre, Surrey on the evening of Friday 26 May 2017.
The main performance, a theatrical production based on Sylvia Pankhurst’s life, activity as a painter, and service to the suffragette movement, was performed by professional actress Jacqueline Mulhallen (pictured, as Pankhurst) having been developed from original research.
After a brief interval, the post-show discussion led with Dr Wiley’s talk on Smyth, following which the audience were able to put questions to Dr Wiley and the creators of Sylvia, and to engage in further general conversation on women’s suffrage.
Internationally acknowledged for his substantial contribution to scholarship on Smyth across the past 15 years, Dr Wiley has more recently acquired a reputation as a local historian, many of the audience members already being familiar with his work on the Surrey-based composer, writer, and suffragette.
Further information about the event is available here: http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase?agency=CRAN&organ_val=40629&pid=8410211
19 April 2017
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Presentation, Publication, Research
25, Adele, Adele Adkins, autobiography, Bristol, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, ethel smyth, Music, music and literature, musical biography, musicology, presentation, research, Surrey, University, University of Bristol, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley presented a paper at a two-day international conference entitled ‘Beyond Genius and Muse – Collaborating Couples in Twentieth-Century Arts’, held at the Victoria Rooms, University of Bristol on 18–19 April 2017.
Dr Wiley’s paper, ‘Subject and Countersubject: The Prevalence of the Genius and the Muse in Musical Biography’, explored the pattern of collaborating couples that has emerged historically in musical biography, drawing on examples including Brahms and Clara Schumann, Ethel Smyth and Henry Brewster, Britten and Peter Pears, and Adele.
It built upon Dr Wiley’s previous scholarship conducted in this area across more than 10 years, of which the most recent output, his book chapter ‘Musical Biography and the Myth of the Muse’, was published in 2015.
The conference brought together some 50 academics from across Europe and the US, encompassing a range of topics in music, literature, and the visual arts.
Further information is available at the conference website: https://collaboratingcouples.wordpress.com/
27 March 2017
Christopher Wiley
Educational Research, Publication, Teaching
arts and humanities, autoethnography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, concept maps, education, Franklin, Guildford School of Acting, Higher Education, Jo Franklin, mediated concept maps, Music, pedagogic frailty, reciprocal autoethnography, resilience, School of Arts, Surrey, teaching, technical theatre arts, University, University of Surrey
Dr Christopher Wiley and Jo Franklin (Guildford School of Acting) have co-authored a chapter published in the book Pedagogic Frailty and Resilience in the University, edited by Ian M. Kinchin and Naomi E. Winstone.
Their essay, ‘Framed Autoethnography and Pedagogic Frailty: A Comparative Analysis of Mediated Concept Maps’, extends two research projects on which the authors have previously worked, including Dr Wiley’s co-authored autoethnographic study of pedagogic frailty in arts and humanities education.
Adopting a ‘reciprocal autoethnography’ approach to operate independently of the original interviewer in order comparatively to analyse the concept maps that resulted from earlier research, they considered the benefits of pedagogic frailty to the development of greater mutual understanding between different staff members by way of nurturing resilience.
Bibliographic citation
Wiley, Christopher and Jo Franklin. ‘Framed Autoethnography and Pedagogic Frailty: A Comparative Analysis of Mediated Concept Maps’, in Ian M. Kinchin and Naomi E. Winstone eds. Pedagogic Frailty and Resilience in the University. Rotterdam: Sense, 2017, pp. 17–32.
Further information
Listing of the volume on the publisher’s website: https://www.sensepublishers.com/catalogs/bookseries/other-books/pedagogic-frailty-and-resilience-in-the-university/
10 March 2017
Christopher Wiley
Educational Research, Publication, Teaching
arts and humanities, autoethnography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, concept maps, Department of Higher Education, education, Higher Education, Ian Kinchin, Ian M. Kinchin, Kinchin, mediated concept maps, Music, pedagogic frailty, resilience, School of Arts, Surrey, teaching, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley and Professor Ian M. Kinchin (Department of Higher Education, University of Surrey) have co-authored an article published in the international peer-reviewed journal Arts and Humanities in Higher Education.
Entitled ‘Tracing pedagogic frailty in arts and humanities education: An autoethnographic perspective’, the article represents an autoethnographic study of Dr Wiley as a leading academic in arts and humanities teaching in higher education, using Professor Kinchin’s model of pedagogic frailty (see diagram below) in order to develop a series of mediated concept maps.
Supplemented by Dr Wiley’s own narratives and with an extended conclusion contemplating the benefits of pedagogic frailty and the autoethnographic process, it constitutes the most extensive single-subject study of pedagogic frailty in higher education to date.
Dr Wiley has previously used autoethnographic approaches in relation to pedagogic research in an article published in Learning at City Journal in 2014.
Further information about Professor Kinchin and Dr Wiley’s journal article, including the abstract, may be found at the following link: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1474022217698082
Bibliographic citation
Kinchin, Ian M. and Christopher Wiley. ‘Tracing pedagogic frailty in arts and humanities education: An autoethnographic perspective’, Arts and Humanities in Higher Education: An international journal of theory, research, and practice (2017), pp. 1–24. doi: 10.1177/1474022217698082
Full text
The full text is available for free download under licence from Surrey Research Insight Open Access: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/813547/
1 March 2017
Christopher Wiley
Educational Research, Presentation, Teaching
arts and humanities, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, education, electronic voting systems, Higher Education, Music, presentation, teaching, teaching innovation, Turning Technologies, University, University of York, Wiley, workshop, York
Dr Christopher Wiley presented a workshop on using Turning Technologies response technology in the arts and humanities, at a ‘Lunch and Learn’ session held in the JB Morrell Library at the University of York on Wednesday 1 March 2017.
The invitation to deliver the workshop, ‘Enhancing Student Engagement Through Electronic Voting Systems: Innovative Pedagogies and Creative Applications’, followed Dr Wiley’s presentation at the Turning Technologies User Conference in London last year, at which he advocated the use of electronic voting systems in areas other than the STEMM and business subjects with which they are more readily associated.
As an external speaker and International Distinguished Educator with Turning Technologies since 2012, Dr Wiley has recently addressed audiences representing a wide range of disciplines and universities across England, including Lancaster, Exeter, Sussex, Birmingham, Southampton Solent, Durham, Hull, and Surrey.
He has also spoken internationally at conferences in Ireland, Crete, Germany, and Denmark; delivered an internationally broadcast webinar; presented at the Higher Education Academy’s Arts and Humanities Conference in Brighton; and published a Higher Education Academy report on electronic voting systems.
27 February 2017
Christopher Wiley
Presentation, Public Output, Research
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, deafness, ethel smyth, feminism, feminist musicology, gender studies, Guildford, Guildford Hard of Hearing Support Group, hard of hearing, memoirs, Millmead Centre, Music, music and literature, musical biography, musicology, opera, presentation, research, Surrey, Surrey Heath, The Boatswain's Mate, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley delivered a talk entitled ‘Ethel Smyth’s (feminist?) opera, The Boatswain’s Mate’ at the Millmead Centre, Guildford on 27 February 2017, for Guildford Hard of Hearing Support Group.
The Boatswain’s Mate was the fourth of six operas composed by Smyth (who suffered from distorted hearing and deafness for the last several decades of her life), and was the most popular and most frequently performed during her own lifetime. It was recently released in its first complete modern recording by Retrospect Opera (of which Dr Wiley is a part).
An acknowledged expert on Smyth, Dr Wiley provided an outline of the circumstances of the composition of The Boatswain’s Mate, its plot, and interesting features of the music. He also discussed the extent to which the work constitutes a ‘feminist opera’, as has previously been suggested.
This is the second time that Dr Wiley has addressed Guildford Hard of Hearing Support Group, having delivered a presentation on Smyth’s life and works two years ago in January 2015. Dr Wiley has also recently given talks on Smyth at The Guildford Institute and at the composer’s childhood home in Frimley Green.
18 January 2017
Christopher Wiley
Presentation, Public Output, Research
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, ethel smyth, Guildford, Music, music and literature, presentation, research, Surrey, The Guildford Institute, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley delivered a talk entitled ‘Dame Ethel Smyth, Groundbreaking Composer, Writer, and Suffragette’ at The Guildford Institute, Guildford on Wednesday 18 January 2017.
Speaking to a capacity audience of 70 in the Institute’s Assembly Room, Dr Wiley outlined Smyth’s significance to music, literature, and women’s suffrage, as well as her local connections to Surrey, illustrating his talk with excerpts from a variety of her works.
An acknowledged expert on the subject, Dr Wiley has recently given several talks on Ethel Smyth in the local area, including one at Smyth’s childhood home in Frimley Green, Surrey last September.
Further information on the event is available on The Guildford Institute’s website: http://guildford-institute.org.uk/whats-on2/dame-ethel-smyth-groundbreaking-composer-writer-and-suffragette/
9 November 2016
Christopher Wiley
Presentation, Public Output
Ambassadors Theatre, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Don Giovanni, Glyndebourne, Glyndebourne Tour, Madama Butterfly, Milton Keynes, Milton Keynes Gallery, Milton Keynes Theatre, MK Gallery, Mozart, Music, New Victoria Theatre, opera, pre-event talk, pre-performance talk, presentation, Puccini, Rhoda McGaw Theatre, Surrey, University, University of Surrey, Wiley, Woking
Dr Christopher Wiley has delivered two pre-performance talks for Glyndebourne Tour 2016, to preface its productions of Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, on 8 and 9 November, respectively.
Both talks were delivered at the MK Gallery, Milton Keynes prior to performances at the nearby Milton Keynes Theatre. Speaking to some 60 audience members, Dr Wiley introduced the plots and characters of the operas, their historical backgrounds, noteworthy features of the music (such as Puccini’s use of authentic Japanese tunes in the score of Madama Butterfly), and aspects of the interpretations taken by Glyndebourne’s productions.
