Emma Dillon

Professor Emma Dillon is the Thurston Dart Professor of Medieval Music and Cultures at King’s College London, affiliated with the Centre for Late Antique and Medieval Studies. She holds a DPhil from the University of Oxford and has held academic positions at the University of Pennsylvania (1998–2012), where she also chaired the Music Department, and was a visiting scholar at institutions including UC Berkeley and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Her research explores medieval music and culture (1100–1400), focusing on sound studies, material texts, and interdisciplinary methodologies. She leads the ERC-funded MUSLIVE project (2023–2028), examining French song through an historical anthropological lens.

Her educational background includes a BA in Music at Oxford (1989–1992) and a DPhil (1998), complemented by a Junior Research Fellowship. Teaching emphasizes practice-led approaches, integrating performance and primary source engagement. Awards include the Leverhulme Trust Major Fellowship (2016–2019) and British Academy Grant (2016–2017). Public engagement projects include collaborations with the British Museum and Temple Music Foundation, producing exhibitions, films, and performances.

Key projects include 'Things that Sing' (exploring medieval sound objects) and 'The Romance of Song' (trouvère song origins). Her publications span monographs, edited volumes, and articles on medieval music’s intersections with literature, material culture, and performance. She serves on editorial boards for journals like Resonances and founded the Sound in History series.