Protect the Department of Music
of the University of Nottingham

This website is dedicated to the preservation of the University of Nottingham's Department of Music. It includes updates on most recent developments, and offers ways you can support the cause.

Staff statement

On Wednesday 5 November 2025, the very same day the Prime Minister publicly reaffirmed the importance of music education, staff in the Department of Music at the University of Nottingham were informed of the immediate suspension of recruitment to all undergraduate degree programmes. This announcement precedes proposed plans to permanently close all Music degrees at the University.

This decision threatens to end over a century of music education at the heart of the East Midlands, offered continuously since the University opened in 1881. Last year, in 2024, the Department celebrated 100 years as a self-contained unit. Across that time, its Music degree programmes have educated thousands of composers, researchers, performers, educators and other creative professionals.

These include composers Colin Matthews, Trevor Wishart, Graham Fitkin, Lucy Wilkins, David Bruce and Sam Watts (BBC’s The Traitors); academics Peter Wright, Justin Williams, Lionel Sawkins, Laura Tunbridge (Heather Professor of Music at Oxford), Ian Woodfield, David Charlton, Alistair MacDonald, Joseph Hyde, Simon Waters and Nigel Wilkins; and performers Deborah Roberts (Tallis Scholars, Brighton Early Music Festival), Don Airey (Rainbow, Deep Purple), George Double (jazz drummer), Paul Goodwin (oboist, conductor), Rex Lawson (pianolist), Greg Link (Voces8, Apollo5), Donald Greig (Orlando Consort), Anna Curzon (violinist), Edward Farmer (conductor, orchestrator for Bridgerton and Race Across the World) and Ossian Huskinson (bass-baritone).

Music graduates from Nottingham have taken up leadership roles within the country’s leading arts organisations, fostering creativity and growth within the UK’s dynamic creative industries, including UK Music, Creative UK, BBC, National Youth Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Naxos Records, Sound Connections, Birmingham Opera Company, Opera North, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Albert Hall, BIMM, Soundcastle, IMG Artists, Kobalt Music, Buxton Opera House, Sinfonia Viva, Boosey & Hawkes, Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press and many more.

Generations of Nottingham Music graduates have gone into music education in schools, supported by dedicated curricular provision that is currently unique in the East Midlands. It is bitterly ironic, therefore, that the government should recently have announced a commitment to growing music education with the publication of its Curriculum and Assessment Review. In his response to an open letter from Ed Sheeran the Prime Minister stated that ‘creativity isn’t a privilege, but a right’. On the same day the Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson MP, promised to ‘revitalise arts education, putting it back at the heart of a rich and broad curriculum’. Music Mark, a national body advocating for music education, will hold its annual conference at the University of Nottingham on 17-18 November 2025.

The Department remains a centre of world-leading research, using music to explore and address complex societal and global challenges. In UK’s national Research Excellence Framework (2021) its published research ranked second out of all units at the University of Nottingham and it was in the top ten Music units nationally for 4* world-leading research. The Department is renowned for its expertise in composition, music history and culture, performance, creative technology, opera, jazz, musical theatre and film music. Prestigious research grants awarded to academics have included recent awards exceeding £1 million exploring Classical Music in the British Empire and innovative musical scores. Among many eminent former professors are Arnold Whittall, John Morehen, Nigel Osborne, Stanley Boorman, John Tyrrell, Ian Bent, Robert Pascall, Adam Krims and Denis Arnold. Honorary professors include the Blue Planet and Wild Isles composer George Fenton and award-winning jazz saxophonist Tony Kofi.

From the beginning the Department has been deeply embedded in the local community, working with schools, music hubs, community groups and venues. Pioneering staff members including Bernard Johnson (1920s-30s), Ivor Keys (1950s-60s) and Robert Pascall (1970s-90s) who promoted a culture of civic engagement and service to the wider community that continues to this day. In 2023 the Department spearheaded the creation of the multi-year partnership between University of Nottingham, Nottingham Trent University and the BBC Concert Orchestra, providing collaborative opportunities for student composers and performers as well as cultural events enjoyed by the wider community. This included an inaugural BBC Proms performance in Nottingham. Most recently, Music students have helped to curate the BBC’s forthcoming Friday Night is Music Night concert in Nottingham on Monday 10 November, to include student compositions, with a future broadcast on BBC Radio 3. In recent years students have also worked closely with local providers including Nottinghamshire Music Hub, Nottingham Theatre Royal and Concert Hall, Streetwise Opera, Sinfonia Viva, Opera North, Music for Everyone and the Halle Orchestra.

The end of the Department’s Music programmes threatens not only to dismantle a thriving academic and cultural institution, but also to severely diminish musical life and future opportunities across Nottingham and the wider East Midlands. In support of the region’s wider strategic aims to unlock growth and tackle inequality, Music staff currently provide leadership in a regional music stakeholders’ group, connecting over 30 local arts organisations and charities. The proposed closure of Nottingham’s BA degrees in Music, among the last to remain in the East Midlands, heaps further pressure on a regional arts sector that is still reeling from funding cuts of over 30% since 2010 according to the Musicians’ Union.

Staff Update March

Thank you so much for your energy and commitment to the Department of Music over the last three months. A lot has happened and continues to happen, and we wanted to update everyone on the situation. We are particularly happy to report that department alumni Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, Chris Ford, and Dr Hannah Thuraisingam Robbins recently met with Alex Sobel MP, Chair of the All Parliamentary Party Group on Music, and the APPG have extended their support to us.