Dr Wiley has previously given pre-performance talks for Glyndebourne in 2014 and 2015, but this is the first time that he has been invited to speak at Milton Keynes.
Update: Dr Wiley reprised his pre-performance talk on Puccini’s Madama Butterfly to some 60 opera-goers in the Rhoda McGaw Theatre, Woking on 30 November, by way of introduction to Glyndebourne’s production later that evening in the adjacent New Victoria Theatre.
11 September 2016
Christopher Wiley
Presentation, Public Output, Research
ATD Fourth World, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, ethel smyth, Frimhurst, Frimhurst Family House, Frimley Green, Music, music and literature, presentation, research, Surrey, Surrey Heath, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley gave a talk entitled ‘Ethel Smyth: Composer, Author, Suffragette, and Surrey Resident’, at Frimhurst Family House, Frimley Green (Ethel Smyth’s childhood home), on 11 September 2016.
Dr Wiley addressed an audience of some 50 members of the public during an event celebrating Ethel Smyth, part of the ‘Century of Sound’ Festival organised annually by Surrey Heath Borough. The full programme for the Festival is available here: http://www.centuryofsound.co.uk/event-programme.
Other features of the afternoon event included included performances of Smyth’s solo piano music by Dr Maureen Galea and of some of her songs by the Surrey Heath Singers, as well as a tour of the premises and a talk about the work of the charity ATD Fourth World, which now operates at Frimhurst Family House.
The event was jointly organised by Surrey Heath Museum, the University of Surrey, and ATD Fourth World.
2 August 2016
Christopher Wiley
Publication, Research
booklet, CD, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, comic opera, David Chandler, ethel smyth, liner notes, Music, musicology, Odaline de la Martinez, opera, Publication, research, Retrospect Opera, Surrey, The Boatswain's Mate, The Bosun's Mate, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Retrospect Opera’s newly released CD of Ethel Smyth’s The Boatswain’s Mate, the first complete modern recording of the work, includes an essay by Dr Christopher Wiley in the accompanying booklet.
The recording appears in the centenary year of Smyth’s comic opera, which premiered on 28 January 1916 at the Shaftesbury Theatre, London. It features singers Nadine Benjamin, Edward Lee, and Jeremy Huw Williams in the principal roles, accompanied by the Lontano Ensemble conducted by pioneering Smyth interpreter Odaline de la Martinez.
Dr Wiley is acknowledged as an academic expert on Ethel Smyth, with recent research activity including publication of a major journal article, a score preface, and promoting Smyth’s music in concert, in addition to giving several public lectures on the composer. His essay ‘The Boatswain’s Mate in the context of Smyth’s life and works’ appears in the CD booklet alongside contributions by Odaline de la Martinez and Retrospect Opera’s Professor David Chandler.
The CD is available direct from Retrospect Opera at the following link: http://www.retrospectopera.org.uk/CD_Sales.html
It may also be ordered through Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Boatswains-Mate-Ethel-Smyth/dp/B01HIJX83Q/
Full text
The full text of Dr Wiley’s essay is available for free download under licence from Surrey Research Insight Open Access: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/811593/
23 May 2016
Christopher Wiley
Academic Management, Media, Teaching
academic management, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Dance, Drama, Drama & Dance, Guardian, Guardian league tables 2017, Guildford School of Acting, Higher Education, league tables, Music, Music & Sound Recording, School of Arts, student experience, student satisfaction, Surrey, teaching, The Guardian, theatre, undergraduate, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
The School of Arts at the University of Surrey is celebrating excellent rankings in The Guardian’s UK University League Tables 2017, published today as part of the Guardian University Guide.
The Guardian league tables rank the University of Surrey No. 1 nationally for Music, No. 2 nationally for Drama & Dance, and No. 4 nationally in the overall league table.
As Director of Learning & Teaching for the School of Arts, Dr Christopher Wiley has taken a lead in developing the School’s learning & teaching and student experience strategies. This has included the initiatives by which its students have been engaged in completion of the National Student Survey, the latest results for which similarly placed the School’s subject areas at No. 1 and No. 2 nationally.
The Guardian league tables represent one of the most influential rankings of UK universities, and incorporate multiple metrics from the National Student Survey including student satisfaction with teaching, satisfaction with feedback and assessment, and overall satisfaction with the course.
Further information on the successes of the School of Arts in The Guardian league tables 2017 may be found here: http://blogs.surrey.ac.uk/arts/2016/05/23/guardian-league-table-2017-results-music-at-no-1-drama-dance-at-no-2/
3 February 2016
Christopher Wiley
Media, Public Output, Teaching
#LTHEchat, blog, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, education, Higher Education, learning, Music, social media, Surrey, teaching, Twitter, Twitter chat, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
On 3 February 2016, Dr Christopher Wiley was invited to guest-host the 44th Learning and Teaching in Higher Education Twitter chat, which runs weekly on Wednesdays from 8-9pm GMT using the hashtag #LTHEchat, and involves HE practitioners from across the UK and beyond at all stages of their career.
Dr Wiley’s #LTHEchat, on the subject of ‘Using music creatively to enhance non-music teaching’, generated a large volume of lively debate from its many contributors and resulted in some 500 tweets in the course of the scheduled 60 minutes. A SocioViz visualisation of the network of participants during the chat is pictured above right, and a Storify of the session is available here: https://storify.com/LTHEchat/tweetchat-no-44
Update: Following the #LTHEchat, Dr Wiley was invited to contribute a guest post to the University’s Surrey Social Media blog, on Twitter chats and their value to academics. He discusses his experiences of #LTHEchat in his post, ‘Twitter chats – why are they useful and how do they benefit academic staff?’, which appeared on 5 February and may be read here: http://blogs.surrey.ac.uk/socialmedia/twitter-chats-why-are-they-useful-and-how-do-they-benefit-academic-staff/
28 January 2016
Christopher Wiley
Media, Research, Teaching
#SurreyInReview, Annual Review 2015, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, education, Music, research, Surrey, teaching, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley is featured in the University of Surrey’s Annual Review 2015, as one of 3 Inspiring Academics and 6 Exceptional Students across the institution.
Dr Wiley (profiled on p.11 of the Annual Review) discusses highlights of the past year including the Opportunities & Networking Event and ‘Careers in the Arts’ panel discussion, being nominated for the Students’ Union Academic Staff Member of the Year award, gaining Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy, and writing a report on the use of electronic voting systems in arts and humanities teaching, as well as his prolific activity in 2015 as a research-active Musicologist, publishing book chapters, organising an international conference, presenting papers at major UK universities, and giving talks for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Glyndebourne Tour.
The Annual Review may be downloaded in full here: http://ow.ly/XEIuO
1 December 2015
Christopher Wiley
Presentation, Public Output
Ambassadors Theatre, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Glyndebourne, Glyndebourne Tour, Mozart, Music, New Victoria Theatre, opera, pre-event talk, pre-performance talk, presentation, Rhoda McGaw Theatre, Surrey, University, University of Surrey, Wiley, Woking
Dr Christopher Wiley delivered a pre-performance talk for Glyndebourne Tour 2015, as a prelude to its production of Mozart’s opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail in the New Victoria Theatre, Woking, the tour’s final venue, on 1 December 2015.
Dr Wiley’s talk was held in the adjacent Rhoda McGaw Theatre, which was at capacity with some 200 opera-goers in attendance. Over the course of half an hour, Dr Wiley discussed the historical context of Die Entführung aus dem Serail, its extensive use of spoken dialogue, the virtuosic nature of some of its vocal writing, its orchestration and its portrayal of the East, as well as exploring aspects of Glyndebourne’s critically-acclaimed production.
Die Entführung aus dem Serail, which Mozart composed in 1781–2, holds a special place in Glyndebourne’s history: it was the work that brought its founder, John Christie, into contact with the soprano Audrey Mildmay, whom he subsequently married and who inspired the Glyndebourne Festival. This year’s production was the company’s seventh of the opera in its 80-year history.
The invitation for Dr Wiley to deliver this talk followed the success of his pre-performance talk for Glyndebourne Tour in October 2014 on another Mozart opera, La finta giardiniera, and was similarly well-received.
23 November 2015
Christopher Wiley
Academic Management, Prizes & Awards, Teaching
academic management, award, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Director of Learning and Teaching, education, learning, Music, School of Arts, Surrey, teaching, teaching excellence, teaching innovation, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley has received awards and nominations for several major teaching prizes at the University of Surrey in 2015, after less than two years in post as Director of Learning and Teaching for the School of Arts.
In April 2015, Dr Wiley was nominated for The Lynne Millward Award for Academic Staff Member of the Year, which is run by the University of Surrey Students’ Union (awards ceremony pictured, right). Nominations for this award are submitted by the students themselves and it is therefore highly competitive.
Then in June, Dr Wiley was announced as the winner of the Faculty Learning and Teaching Award for the Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences (prior to its becoming the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences), as well as being shortlisted for The Vice-Chancellor’s Teaching Excellence Award.
Finally, at a prestigious awards ceremony on 23 November 2015 (pictured below), Dr Wiley was announced as the runner-up for The Vice-Chancellor’s Teaching Excellence Award. This award recognises sustained excellence in teaching, innovative curriculum development, and enhancement of the student experience – thereby illustrating the impact that Dr Wiley has made within the University of Surrey in a relatively short space of time.
8 October 2015
Christopher Wiley
Academic Management, Presentation, Teaching
acting, careers in music, careers in the arts, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, collaboration, Dance, digital media arts, extra-curricular activity, Guildford School of Acting, Music, musical theatre, networking, opportunities, professional production skills, School of Arts, Sound Recording, teaching, theatre, theatre and performance, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
The School of Arts at the University of Surrey held its first ‘Opportunities and Networking’ event in the Ivy main auditorium, Ivy Arts Centre on Thursday 8 October 2015, organized by Dr Christopher Wiley.
