School of Music
Dr Stephen Muir
Senior Lecturer in Performance and Russian Music
0113 3438229
BMus, PhD (Birmingham)
Stephen Muir was educated at Bradford Grammar School and the University of Birmingham, graduating with a first-class degree (1994) and PhD on Rimsky-Korsakov's operas (2000). He has worked as a professional percussionist and conductor, and is in demand as a tenor soloist throughout the North of England. His research focuses on the music of Russia and Eastern Europe, particularly Rimsky-Korsakov and Dvorák, the critical editing of music, and Jewish liturgical music. He is Assistant Director of Leeds University Liturgical Choir, and a member of Leeds Baroque Choir.
- Russian music
- Czech music
- Opera
- Critical editing
- Dvorák
- Vocal performing practices
- Jewish liturgical music
Stephen Muir's research has focussed primarily on the music of Russia and Eastern Europe, with a particular emphasis on opera. His PhD thesis (The Operas of Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov from 1897 to 1904; Birmingham, 2000) resulted in articles and chapters in Russian and English collections, and presentations at Russian conferences, and he plans a book on the same subject. His interest in opera also extends to critical editing, and he is currently occupied with preparing an edition of Antonn Dvorák's opera Tvrdé palice for Editio-Bärenreiter Prague. He is also interested in vocal performing practices, particularly of the nineteenth century. Alongside this, he has participated in a number of research-led operatic premieres at Bretton Hall and the University of Leeds. He has recently begun research into Jewish liturgical music, with a view to investigating the use of music in British Jewish communities, particularly in Leeds.
Current Modules
- MUSI1020 Music in History and Culture: lectures in Russian and East European Music
- MUSI1121 Music Research Skills: research skills tutorials, lectures
- MUSI1320: introduction to conducting
- MUSI2721/2722/3721/3722 Music in Context: Music and National Identity, Music and the Abrahamic Faiths
- MUSI3021 Analysis of Symphonic Repertoire: lectures on Tchaikovsky
- MUSI3120/3140 Minor/Major Dissertation: supervising mostly Russian/Eastern European topics
- MUSI5060M Introduction to Musical Scholarship: presentation skills, writing funding applications
- MUSI5332M/5360M Instrumental/Vocal Recital: module coordinator; performance classes; programme-note writing classes
- MUSI5337M Applied Performance Studies: seminar on Business for Musicians
- MUSI5430M Editing and Archival Studies: editing from multiple sources; authority of sources
Module Coordinator for
- MUSI2721/2722/3721/3722 Music in Context
- 2003-2007: School Examinations Officer
- 2007- : Director of Learning and Teachingresponsible for all Learning and Teaching activities in the School, chair of School Learning and Teaching Committee, member of School Management Committee and Workload Group.
Contributions to books and conference proceedings
- Muir, S. P. K., 'Rimsky-Korsakov's Operatic Legacy', in Noölle Mann (ed.), Discovering Rimsky-Korsakov (London: Centre for Russian Music, 1998), 12-15.
- Muir, S. P. K., 'Bibliografiya angliskikh i amerikanskikh issledovanii o Rimskom-Korsakove 1990-ykh godakh', Peterburgskie muzykalnye arkhivy: sbornik statei i materialov 3 (St Petersburg, 2001).
- Muir, S.P.K., 'Serviliya N. A. Rimskogo-Korsakova', in L. G. Danko (ed.), Peterburgskaya konservatoriya v mirom muzykalnom protsesse 1862-2002 (St. Petersburg, 2002), 173-176.
- Muir, S. P. K., 'Piano-vocal reductions of Dvorák's early operas: a question of authorship', The Work of Antonin Dvorák (1844-1904): Aspects of Composition; Problems of Editing; Reception. Proceedings of the International Musicological Conference, Prague, September 2004 (Prague: Institute of Ethnology, Academy of Sciences, 2007).
Periodical articles
- Muir, S. P. K., 'Rimsky-Korsakov, Sadko, and the byliny', British Postgraduate Musicology 1 (October 1997), 5-13.
Contributions to encyclopaedias
- Contributions to Alison Latham (ed.), The Oxford Companion to Music (Oxford University Press, 2002): 'Russia', 'Conducting', plus further 11 new and 4 revised short entries on various aspects of performance.
