Ben Earle

Dr Ben Earle is a Senior Lecturer and Head of the Department of Music at the University of Birmingham. He holds a MA (Cantab), MMus (London), and PhD (Cantab). His academic career includes a Junior Research Fellowship at St John’s College, Oxford before joining Birmingham in 2004. His research focuses on 20th-century music, analysis, critical theory, and the intersection of music with fascist Italy’s cultural politics. He teaches undergraduate and postgraduate modules on topics including modernist music analysis, critical theory, and the history of musical aesthetics.

• Education:
• MA from University of Cambridge
• MMus in Theory and Analysis from King's College London
• PhD from University of Cambridge

Research interests include Marxist aesthetic theory (Adorno/Jameson), Italian and British concert music, and the cultural politics of fascism. His publications analyze composers like Pizzetti, Dallapiccola, and Puccini, with recent work on musical modernism in Fascist Italy. He actively reviews for major journals and contributes to scholarly editions of works by Arthur Bliss and Riccardo Zandonai.

Administrative roles include Library representative, Exams Officer, and Director of Learning and Teaching. His current research explores musical realism and the legacy of modernist composers. He advises PhD students on topics ranging from Ghedini’s operas to saxophone performance practices in interwar Italy.