Over 100 students were in attendance across the subject areas of Music and Sound Recording, Theatre, Dance, Digital Media Arts, and the Guildford School of Acting.
The event introduced students to the many different possibilities for them to collaborate with one another on different School of Arts programmes, provided them with information about extra-curricular University activities related to the arts, facilitated their networking with students elsewhere in the School, and enabled them to register their interest in collaborating with one another via sign-up sheets.
Dr Wiley compèred the event, which featured contributions from range of other School of Arts staff as well as students. The evening ended with a series of networking activities designed to enable students to meet one another and to discuss their interests in collaborating on arts projects, followed by more informal opportunities to chat over pizza and soft drinks.
This ‘Opportunities and Networking’ event follows in the footsteps of an equally successful and well-attended panel discussion on ‘Careers in the Arts’, co-organized by Dr Wiley and hosted by the School of Arts earlier in the year.
7 October 2015
Christopher Wiley
Media, Publication, Research
30th anniversary, Boublil and Schönberg, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, film music, Les Misérables, media, Music, musical theatre, musicals, musicology, stage, Surrey, teaching, The Conversation, The Conversation UK, theatre, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley has contributed an article to The Conversation on the enduring popularity of Les Misérables, the world’s most successful musical, ahead of the 30th anniversary of its London production on 8 October 2015.
Dr Wiley’s article, ‘Les Misérables at 30: breaking hearts and records’, discussed aspects of the show’s plot and musical score, the role played by writers Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg and by producer Cameron Mackintosh, as well as more recent developments such as Tom Hooper’s 2012 film adaptation.
The full article may be read here: https://theconversation.com/les-miserables-at-30-breaking-hearts-and-records-48535
This is the second time that Dr Wiley has written for The Conversation, the first being a scholarly response to Stephen Fry, which has received 4,000 hits to date.
Founded in Australia in 2011 and launched in the UK in 2013, The Conversation is an independent global news website featuring stories and opinions sourced from the scholarly community. The University of Surrey is one of its founding UK partners.
Update: Dr Wiley’s Les Misérables article received over 1,300 hits by the end of 8 October (UK time), with readers fairly evenly distributed between the UK, US, Australia, and Continental Europe.
12 August 2015
Christopher Wiley
Academic Management, Media, Teaching
academic management, BMus, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Creative Music Technology, Dance, Guildford School of Acting, HEFCE, Higher Education, Higher Education Funding Council for England, Music, National Student Survey, National Student Survey 2015, NSS, NSS 2015, School of Arts, student experience, student satisfaction, Surrey, teaching, teaching excellence, undergraduate, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
The School of Arts at the University of Surrey is celebrating excellent results in the 2015 National Student Survey (NSS), including a score of 95% for overall satisfaction, with Dance and Music reaching No. 1 and No. 2 in the national subject rankings, respectively.
The School made gains in every one of the survey’s 22 questions, including a score of 99% satisfaction overall in the ‘Teaching on the course’ category. Three programmes – BMus Music, BMus Creative Music Technology, and BA Dance – all scored the maximum 100% for overall satisfaction.
As Director of Learning and Teaching for the School of Arts, Dr Christopher Wiley has taken a lead in developing the School’s student experience strategy, including the initiatives by which its students were engaged in completion of the NSS.
The National Student Survey is an independently conducted annual survey of final-year undergraduate students across the UK, and has become a high-profile measure of student satisfaction nationally since its introduction ten years ago.
Further information on the achievements of the School of Arts in the 2015 National Student Survey may be found here: http://blogs.surrey.ac.uk/arts/2015/08/12/national-student-survey-2015/
6 August 2015
Christopher Wiley
Performance
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, concert, Guildford, Guildford Cathedral, Margaret Ozanne, Margaret Roberts, Music, oboe, performance, recital, Surrey, University, University of Surrey, Wiley, Łukasz Jakimów
Dr Christopher Wiley performed in a recital at Guildford Cathedral as part of its 2015 series of Summer Coffee Concerts, attended by a diverse audience of around 100.
Dr Wiley played Handel’s oboe sonata in G minor, HW364a and Saint-Saëns’s oboe sonata, Op. 166, as well as Madeleine Dring’s ‘Romance’ from Three-Piece Suite.
The recital was given jointly with Polish clarinettist Łukasz Jakimów, who performed Burgmüller’s Duo, Op. 13 and Debussy’s Première Rhapsodie. Both soloists were accompanied by Margaret Ozanne (piano).
The full schedule for the Cathedral’s 2015 Summer Coffee Concerts is available here: http://www.guildford-cathedral.org/news/2015/free-coffee-concerts
16 June 2015
Christopher Wiley
Colloquium, Presentation, Research
Bach, biography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, colloquium, conference, Faculty of Music, historiography, history, J. S. Bach, literature, Marchand, Music, music and literature, music history, musical biography, musicology, myth, mythology, nationality, Oxford, presentation, research, seminar, Surrey, The Master Musicians series, University, University of Oxford, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley presented his paper ‘National Trends in Musical Biography’ in the Music Research Colloquia series at the Faculty of Music, University of Oxford on 16 June 2015, to close the series for the 2014–15 academic year.
Speaking to some 25 academics and postgraduate students in the Faculty’s Denis Arnold Hall, Dr Wiley explored the relationship between musical biography and nationality, in terms of the status of the genre at particular times and places as well as its development over time.
Case studies upon which Dr Wiley drew included biographical retellings of the story of J.S. Bach’s keyboard contest with Louis Marchand, and the ideologies that emerge from the original volumes of the ‘Master Musicians’ series. Dr Wiley had presented earlier versions of this research at the Institute of Musical Research, University of London in 2015 and 2014.
The weekly colloquia are organized by graduate students and feature musicological research presented by a range of leading academics and younger researchers from universities around the world.
Details of Dr Wiley’s Research Colloquium may be found here: http://www.music.ox.ac.uk/event/research-colloquium-chris-wiley/
10 April 2015
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Presentation, Research
Bach, biography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, historiography, history, Institute of Musical Research, J. S. Bach, literature, London, Marchand, Music, music and literature, music history, musical biography, musicology, myth, mythology, presentation, research, Surrey, University, University of London, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley and Dr Paul Watt (Monash University, Melbourne) have co-organized a two-day international conference on musical biography held at the Institute of Musical Research, University of London, on 9-10 April 2015.
The conference, entitled ‘Musical Biography: National Ideology, Narrative Technique, and the Nature of Myth’, brought together a broad range of some 50 interdisciplinary scholars from the UK, US, Australia, and Continental Europe.
In addition to several panel sessions, the conference incorporated two invited roundtable discussions, whose speakers included Professors Simon Keefe (University of Sheffield), Mark Evan Bonds (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Jonathan Cross (University of Oxford), and Rosamund Bartlett (Oxford).
In the course of the conference, Dr Wiley also chaired three of the panel sessions as well as presenting his paper ‘Myth-making and the Politics of Nationality in Narratives of J.S. Bach’s 1717 Contest with Louis Marchand’, which discussed the ideological significance of the variations in retellings of a single biographical story across different countries in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The schedule for the event may be viewed at the conference website: http://events.sas.ac.uk/imr/events/view/17765/Music+Biography+Conference
The full conference programme may be downloaded here.
31 March 2015
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Publication, Research
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, City, City University London, conference, ethel smyth, gender studies, London, Music, music and literature, music historiography, music history, musical biography, musical canon, musicology, presentation, Publication, Radical Music History Symposium, research, Sibelius Academy, Surrey, symposium, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
An essay written by Dr Christopher Wiley, entitled ‘Musical Biography and the Myth of the Muse’, has appeared as the final chapter of a new anthology in which 17 international musicologists subject the writing of music history to groundbreaking scrutiny.
Critical Music Historiography: Probing Canons, Ideologies and Institutions is edited by Vesa Kurkela and Markus Mantere, and developed from the Radical Music History Symposium held at the Sibelius Academy, Finland (now part of the University of the Arts Helsinki) in December 2011, at which Dr Wiley presented a paper.
Dr Wiley’s essay explores the pattern in musical biography of specific female characters being cast in the role of ‘muse’ to a male genius, rising to prominence at specific points in that person’s life story as a signifier of their productivity and increasing artistic powers. Such women were thereby portrayed as having inspired their associated composer to greater heights, while implicitly denied the possibility of undertaking analogous creative activity themselves.
Further information
Listing of the volume on the publisher’s website: http://www.ashgate.com/default.aspx?page=637&title_id=19817&edition_id=1209349954&calcTitle=1
Listing of the volume on amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Critical-Music-Historiography-Ideologies-Institutions/dp/1472414195/
Bibliographic citation
Wiley, Christopher. ‘Musical Biography and the Myth of the Muse’, in Vesa Kurkela and Markus Mantere eds. Critical Music Historiography: Probing Canons, Ideologies and Institutions. Farnham: Ashgate, 2015, pp. 251–61.
Full text
The full text is available for free download under licence from Surrey Research Insight Open Access: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/803216/
26 January 2015
Christopher Wiley
Presentation, Public Output, Research
autobiography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, deafness, ethel smyth, gender studies, Guildford, Guildford Hard of Hearing Support Group, hard of hearing, Millmead Centre, Music, music and literature, musical biography, musicology, presentation, research, Surrey, University, University of Surrey, Virginia Woolf, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley presented a talk entitled ‘The Composer Dame Ethel Smyth and her Deafness’ at the Millmead Centre, Guildford on 26 January 2015, for Guildford Hard of Hearing Support Group.
Smyth, who was active as composer, writer, and suffragette, was afflicted by distorted hearing and deafness for the last several decades of her life, particularly from the later 1910s until her death in 1944.
An acknowledged expert on Smyth, Dr Wiley has previously given public talks on the artist at the University of Surrey and The Women’s Library, London, as well as writing for the OUP Blog and organizing a recital of Smyth’s music to commemorate the 70th anniversary of her death last year.
