Laura Tunbridge

Professor Laura Tunbridge is a leading scholar in 19th- and 20th-century musicology, specializing in German Romanticism, song cycles, and performance history. She holds the position of Professor of Music at the University of Oxford's Faculty of Music, alongside being Henfrey Fellow and Tutor at St Catherine's College. Her academic journey includes roles at the University of Manchester (2004–2014) and the University of Reading (2002–2004). She earned her BA from the Queen’s College, Oxford, MA from the University of Nottingham, and PhD from Princeton University.

Her research focuses on reception history, critical discourse, and performance practices, with notable works like Schumann’s Late Style (2007), The Song Cycle (2010), and Singing in the Age of Anxiety (2018). Current projects include a Leverhulme Trust-funded study on A Social and Sonic History of the String Quartet. She has been a Visiting Scholar at Columbia University and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science.

• Awards: Fellow of the British Academy (2021), Member of Academia Europaea (2020), Dent Medal (2021), and Presto Books’ Best Composer Biography (2020).
• Editorial Roles: Editor of the Journal of the Royal Musical Association (2013–2018) and co-editor of multiple volumes including Rethinking Schumann (2011).
• Public Engagement: Regular contributor to BBC radio programs, pre-concert talks, and publications like Times Literary Supplement.

Her teaching spans undergraduate courses on Richard Strauss and the string quartet, to graduate seminars on aesthetics and analysis. She supervises doctoral students exploring topics from 19th-century chamber music to contemporary opera. Laura co-founded the Oxford Song Network and Women’s Song Forum, promoting interdisciplinary and collaborative research.