Editions (critical & other)
- Antonn Dvorák, Tvrdé palice, Critical Edition, New Dvorák Edition (Editio-Bärenreiter, Prague: forthcoming, expected 2012).
Public Performances
- Anton Eberl, Die Königin der schwarzen Inseln, Bretton Hall, 1999 (Shah Kosru)
- (Franz Schubert, Die Freunde von Salamanka, Wakefield Opera House, 2000 (Alonso)
- (J. C. Bach, Amadis de Gaule, Wakefield Opera House, 2001 (Amadis)
- J. F. Lampe, Margery; or, a Worse Plague than the Dragon, Wakefield Opera House, 2002 (Moore of Moore Hall)
- Antonn Dvorák, Tvrdé palice, University of Leeds, 2003 (Tonk)
Conference papers (oral)
- "Initiating an Exceptional Student Journey, or 'The Most Rewarding Teaching I've Ever Done': designing and implementing a Research Skills module in the School of Music, University of Leeds"; paper at The Seventh Annual University of Leeds Learning & Teaching Conference, Friday 8 January 2010.
- "Rethinking the curricululm: developments at Leeds"; poster session at Music Skills in Higher Education: Re-Thinking Pedagogy and Practice, Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning: Music and Inclusivity, University of Newcastle, 16 September, 2009
- Muir, S. P. K., 'Sources and motivations for Rimsky-Korsakov's Servilia', RMA Research Students' Conference, University of Southampton, January 1998.
- Muir, S. P. K., 'Towards a new critical edition of Tvrdé palice', RMA Study Day on Dvorak's Operas, University of Leeds, March 2003.
- Muir, S. P. K., 'Vocal performance practice in the nineteenth century: the interface between popular and high-art performances', 5th Biennial International Music in 19th-century Britain, University of Leeds, 2003.
- 2002-3 AHRB Small Grant
- 2005-6 Faculty Research Leave (semester 1)
- 2005-6 AHRC Research Leave (semester 2)
- 2006 AHRB Small Grant
- 2007 University of Leeds HEIF III Fund
- 2008-11 University of Leeds HEIF IV Fund
- 12th Biennial Conference on Nineteenth-Century Music (conference organiser, Bretton Hall, 2002)
- International Conference on Baroque Music (member of conference committee, University of Leeds, 2008)
- Committee member, Leeds Baroque
Current Research Students
- Georgia Katsiroumpa: Dion Arivas Atticos
Past Research Students
- Anastasia Belina, A critical re-evaluation of Sergey Ivanovich Taneyev's opera Oresteia (2009)
Abstract
The Operas of Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov from 1897 to 1904
The operatic oeuvre of Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) is generally regarded as one of the most important in the whole of Russian music, although most scholars have neglected many of the operas composed during the period 1897 to 1904. This thesis sheds new light on the works from this period (particularly Mozart and Salieri, Boyarinya Vera Sheloga, The Tsar's Bride, Servilia, and Pan Wojewoda). It constitutes the first analysis of these hitherto neglected works as a distinct group, and of several of them in their own right. Through the examination of personal correspondence, memoirs and contemporary press reviews, the genesis and reception history of these operas is traced, and the conclusion is reached that the period 1897 to 1904 was highly significant in forming the musical language of the composer's final operatic masterpieces
- TQEF: Developing new UG Music programmes at the University of Leeds (2009-10)
- Leeds University Liturgical Choir: performances in Leeds, London and Germany, 2007
- Leeds University Liturgical Choir: performances in Leeds, Lincoln, Italy; recordings, 2008-11
- Assistant Director, Leeds University Liturgical Choir
- Member of Leeds Baroque Choir
- Tenor soloist with the Davies Music agency
- Leeds University Liturgical Choir http://www.leeds.ac.uk/music/lulc
- South Asian Arts UK http://www.saa-uk.org.uk/
- The British Forum for Ethnomusicology http://www.bfe.org.uk/
- The British Association for South Asian Studies http://www.staff.brad.ac.uk/akundu/basas/
- The Royal Asiatic Society http://www.royalasiaticsociety.org/