16 December 2014
Christopher Wiley
Media
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Disney, Eagle Radio, education, film music, Frozen, Higher Education, learning and teaching, Let It Go, media, Music, music and the moving image, musical theatre, musicology, newspaper, popular music, press, radio, Radio Verulam, study, Surrey, The Independent on Sunday, The Telegraph, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley has contributed expert comment to an article appearing in The Telegraph on 16 December 2014, on the continuing success of ‘Let It Go’ from Disney’s Frozen.
‘5 reasons why Frozen’s Let It Go is so addictive’ by Alice Vincent may be read at the following link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/11296986/Frozen-let-it-go-why-so-popular.html (subsequently republished on 25 December 2016)
Dr Wiley is quoted a total of six times in the course of the article, as a specialist in musical theatre and music and the moving image.
This press appearance comes three weeks after comments from Dr Wiley opened an article in The Independent on Sunday, ‘All you need is a music qualification’ by Widget Finn (23 November 2014), on studying Masters degrees in music.
Update: Dr Wiley has also given interviews on the Frozen news story for Surrey and Hampshire’s Eagle Radio (30 December, four bulletins) and West Hertfordshire’s Radio Verulam (28 December, live). An article featuring Dr Wiley was published on Eagle Radio’s website on 30 December (now cached).
Update: Dr Wiley was also quoted in this iTech Post article from 26 December 2016: http://www.itechpost.com/articles/68632/20161226/frozens-go-experts-explain-songs-popularity-through-science.htm
Update: Separately from the above, Dr Wiley was quoted on Frozen in this South Wales Life article from 17 January 2020: https://southwaleslife.com/frozen-the-musical/
31 October 2014
Christopher Wiley
Academic Management, Educational Research, Publication, Teaching
academic leadership, academic management, academic practice, autoethnography, BMus, BMus degree, change management, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, City, City University London, collaborative leadership, education, Higher Education, learning, MA in Academic Practice, metric-based performance, Music, professional development, programme director, teaching, University
Dr Christopher Wiley has published an article on academic leadership in higher education in City University London’s in-house Learning at City Journal.
Dr Wiley’s essay, ‘Academic Leadership in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: A Personal Reflection on one Programme Director’s Professional Development’, provides a retrospective evaluation of his development as an academic leader to date, with particular reference to his previous position as Programme Director of City’s Music BMus programme (2009–13).
Based on work originally undertaken for his MA in Academic Practice, the article considers change management, collaborative leadership, metric-based performance, and the challenges faced by the UK higher education sector today, as well as discussing the ways in which Dr Wiley has sought to apply theories from the scholarly literature to his various leadership roles.
Further information about this publication, including the abstract, may be found at the following link: http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/4896/
Bibliographic citation
‘Academic Leadership in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: A Personal Reflection on one Programme Director’s Professional Development’, Learning at City Journal, Vol. 4, No. 2 (October 2014), pp. 39–49.
Full text
The full text of the article is available for free download via City Research Online: http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/4896/1/L%40C_Journal_Volume_4_Number_2_-_Article_4.pdf
28 October 2014
Christopher Wiley
Presentation, Public Output
Ambassadors Theatre, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Glyndebourne, Glyndebourne Tour, La finta giardiniera, Mozart, Music, New Victoria Theatre, opera, pre-event talk, pre-performance talk, presentation, Rhoda McGaw Theatre, University, University of Surrey, Wiley, Woking
Dr Christopher Wiley has given a pre-performance talk for Glyndebourne Tour 2014, to preface its production of Mozart’s opera La finta giardiniera in the New Victoria Theatre, Woking on 28 October 2014.
Speaking to an audience of over 100 opera-goers in the adjacent Rhoda McGaw Theatre, Dr Wiley endeavoured to enhance the audience’s experience and enjoyment of the evening’s performance by providing some contextual knowledge of the opera.
In the course of the half-hour talk, Dr Wiley explored the plot of La finta giardiniera, its historical background, and its significance within Mozart’s output, as well as drawing attention to noteworthy musical features and key aspects of Glyndebourne’s performance.
Mozart composed the score to his comic opera La finta giardiniera in 1774, at the age of 18. Glyndebourne’s acclaimed 2014 production was its first ever of this work.
23 October 2014
Christopher Wiley
Presentation, Public Output, Teaching
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, film music, Goldfinger, James Bond, Music, musical theatre, musicology, popular music, pre-event talk, pre-screening talk, Stephen Sondheim, Surrey, Sweeney Todd, Tim Burton, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley has delivered two pre-screening talks at the University of Surrey as part of its programme of film screenings in the Rik Medlik Building during the 2014/15 season.
Dr Wiley’s talk ‘Music and the James Bond Phenomenon’ preceded a screening of Goldfinger on 23 October 2014, which inaugurated a series dedicated to some of the best-loved Bond films. The 45-minute presentation examined the celebrated phenomenon of the theme songs to individual Bond films as well as their relationship to their associated films’ musical scores, showing how they have become an integral and instantly recognizable part of the franchise.
On 5 November 2014, Dr Wiley gave his talk ‘Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd in Context’ prior to a screening of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, part of a scheduled series of films directed by Tim Burton. Dr Wiley discussed the literary origins of the Sweeney Todd story, situated Sondheim’s musical within his wider theatrical output, and explored the show’s cinematic adaptation.
Both events were well received by their respective audiences – more people attended Dr Wiley’s pre-screening talk on Sweeney Todd than stayed on to watch the film itself!
18 July 2014
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Presentation, Research
aesthetics, biography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, historiography, history, Institute of Musical Research, literature, London, Music, music and literature, musical biography, musicology, presentation, research, Surrey, The Master Musicians series, University, University of London, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley presented his paper ‘Life and Works: The Master Musicians Series (1899–1906) as Victorian Period-Piece’ at the ‘Music Literature, Historiography, and Aesthetics’ Conference held at the Institute of Musical Research, University of London, on 17-18 July 2014.
Dr Wiley’s paper explored elements of Victorian ideology (including preoccupations with evolutionist theory and with ‘working partnerships’ between men and women) that emerge strongly from a close reading of the volumes of the original Master Musicians series. He then showed how these concerns yielded important consequences for the authors’ discussions of the musical works themselves.
The conference’s call for papers is available here: http://artsonline.monash.edu.au/news-events/call-for-papers-conference-on-music-literature-historiography-and-aesthetics/
The full conference programme may be downloaded here: http://music.sas.ac.uk/sites/default/files/files/Music%20Literature%20Historiography%20and%20Aesthetics%20programme%20(1).doc
Dr Wiley had previously presented a paper at a related conference held at Monash University, Melbourne earlier in the year.
16 June 2014
Christopher Wiley
Media, Public Output, Research
#PeoplesQs, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, education, ethel smyth, Higher Education, media, Music, musicology, People's Questions, research, Surrey, Twitter, Universities Week, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley was among the researchers and academics who took questions from members of the public via Twitter as part of Universities Week 2014.
Using the hashtag #PeoplesQs, Dr Wiley took questions about his research on the music of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and on Dame Ethel Smyth, as well as on challenges faced by music education today.
A round-up of the week’s activity from University of Surrey academic staff may be viewed here: https://storify.com/UniOfSurrey/universities-week-2014 (click on the ‘Read next page’ button for some details of Dr Wiley’s contribution)
The complete list of panellists is available here: http://www.universitiesweek.org.uk/stories/Pages/PeoplesQs.asp
8 May 2014
Christopher Wiley
Media, Public Output, Publication, Research
blog, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, ethel smyth, Music, music and literature, musicology, OUPblog, Oxford Journals, Oxford University Press, research, Surrey, The Musical Quarterly, University, University of Surrey, Wiley, Woking
Dr Christopher Wiley has contributed a text to the OUPblog, Oxford University Press’s Academic Insights for the Thinking World, to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the death of Dame Ethel Smyth, the pioneering composer and writer, on 8 May 1944.
Dr Wiley’s 1,000-word post, ‘Five facts about Dame Ethel Smyth’, may be read here: http://blog.oup.com/2014/05/facts-dame-ethel-smyth/
This blog entry follows Dr Wiley’s article on Smyth published in Oxford journal The Musical Quarterly last year.
To mark the anniversary, Dr Wiley also organized a lunchtime recital of Smyth’s music which took plan on 8 May 2014 in Woking, the town where she was resident from 1910 until her death.
Update: Dr Wiley’s blog entry was subsequently selected as one of the Editor’s Picks, appearing on the front page of the OUPblog for some weeks.
8 May 2014
Christopher Wiley
Performance, Presentation, Public Output, Research
Chris Wiley, Christ Church, Christ Church Woking, Christopher Wiley, concert, ethel smyth, Isabella Stocchetti, Margaret Roberts, Maureen Galea, Music, music and literature, musicology, presentation, recital, research, Sebastian Forbes, Surrey, University, University of Surrey, Wiley, Woking
Dr Christopher Wiley organized a recital of the music of Dame Ethel Smyth, given at Christ Church Woking by staff and students of the School of Arts at the University of Surrey, to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the composer’s death in Hook Heath, near Woking on 8 May 1944.