Department highlights

In the last three months, Department staff and students have continued to excel. Here are some of the highlights! Prof. Nick Baragwanath received a prestigious award from the Society of Music Theory. Prof. Elizabeth Kelly premiered a new composition ‘Cooling Cathedral’, which had its first performance in Ratcliffe-on-Soar cooling tower and was covered by media including Classic FM and BBC News. Simon Paterson has published a series of articles in the magazine Sound on Sound. Dr Hannah Thuraisingam Robbins returned as a guest expert on the BBC Sounds history comedy podcast You’re Dead to Me. Dr László Rózsa performed a solo concert at the Royal Concert Hall Nottingham, including premieres of his own composition and another by Elizabeth. Dr Joanne Cormac was interviewed by the American Musicological Society about her article on the German symphony. Dr John Richards has created a new work Shifting Signals: Audio-visual Encounters for Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design (HfG) that is being presented in the Lichthof of the ZKM, Centre for Art and Media – one of the world’s leading centres for media art. Prof. Lonán Ó Briain, in his capacity as General Editor, has published another issue of the flagship journal Traditions of Music and Dance.

Alongside these staff activities, students have been involved in composition and performance workshops with the BBC Concert Orchestra. In November, Mo Zhou, Nicholas Huaman, and Ella Townsend had compositions performed as part of a special Friday Night is Music Night from Nottingham. PhD student Joseph McHardy has co-edited a critical edition of the complete works of early modern composer Vicente Lusitano. Two of our PhD students Scott McHurley and Sharang Sharma also represented Music at the Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded Midlands4Cities Festival.

What next?

The university executive board will present their proposed business plan, including the intended closure of undergraduate Music, in May. Before then, the department has the opportunity to develop and submit alternative business cases and to continue to evidence our value and contribution to the institution.

Hundreds of Nottingham alumni urge University leadership to abandon plans to close the Department of Music

More than 200 alumni of the University of Nottingham’s Music Department have written to the Vice-Chancellor urging the University to reconsider proposals to close its undergraduate music courses.

The letter, delivered to Professor Jane Norman and members of the University Council and Executive Board, warns that closing the Department would have serious consequences for music education, research and the cultural life of both the University and the wider East Midlands. It also raises concerns about the long-term reputational impact on the University and the risk of contributing to a wider national decline in access to university-level music education.

In their letter, alumni highlight the Department’s role as both a world-leading research centre and a cornerstone of the regional and national music ecosystem. They warn that closure could “create a permanent ‘cold spot’ for higher music education in the East Midlands” and risk undermining the region’s music education infrastructure for years to come.

Signatories to the letter span graduating cohorts from the 1960s to the present day, who now work across the music industry, education, academia, broadcasting and the wider creative economy. Collectively, they represent more than £3 million in tuition fee contributions to the University, alongside decades of contribution to the UK’s cultural and creative industries.

The intervention comes at a moment of clear strength for the Department. It recently secured £1.25 million in new funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), underlining what alumni describe as a stark contradiction: the University is proposing to close a Department that is being actively supported by a national research funder and is bringing significant new investment into the institution.

The latest developments follow a week of major activity within the Department. A recent event marking the arrival of a new Steinway Spirio piano brought together students, staff, musicians and regional partners, showcasing the Department’s work in performance, research and innovation.

Campaigners argue that the proposed closure of the Department runs counter to the Government’s stated ambition to revitalise music and arts education and to support the growth of the UK’s creative industries. At a time when participation in music education is beginning to recover, they warn that the loss of a high-performing Russell Group department would weaken the national pipeline and further concentrate provision in a small number of institutions.

They are calling on the University to pause the proposals and work constructively with staff, students and alumni to find a way of retaining music as an academic discipline at Nottingham.

You can read the full alumni letter HERE.

Testimonials

Sam Watts (composer of The Traitors theme, UoN Department of Music alum)

The UoN Music department set me up in my career. The arts and art education are vital, and the UoN music department excel at not only imparting knowledge, but creating community. So, the idea of removing arts programmes and closing the department seems to be incredibly short-sighted.

The Kanneh-Mason Family

As a family that has benefitted so much from the wealth of music here in Nottingham, we are devastated to hear of the plans to close the university’s music department. This will deal a colossal blow to music provision, education, performance and sustainability in Nottinghamshire and its impact will be deep and far-reaching. Without a viable and significant music presence in higher education, we will lose the music teachers, composers, practitioners and the eco-system within which both young people and professionals can thrive. As children and young people, eager to be inspired and supported in learning and performing music- and aspiring to participate in their city and community- the influence of an energetic university music department is incredibly necessary. Two of the Kanneh-Masons, who are now professional concert pianists, were given the first years of their piano lessons by the brilliant piano professor, Brenda May. We were provided with wonderful accompanists, teachers, performance spaces, encouragement and expertise, and the interaction of the department with the city and community has been invaluable. If we remove music from higher education in our city, we destroy the connections that exist within our lively creative arts, and take away a lifeline for creative expression and learning from more than one generation. We must not accept the closure of the music department under any circumstances. We present this statement as an appeal and as a tribute.

Clare Hammond (international concert pianist)

As a teenager growing up in Nottingham, contacts I made through the Music Department were vital in connecting me to the wider musical world. In my work as an international concert pianist, I collaborate closely with industry leaders who are themselves graduates of the Department. The suspension of music courses would not just harm current and potential students, but would impoverish the musical culture of Nottingham and the UK as a whole.