The one-hour lunchtime recital of chamber, vocal, and solo keyboard works featured pianists Maureen Galea and Margaret Roberts, Isabella Stocchetti (flute), and Christopher Wiley (oboe, organ), as well as members of the University Chamber Choir. The full programme was as follows:
- Two Interlinked French Folk Melodies (1928, from the opera Entente cordiale) for flute, oboe, and piano (Isabella Stocchetti, flute; Christopher Wiley, oboe; Margaret Roberts, piano)
- Aus der Jugendzeit!! E. v. H. (c.1878–80) (Maureen Galea, piano)
- Nocturne (Kanon in Gegenbewegung) (c.1877–80) (Maureen Galea, piano)
- ‘O Gott du frommer Gott’ and Canon on ‘O Gott du frommer Gott’ (Nos. IIa & IIb from Short Choral Preludes, c.1882–4) (Christopher Wiley, organ)
- Piano Suite in E major (c.1877–1880) (Maureen Galea, piano)
- Variations on Bonny Sweet Robin (Ophelia’s Song) (1928) (Isabella Stocchetti, flute; Christopher Wiley, oboe; Margaret Roberts, piano)
- Overture to the opera The Boatswain’s Mate, Piano transcription (1913–14) (Maureen Galea, piano)
- ‘Laggard Dawn’ and ‘The March of the Women’ (Nos. 1 & 3 from Songs of Sunrise, 1910) (University Chamber Choir, dir. Isabella Stocchetti; Maureen Galea, piano)
Dr Wiley, who has been conducting research on Ethel Smyth for over a decade, also gave spoken introductions to each piece, and Surrey History Centre provided their ‘Musical Passions’ exhibition celebrating Smyth’s life.
Attended by some 50 audience members, this commemoration followed the Ethel Smyth Symposium hosted at the University in February of this year.
Update: The event was favourably reviewed by Sebastian Forbes, who wrote that ‘Senior lecturer Christopher Wiley, who has done much research into Smyth, not only devised and introduced the concert but also, very expertly, played oboe and organ.’
The review is available here: http://blogs.surrey.ac.uk/arts/2014/05/12/celebrating-the-life-and-work-of-dame-ethel-smythe-concert-at-christ-church-woking/
12 April 2014
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Research
Australia, autobiography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, ethel smyth, Master Musicians series, Melbourne, Monash University, Monash University Law Chambers, Mozart, Music, music and literature, musical biography, musicology, presentation, research, Surrey, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley was among the speakers who presented at the ‘Words About Music’ conference held at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia on 12 April 2014.
Dr Wiley’s paper, ‘Music and (or?) Musical Biography’, examined aspects of the complex relationship between the life and the works in a range of composer biographies. Using case studies drawn from several different areas of his wider research – including the celebrated story of Mozart’s Requiem, the original volumes of the ‘Master Musicians’ series, and the autobiographical writings of Ethel Smyth – Dr Wiley illustrated how biographical narrative may shed much direct light on the music, or very little, or may even present a contradictory perspective from that evident from the score itself.
Held at Monash University Law Chambers, the international conference brought together scholars from across Australia and the UK, representing a range of disciplines including musicology, literature, history, and sociology.
19 February 2014
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Performance, Presentation, Public Output, Research
autobiography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Clive Williamson, concert, ethel smyth, gender and sexuality, gender studies, Isabella Stocchetti, lesbian studies, LGBT History Month, Margaret Roberts, Maureen Galea, Music, music and literature, musical biography, musicology, opera, presentation, Sophie Langdon, Surrey, symposium, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley contributed to a Symposium dedicated to Ethel Smyth (1858-1944), the Surrey-based composer and writer also noted for her suffrage activity in the early 1910s, which was held in the Performing Arts Technology Studios at the University of Surrey on 19 February. This was the University’s first ever event for LGBT History Month, for which Smyth was named as one of the faces of the 2014 theme of Music.
Introduced by Professor Diane Watt, Head of the University’s School of English and Languages, the Symposium commenced with a talk by Dr Wiley entitled ‘Dame Ethel Smyth (1858-1944): In Search of a Lesbian Identity in Music and Literature’, in which he discussed possible ways of interpreting Smyth’s artistic output as reflecting her sexual identity and feminist sensibilities, with musical illustrations provided by Maureen Galea (piano) and the University Chamber Choir.
A drinks reception followed the talk, during which audience members were able to view the ‘Musical Passions’ exhibition celebrating the life of Ethel Smyth, provided courtesy of Surrey History Centre.
The Symposium closed with a concert of solo, chamber, and vocal works by Ethel Smyth, featuring staff and students of the University including pianists Maureen Galea and Margaret Roberts, Isabella Stocchetti (flute), and Christopher Wiley (oboe), as well as the University Chamber Choir. Highlights included a performance of Smyth’s Violin Sonata with guest artist Sophie Langdon and the Head of Performance, Professor Clive Williamson. The full programme was as follows:
- Two Interlinked French Folk Melodies (1928, from the opera Entente cordiale) for flute, oboe, and piano (Isabella Stocchetti, flute; Christopher Wiley, oboe; Margaret Roberts, piano)
- Aus der Jugendzeit!! E. v. H. (c.1878–80) (Maureen Galea, piano)
Nocturne (Kanon in Gegenbewegung) (c.1877–80) (Maureen Galea, piano)- Sonata for Violin and Piano in A minor, Op. 7 (1877) (Sophie Langdon, violin; Clive Williamson, piano)
- Variations on Bonny Sweet Robin (Ophelia’s Song) (1928) (Isabella Stocchetti, flute; Christopher Wiley, oboe; Margaret Roberts, piano)
- Overture to the opera The Boatswain’s Mate, Piano transcription (1913–14) (Maureen Galea, piano)
- ‘Laggard Dawn’ and ‘The March of the Women’ (Nos. 1 & 3 from Songs of Sunrise, 1910) (University Chamber Choir, cond. Isabella Stocchetti, dir. Russell Keable; Maureen Galea, piano)
The Symposium was held in association with the University of Surrey Equality and Diversity, the School of Arts, the School of English and Languages, LGBT History Month, and Surrey History Centre. Both the talk and the concert were attended by around 50 people, including staff and students of the University and external visitors.
Further information
Event website: http://www.surrey.ac.uk/arts/music/events/ethel_smyth.htm
Poster: http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/LGBT-History-Month-Final-2014-21-01-14.pdf
Surrey History Centre: http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/lgbt-2014/
Update
An academic response to Dr Wiley’s talk, ‘Musical Inversions: Ethel Smyth’ by Dr Heike Bauer (Birkbeck University of London), appeared on the blog A Violent World of Difference on 21 February 2014: http://violentworldofdifference.wordpress.com/2014/02/21/21-feb-2014-musical-inversions-ethel-smyth/
20 November 2013
Christopher Wiley
Presentation, Publication, Research
autobiography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, ethel smyth, gender and sexuality, gender studies, lesbian studies, Music, music and literature, musical biography, musicology, opera, Publication, research, seminar, Surrey, The Musical Quarterly, University, University of Surrey, Virginia Woolf, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley presented a research seminar based on his paper ‘Music and Literature: Ethel Smyth, Virginia Woolf, and “The First Woman to Write an Opera”’ at a research seminar hosted by the School of Arts at the University of Surrey on 20 November 2013.
Dr Wiley joined the University of Surrey in September 2013 following a nine-year tenure at City University London. One aspect of his research concerns the intellectual dialogue between Ethel Smyth and Virginia Woolf (pictured, R-L). The article on which his paper is based is being published in the refereed journal The Musical Quarterly.
15 November 2013
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Publication, Research
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Haydn, Joseph Haydn, London, Music, musical biography, musicology, myth, mythology, Publication, The British Library, Wiley
A book chapter written by Dr Christopher Wiley, entitled ‘Mythological Motifs in the Biographical Accounts of Haydn’s Later Life’, has appeared in a recently-published anthology that represents a major new contribution to Haydn scholarship.
The volume, The Land of Opportunity: Joseph Haydn and Britain, is edited by Richard Chesser and David Wyn Jones and has its origins in a conference hosted by The British Library (who also published the book) in 2009, organized to commemorate the bicentenary of Haydn’s death.
Dr Wiley’s essay investigates three prominent stories in life-writing on Haydn’s later life: his visit of 1795 to the monument erected in his honour by Count Harrach at Rohrau; the performance of The Creation in March 1808; and the episode of his death the following year. It explores various revealing themes that emerge from their retellings in musical biographies over the decades, including the rising social status of the artist, Haydn’s reconciliation with Beethoven, and notions of The Creation as a harbinger of the composer’s death.
Bibliographic citation
Wiley, Christopher. ‘Mythological Motifs in the Biographical Accounts of Haydn’s Later Life’, in Richard Chesser and David Wyn Jones eds. The Land of Opportunity: Joseph Haydn in Britain. London: The British Library, 2013, pp. 195–211. ISBN 978-0-7123-5848-4.
Full text
The full text is available for free download under licence from Surrey Research Insight Open Access: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/800492/
Further information
Listing of the volume in the British Library Publishing catalogue:
Listing of the volume on amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Land-Opportunity-Joseph-Britain/dp/071235848X/
11 October 2013
Christopher Wiley
Publication, Research
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, ethel smyth, gender studies, Music, music and literature, musical biography, Musical Quarterly, musicology, Oxford Journals, Oxford University Press, research, The Musical Quarterly, University, University of Surrey, Virginia Woolf, Wiley
A major article by Dr Christopher Wiley, ‘Music and Literature: Ethel Smyth, Virginia Woolf, and “The First Woman to Write an Opera”’ (doi: 10.1093/musqtl/gdt012), has been published in The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 96.
Dr Wiley’s article calls into question the impression of the extent of women’s contributions to music composition given by Smyth’s published literature. He examines the traces of revisionism evident between her earlier and later prose writings, asking whether Smyth may have sought to present herself as essentially unique given her status as a female composer. Dr Wiley also explores the differences between music and literature as professions to which creative women aspired in the early twentieth century, with reference to Smyth’s Female Pipings in Eden and Woolf’s Three Guineas.
Founded in 1915 and published by Oxford University Press, The Musical Quarterly has long been cited as the foremost scholarly musical journal in the United States.
Bibliographic citation
Wiley, Christopher. ‘Ethel Smyth, Virginia Woolf, and “The First Woman to Write an Opera”’, The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 96, No. 2 (Summer 2013), pp. 263–95. doi: 10.1093/musqtl/gdt012
Full text
The full text is available for free download under licence from Surrey Research Insight Open Access: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/800523/
Update: Dr Wiley’s article reached no.1 in The Musical Quarterly’s monthly ranking of most-read articles (based on full-text and PDF views) throughout the final quarter of 2014, and continued to hold the top spot at the start of 2015. http://mq.oxfordjournals.org/reports/most-read
9 October 2013
Christopher Wiley
Academic Management, Prizes & Awards, Teaching
award, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, City, City University London, education, HEA, Higher Education, Higher Education Academy, London, Music, National Teaching Fellow, National Teaching Fellowship, NTF, Surrey, teaching, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley was one of 55 award winners honoured at the 2013 National Teaching Fellowship Award Ceremony, held at Middle Temple Hall, London on 9 October 2013. Dr Wiley represented both his current and former institutions, the University of Surrey and City University London, respectively.
Run by the Higher Education Academy (HEA) and funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW), and the Department for Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland (DELNI), the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme recognizes individual excellence in learning and teaching in Higher Education.
Individuals are nominated for the Scheme every year by some 350 eligible higher and further education institutions across England, Northern Ireland, and Wales. Successful nominees receive an award of £10,000 to enable their continuing professional development in learning and teaching.
Dr Wiley is pictured below receiving his award from Professor Sir Robert Burgess, Chair of the HEA Board, during the Ceremony. The announcement that Dr Wiley had been awarded a National Teaching Fellowship was made in June 2013.
13 August 2013
Christopher Wiley
Academic Management, Media
2013, BMus, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, City, City University London, HEFCE, Higher Education, Higher Education Funding Council for England, London, Music, National Student Survey, NSS, programme director, student experience, student satisfaction, teaching, teaching excellence, undergraduate, University, Wiley
City University London’s BMus Music programme has been ranked as top in the UK with 100% student satisfaction in the 2013 National Student Survey (NSS), voted by the students themselves.
Dr Christopher Wiley assumed the position of BMus Programme Director in 2009, following a year when student satisfaction – as determined by the final question of the NSS, ‘Overall, I am satisfied with the quality of the course‘ – was at just 31%. Under his leadership, student satisfaction has steadily increased to 62% (2009), 68% (2010), and to 81% last year.
Other highlights of the programme’s 2013 survey results included responses to the questions ‘Staff are good at explaining things’ and ‘Staff have made the subject interesting’ (both 100%); ‘Staff are enthusiastic about what they are teaching’, ‘The course is intellectually stimulating’, and ‘I have been able to contact staff when I needed to’ (all 97%); and six other scores in the 90s.
Launched in 2005, the NSS is an annual national survey of final-year undergraduate students, conducted by Ipsos MORI on behalf of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), and provides the standard measure of student satisfaction used in a number of major league tables. The full results of the 2013 National Student Survey are available from HEFCE’s website.
The University’s statement on its 2013 student satisfaction scores acknowledged Music’s top position in the UK.
12 August 2013
Christopher Wiley
Media, Publication, Research
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, City, City University London, ethel smyth, London, media, Music, musical biography, musicology, Publication, research, Stephen Fry, Surrey, teaching, The Conversation, The Conversation UK, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley has contributed an article to The Conversation UK, reflecting on aspects of Stephen Fry’s open letter on Russia’s controversial new anti-gay laws (which called for a ban on the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi) from his own perspective as musicologist, scholar, and teacher.
One claim that Fry made in his letter about the potential consequences of exploring Tchaikovsky’s sexuality and its relationship to his life and work under Russia’s controversial new legislation prompted Dr Wiley to reconsider elements of his own research on musical biography, not just on Tchaikovsky but also on Britten and Ethel Smyth.
Published on 12 August 2013 shortly after Fry’s letter went viral, Dr Wiley’s article, ‘Academics should stand with Fry against anti-gay Russia’, broke new ground for The Conversation UK for its content. It soon received thousands of views, helped in part by a mention by Fry himself on Twitter three days after it originally appeared.
The Conversation UK is an independent news and commentary website offering in-depth analysis, research, news, and ideas from academics and researchers, and has received over 300,000 visitors since its launch three months ago. Modelled on its successful Australian counterpart, its founding partners comprise 13 UK universities including City University London and the University of Surrey.
5 July 2013
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Educational Research, Presentation, Teaching
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, City, City University London, conference, Crete, education, electronic voting systems, Greece, Higher Education, ICICTE, Jay Carpenter, learning, London, Music, musical theatre, popular music, presentation, research, teaching, Turning Technologies, University, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley facilitated a workshop on electronic voting systems at the International Conference on Information Communication Technologies in Education (ICICTE) in Chania, Crete on 5 July 2013.
Dr Wiley’s presentation, entitled ‘Increasing Instructional Interactivity with Turning Technologies Response Technology’, was chaired and moderated by Jay Carpenter, UK Territory Manager from Turning Technologies.
Highlights of Dr Wiley’s presentation included findings from his research into student engagement with electronic voting systems, aspects of his own teaching in musical theatre and pop music, and even a dodecaphonic piece improvised on an iPad piano app.
Last year, Dr Wiley became the first ever person from the arts and humanities appointed to Turning Technologies’ global Distinguished Educator programme (see here).
The day’s programme for the conference may be accessed at the following link: http://www.icicte.org/ICICTE13Programme3.htm
A review of the conference by Olivia Fox may be found here: http://blogs.city.ac.uk/educationalvignettes/2013/08/01/review-of-icicte-technology-innovations-conference/
27 June 2013
Christopher Wiley
Media, Prizes & Awards, Teaching
award, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, City, City University London, education, HEA, Higher Education, Higher Education Academy, London, Music, National Teaching Fellow, National Teaching Fellowship, NTF, teaching, University, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley was among the 55 UK higher and further education staff awarded a 2013 National Teaching Fellowship by the Higher Education Academy. As the highest national award in learning and teaching in Higher Education, there are fewer than 600 National Teaching Fellows across the whole of the UK sector.
The Fellows were chosen from nominations submitted by some 350 eligible higher and further education institutions across England, Northern Ireland, and Wales. Submissions were assessed against three criteria: individual excellence, raising the profile of excellence, and developing excellence. Successful Fellows receive an award of £10,000, to support their professional development in teaching and learning.
The names of the successful 2013 National Teaching Fellows were announced on 27 June, and they will officially receive their awards at a ceremony due to take place in London on Wednesday 9 October.
Further information
Dr Wiley’s profile at the Higher Education Academy website: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/contacts/detail/ntfs/2013/Wiley_Christopher_profile_ntfs_2013
News item by City University London: http://www.city.ac.uk/news/2013/jun/two-city-staff-awarded-national-teaching-fellowships-for-2013
The Guardian article on the 2013 National Teaching Fellows: http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-hea-partner-zone/national-teaching-fellows-2013-hea
14 June 2013
Christopher Wiley
Media
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, live interview, London, Monocle 24, Music, music history, popular music, radio, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley was interviewed live on global radio station Monocle 24, as part of the show ‘The Briefing’, Episode 422, broadcast on 14 June 2013.
‘The Briefing’ is intended to provide an analysis of the day’s major news stories, and is broadcast at 12noon London time on weekdays. It also functions as the station’s ‘drivetime show for the US East Coast’.
The subject of Dr Wiley’s interview was the recently filed lawsuit challenging the copyright to ‘Happy Birthday to You’. Dr Wiley was interviewed in his capacity as a music historian.
The interview may be heard at the following link: http://monocle.com/radio/shows/the-briefing/422/ (listen from 22.55-27.40 for Dr Wiley’s interview). The episode is also available for download in iTunes.
30 May 2013
Christopher Wiley
Publication, Research, Research Supervision
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, City, City University London, Donat Berköz, London, Music, musicology, popular music, research, research supervision, Sini Timonen, University, Wiley
Two students whose doctoral research was supervised by Dr Christopher Wiley are celebrating recent publications.
Sini Timonen has written a book chapter on all-girl groups in garage, beat, and rock in the 1960s and 1970s for the anthology Women Make Noise: Girl Bands from Motown to the Modern, edited by Julia Downes (see here). Sini also contributed the Foreword to the e-book It’s Different for Girls, written by Merle Phillips and Margaret Brown (see here), two members of Mandy and the Girlfriends, an all-female beat group based in Hull and active in the 1960s. Its authors were first inspired to publish their reminiscences back in 2010, after Sini had interviewed them for her PhD dissertation on women musicians’ contribution to popular music in England between 1962 and 1971.
Dr Donat Berköz’s book chapter on the Turkish artist Nazan Öncel and women’s rights in modern Turkey appears in the anthology Resistance in Contemporary Middle Eastern Cultures: Literature, Cinema, and Music, edited by Karima Laachir and Saeed Talajooy (see here). Donat graduated from City University London in 2012 with a PhD dissertation entitled ‘A Gendered Musicological Study of the Work of Four Leading Female Singer-Songwriters: Laura Nyro, Joni Mitchell, Kate Bush, and Tori Amos’.
16 April 2013
Christopher Wiley
Academic Management, Educational Research, Research, Teaching
academic management, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Director of Learning and Teaching, learning, Music, new appointment, School of Arts, Senior Lecturer, Surrey, teaching, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley has been appointed Senior Lecturer and Director of Learning and Teaching in the School of Arts at the University of Surrey. The University’s School of Arts comprises the subject areas of Music and Sound Recording, Dance, Film, and Theatre, as well as the Digital World Research Centre, the Lewis Elton Gallery, and the acclaimed Guildford School of Acting (GSA).
Dr Wiley commences his new position in September 2013. His academic profile on the University of Surrey website may be viewed here: http://www.surrey.ac.uk/schoolofarts/people/complete_staff_list/christopher_wiley
19 March 2013
Christopher Wiley
Performance, Teaching
BMus, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, City, City University London, concert, London, Music, musical theatre, performance, teaching, University, Wiley
A major Musical Theatre concert featuring students of City University London, curated by Dr Christopher Wiley, was presented in the University’s Performance Space on Tuesday 19 March 2013, to tie in with the ‘Musical Theatre’ module currently being delivered by Dr Wiley on the BMus programme.
The concert’s broad range of solo numbers included ‘The Man I Love’ (Lady Be Good), ‘If I Loved You’ (Carousel), ‘Adelaide’s Lament’ (Guys and Dolls), ‘So Long, Dearie’ (Hello, Dolly!), ‘Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again’ (The Phantom of the Opera), ‘Why, God, Why?’ (Miss Saigon), ‘There’s a Fine, Fine Line’ (Avenue Q), ‘Falling Slowly’ (Once), and ‘Left Behind’ (Spring Awakening).
Also featured were the chorus numbers ‘Do You Hear the People Sing?’ and ‘One Day More’ (Les Misérables) performed by the City University Musical Theatre Chorus, a staged version of ‘What is this Feeling’ (Wicked), and a set by the City University Big Band that included ‘They Can’t Take That Away from Me’ (Shall We Dance), ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ (The Wizard of Oz), and ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ (We Will Rock You).
Some 60 performers were involved in the concert, which attracted a sell-out audience. Other highlights included the fully staged chorus ‘Another Op’nin’, Another Show’ (Kiss Me, Kate; shown above in rehearsal) to start the event, and a choreographed ‘Cell Block Tango’ (Chicago) featuring the City Block Tango Dancers.
For further information, please see: http://www.city.ac.uk/events/2013/march/a-night-at-the-musicals
Update: A promotional video about the concert and its associated academic module, featuring interviews from the students as well as footage of lectures and of the performance itself, was released in June 2013 and may be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CC01cbDvaw0
12 February 2013
Christopher Wiley
Academic Management, Presentation
BMus, careers, careers evening, careers in music, careers in the arts, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, City University London, employability, employment, London, Music, Wiley
The Centre for Music Studies at City University London hosted its inaugural ‘Careers with a Music Degree’ evening on Tuesday 12 February 2013 from 6-9pm, organized by Dr Christopher Wiley.
The event welcomed external speakers from a range of different music-related professions including venue management, teaching, freelance performance, the music business, music therapy, sound recording, and graduate positions. In addition to explaining their own roles and professions, the panel of experts had many useful employability tips to pass on to the students.
Speakers represented organizations including the British Broadcasting Corporation, the Barbican, The Latymer School, ForeSound School of Music and the Performing Arts, Mazars LLP, and the Incorporated Society of Musicians. Several were recent graduates of the City BMus programme who were now in key positions within their profession.
Around 50 current students were in attendance (together with former students and staff). Many have now made important new contacts and some have even secured placement opportunities as a direct result of the event.
13 January 2013
Christopher Wiley
Media
Alexander S. Bermange, Bermange, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, media, Music, musical theatre, musicology, radio, Radio Verulam, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley returned to Radio Verulam on 6 and 13 January 2013 as a guest on the Arts Programme, speaking in his capacity as a professional musicologist based in the St Albans area.
Presenter Alexander S. Bermange interviewed Chris live on a variety of recent developments in the world of music and musical theatre, including the UK release on 11 January of the film version of Les Misérables, whose all-star cast is led by Hugh Jackman.
Chris has become a semi-regular guest on the show in recent months, having made five appearances since April last year (see here).
Chris (left) and Alexander (right) are pictured below at the Radio Verulam studio.
Chris spoke on Radio Verulam again a few months later, on 5 May, giving a live telephone interview on Ghost: The Musical, which had recently returned to London.
18 December 2012
Christopher Wiley
Media, Publication, Research
Chris Wiley, Christopher R. Smit, Christopher Wiley, City University London, Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson studies, Music, musical biography, musicology, Publication, research, Wiley
An interdisciplinary volume of essays on Michael Jackson published earlier this year, Michael Jackson: Grasping the Spectacle, includes a chapter on musicology written by Dr Christopher Wiley.
Informed by his participation in the international press coverage of Jackson’s death in 2009 and crystallizing around the iconic tracks ‘Thriller’ and ‘Black or White’, Dr Wiley’s essay, ‘Putting the Music Back into Michael Jackson Studies’, seeks to refocus attention on Jackson’s music in relation to discussion of his music videos and their sociocultural contexts.
It concludes by exposing the danger of over-interpreting the art through the lens of the biography of the originating artist, asking whether Jackson’s celebrity will ultimately rest on his contribution to the late twentieth-century entertainment industry or on the serious controversies with which he became associated.
Bibliographic citation
Wiley, Christopher. ‘Putting the Music Back into Michael Jackson Studies’, in Michael Jackson: Grasping the Spectacle, new essays ed. by Christopher R. Smit. Farnham: Ashgate, 2012, pp. 101–16.
Full text
Dr Wiley’s essay is available for download from City Research Online, the University’s research repository, at the following link: http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/1211/
15 December 2012
Christopher Wiley
Media
BMus, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, City, City University London, Jane McConnell, London, Music, programme director, University, Wiley
The current issue (Vol.25, No.4) of Ireland’s Education magazine includes a major feature, ‘A unique music degree in London’, on City University London’s BMus Music course.
Describing the degree as ‘a very attractive package for those wishing to pursue a career in music or the self-expression that music involves’, the double-page spread includes an interview with Dr Christopher Wiley, Director of Undergraduate Studies, who is quoted as saying that ‘We are very averse to sending away interesting and well-qualified candidates. We like to engage with people as individuals not as statistics or a series of grades.’
The feature also includes information about the course structure, admissions, performance possibilities, and employment prospects, as well as a profile of second-year BMus student Jane McConnell.
Appearing on pages 16-17 of the magazine, the article may be viewed at the following link: http://issuu.com/educationmagazine/docs/education_magazine_25-4?mode=window&viewMode=doublePage
22 November 2012
Christopher Wiley
Media, Teaching
BMus, BMus degree, careers, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, City, City University London, Dionysios Kyropoulos, dissertation supervision, employability, employment, London, media, Music, music degree, press coverage, programme director, teaching, The Independent, University, Wiley
An article published today (22 November) in the Creative Arts supplement of The Independent newspaper features quotations from Dr Christopher Wiley as well as a profile of his recently-graduated BMus student Dionysios Kyropoulos.
In ‘Notes on working in music’, by journalist David Crookes, Chris tops a list of UK academics quoted in the article, who between them explain that a music degree can open up a wealth of career opportunities for the aspiring student. Chris notes that ‘There certainly is more to being a successful musician than simply playing an instrument’, before outlining some of the many career-enhancing benefits of studying music at university.
Dionysios, whose dissertation on historically-informed gestures in Baroque vocal performance was prepared under Chris’s supervision, explains how his passion for classical singing and opera led him to the UK (from Greece) and to City University London, in order to benefit from solid academic foundations for his studies in tandem with high-quality singing training.
Click here to read the full article in scanned form, or here to read the article at The Independent website.
16 November 2012
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Educational Research, Presentation, Teaching
Aston Business School, Aston University, Birmingham, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, City, City University London, conference, education, feedback, Higher Education, London, module evaluation, Music, research, Student Voice Award, teaching, teaching excellence, University, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley addressed the 17th Annual Conference of the Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA), ‘Excellence in Teaching: recognising, enhancing, evaluating and achieving impact’, held at Aston Business School Conference Centre, Aston University, Birmingham on 15-16 November 2012.
His presentation, entitled ‘Standardized Module Evaluation for Teaching Excellence and Enhancement: Views of Students and Staff at a Single UK Higher Education Institution’, discussed the principles underpinning the standardization of module evaluation and its advantages and disadvantages.
Drawing on the standardized module evaluation implemented across City University London last year and some of the more localized processes it replaced, as well as the views of students and staff interviewed as part of his research, Dr Wiley also considered other measures by which teaching excellence might instead be recognized such as student-led teaching award schemes.
In the course of the workshop session, Dr Wiley facilitated a lively discussion on the relative merits and drawbacks of standardized module evaluation, exploring the processes currently implemented at different institutions, sharing best practices, and working towards action planning for the future.
31 October 2012
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Educational Research, Media, Prizes & Awards, Teaching
award, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, City, City University London, conference, Distinguished Educator, education, electronic voting systems, Higher Education, London, Music, presentation, recognition, research, teaching, teaching innovation, Turning Technologies, University, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley, Senior Lecturer in Music at City University London, has been appointed as a Distinguished Educator by Turning Technologies, global leader in voting, polling, and assessment systems used by schools, universities, and corporations.
In this role, Dr Wiley will be responsible for sharing with the company’s growing community of users in the UK and Europe best practice, pedagogical applications, and his own experience as a music lecturer using Turning Technologies’ response technology.
Dr Wiley, who joins the Programme as the first Distinguished Educator to be appointed from the Arts and Humanities, will sit alongside world-renowned educators such as Dr Eric Mazur, Harvard Professor and creator of the highly successful peer instruction method of teaching, as well as other HE professionals from across the world.
Commenting on his appointment, Dr Chris Wiley said, “I have been using Turning Technologies’ electronic voting systems since 2008 and was awarded a University Prize for Teaching Innovation the following year for my pioneering work in this area. I was invited to join the Distinguished Educator programme following my presentation at Turning Technologies’ User Conference at Aarhus University, Denmark in June 2012.
“As a role centred on the provision of academic expertise for a commercial enterprise, the Distinguished Educator position also embodies City University London’s unique focus on ‘academic excellence for business and the professions’.”
Read the full news release here:
http://www.prlog.org/12005628-dr-christopher-wileysenior-lecturer-in-music-at-city-university-londonto-join-turning-technologies.html
http://www.cisionwire.com/livewire-pr/r/dr-christopher-wiley–senior-lecturer-in-music-at-city-university-london–to-join-turning-technologi,c9322676
http://www.24dash.com/news/education/2012-11-01-Dr-Christopher-Wiley-Senior-Lecturer-in-Music-at-City-University-London-to-join-Turning-Technologies-Distinguished-Educator-Programme
16 September 2012
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Research, Research Supervision
Alex Jeffery, Alexander Jeffery, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, City, City University London, conference, London, Music, popular music, popular music studies, research, research supervision, Sini Timonen, University, Wiley
Two doctoral students supervised by Dr Christopher Wiley presented papers at a major international conference, ‘Imagining Communities Musically: Putting Popular Music in its Place’, held by the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM) last week at the University of Salford.
Sini Timonen, who is in the closing stages of her PhD on women musicians’ contribution to popular music in England between 1962 and 1971, gave a paper entitled ‘The Girl Singer in 1960s London: the Position of Female Vocalists within the Pop Music Industry’. Drawing on original interviews conducted with lesser-known ‘Brit Girls’ active on the London pop scene in the sixties, Sini explored the major challenges they faced, the strategies by which they navigated them, and the implications of the essentially male-oriented contexts in which they worked.
Alexander Jeffery presented the paper ‘Reconfiguring Prince: how online fan communities are taking back control of the album’, in which he examined traditions amongst Prince fans active in online forums of proposing their own alternative track listings for landmark albums such as Purple Rain as well as abandoned album projects. Alex, who has recently entered his second year on the doctoral programme, is conducting research on manifestations of the long-form musical work in contemporary popular culture.
28 June 2012
Christopher Wiley
Media
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Dr Christopher Wiley has contributed expert comment to an article that appeared earlier today (28 June 2012) in the BBC News Magazine.
Speaking about ‘Survival’ by British band Muse, which was recently unveiled as the official song of the 2012 London Olympic Games, Dr Wiley is quoted as saying that ‘It’s epic. It’s inspirational. I’m sure that’s why it was chosen’.
The article, written by journalist Jon Kelly, also quotes Dr Wiley as saying that ‘There are sections that sound like a marathon and others that sound like the 100m’, alluding to the song’s varied and multi-sectional nature.
The full article may be accessed here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18624954.
13 June 2012
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Prizes & Awards, Teaching
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For the second year in a row, Dr Christopher Wiley has received a prestigious Student Voice Award, presented by City University London. He thus becomes only the second person in the history of the Award to have been a recipient in two consecutive years.
Chris was one of twelve members of academic and professional staff across the University to win the prize. Competition was, as ever, extremely fierce with a total of over 200 nominees.
The scheme is intended to reward ‘exceptional teaching practice and outstanding support services’, and to recognize excellent contribution to the student experience. Nominations are made by the students themselves and winners are decided by the University’s Students’ Union.
See this post for news of Chris’s being awarded a University Student Voice Award in 2011. Further information about the Student Voice Awards 2012 is available here.
Chris was separately awarded a School of Arts Learning & Teaching Recognition Prize for his excellent module evaluation feedback in the 2011-12 academic year.
The prizes were announced and formally presentated at a prize-giving ceremony at the close of the Fourth Annual ‘Learning at City’ Conference on 13 June 2012 (see picture above).
13 June 2012
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Educational Research, Presentation, Teaching
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Dr Christopher Wiley presented a paper on assessment and feedback at City University London’s Fourth Annual ‘Learning at City’ Conference on Wednesday 13 June 2012.
Entitled ‘Divided by a Common Language? Evaluating Students’ Understanding of the Vocabulary of Assessment and Feedback at City University London’, Dr Wiley’s paper asked whether certain key terms used routinely in assessment and feedback practice might hold a subtly different meaning for students than for staff, presenting evidence from a series of consultations with students from across the University.
A video of Dr Wiley’s presentation may be viewed from YouTube here. The full programme is available here.
21 April 2012
Christopher Wiley
Media
Alexander S. Bermange, Bermange, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, media, Music, musicology, radio, Radio Verulam, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley was featured as a guest on Radio Verulam throughout its specially extended two-hour Arts Programme on Easter Day (8 April) 2012, in which he was introduced to listeners as a professional musicologist based in the St Albans area.
Presenter Alexander S. Bermange chatted with Chris throughout the two-hour show, interviewing him live on topics including James Horner’s and Céline Dion’s musical contributions to James Cameron’s film Titanic (recently re-released in 3D) and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s television talent discovery shows.
Chris (left) and Alexander (right) are pictured below at the Radio Verulam studio.
Chris returned to the show just a few weeks later on 13 May, giving a series of live interviews about the Eurovision Song Contest and this year’s entries from Ireland, Israel, and the UK.
Update: Chris returned to the show again on 22 and 29 July 2012 (see here and here) to discuss Andrew Lloyd Webber’s latest television show, Superstar, which was being broadcast at the time on ITV, and on 30 September 2012 to talk about the production for which this show cast the lead role, Jesus Christ Superstar, which had been presented that week at London’s O2 Arena.
17 January 2012
Christopher Wiley
Publication, Research Supervision
48 Studies, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, City, City University London, critical edition, Ferling, Hassiotis, historical musicology, Kostis Hassiotis, London, Music, musicology, oboe, performance studies, performing practice, Publication, research, research supervision, University, Wiley
D
r Kostis Hassiotis, who completed the Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) programme at City University London in 2010 under the supervision of Dr Christopher Wiley, has recently published a book based on his doctoral thesis.
Entitled F. W. Ferling’s 48 Studies for Oboe, Op. 31: A Critical Edition Based on Historical Evidence with Particular Reference to Nineteenth-Century Performing Practices (ISBN: 978-3-8465-9724-8), the book is available for purchase from stores including Amazon and MoreBooks.
As the first systematic investigation of Ferling’s landmark 48 Studies for Oboe, the book includes information concerning Ferling as a performer and composer, a detailed description of his known compositions, and reference to the importance of the 48 Studies in modern instrumental training.
Now Assistant Professor of Oboe at the University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Dr Hassiotis is active internationally as a performer and researcher.
9 December 2011
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Presentation, Research
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, City, City University London, conference, gender studies, London, Music, musical biography, musical canon, musicology, Radical Music History Symposium, research, Sibelius Academy, University, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley has presented a paper at the Radical Music History Symposium 2011 hosted by the Sibelius Academy, Helsinki on 8-9 December 2011. His paper was entitled ‘Musical Biography and the Myth of the Muse’, and discussed the portrayal of women in biographies of the Great Composers who, though silenced throughout much of the text, suddenly came into view at critical junctures in life-writing on their male associates as rhetorical signifiers of the increasing power of their creative genius. Chris argued that musical biography thereby became complicit in women’s historical effacement by casting them in the role of vessels for the stimulation of artistic creation in men, implicitly denying them the possibility of undertaking such activities themselves while simultaneously linking them inextricably to those of associated male composers. Chris concluded by demonstrating some ways in which this model, for its longevity and the robustness with which it has been perpetuated, yields profound consequences for more recent writing of the lives of women composers as well as for contemporary feminist musicology’s project to deconstruct and critique musical canon.
30 November 2011
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Presentation, Prizes & Awards, Research, Teaching
award, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, City, City University London, dissertation supervision, Learning at City, London, Music, presentation, prize, research, research supervision, Student Voice Award, teaching, teaching excellence, University, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley has won a prestigious Student Voice Award (so named because all nominations are made by the students themselves) at City University London.
Staving off fierce competition from hundreds of nominees, Chris was one of 12 me
mbers of academic staff across the University to win the coveted £1,000 prize.
The Student Voice Award scheme is run by the University’s Students’ Union in conjunction with the Learning Development Centre, to acknowledge lecturers who have demonstrated great commitment to top-quality teaching, learning, and assessment over the past year, and who have made a positive impact on the student experience. Students are required to complete a one-page application by way of nominating a staff member.
Chris’s nomination was made primarily on the basis of excellence in dissertation supervision, together with quality and timeliness of feedback on written work. The students also commended him for the ‘buzz’ they feel after his lectures, for his listening and communication skills, and for the support he has given to student activities both on and off campus.
Chris was formally presented with the award at the prize-giving ceremony with which the annual ‘Learning at City’ conference ended on 23 June 2011. Earlier that day, he had delivered a presentation at the same conference based on his research on institutional handbooks for postgraduate research students.
27 September 2011
Christopher Wiley
Presentation, Public Output, Research
autobiography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, City, City University London, ethel smyth, gender studies, literature, London, march of the women, Music, musical biography, musicology, research, Sandi Toksvig, Smyth, suffrage activity, suffragette, The Women's Library, University, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley appeared alongside writer and broadcaster Sandi Toksvig at The Women’s Library, London on Tuesday 27 September, providing an introduction to the life, works, and suffrage activity of Ethel Smyth.
Dr Wiley has been researching and writing on Ethel Smyth for over a decade, including a groundbreaking article on Smyth’s intellectual relationship with Virginia Woolf, published in one of the UK’s foremost journals of musicology, Music and Letters.
The event, entitled ‘Shout! Shout! Up With Your Song!’, commemorated the 100th anniversary of the first performance of Smyth’s celebrated suffragette anthem ‘March of the Women’, and also featured a recital by the acclaimed a capella feminist choir Velvet Fist.
The flier for the event is available for download here.
Dr Christopher Wiley is quoted in BBC News Magazine article
28 June 2012
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Dr Christopher Wiley has contributed expert comment to an article that appeared earlier today (28 June 2012) in the BBC News Magazine.
Speaking about ‘Survival’ by British band Muse, which was recently unveiled as the official song of the 2012 London Olympic Games, Dr Wiley is quoted as saying that ‘It’s epic. It’s inspirational. I’m sure that’s why it was chosen’.
The article, written by journalist Jon Kelly, also quotes Dr Wiley as saying that ‘There are sections that sound like a marathon and others that sound like the 100m’, alluding to the song’s varied and multi-sectional nature.
The full article may be accessed here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18624954.