Our department is one of the leading centres for the study of music in Britain, being consistently ranked amongst the top 5 UK departments by the Good University Guide. We are part of a long-established collegiate university, with premises situated on a UNESCO World Heritage Site adjacent to Durham's magnificent medieval Cathedral. We are part of a collaborative Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) in Music, funded by the Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE).

Our international staff comprises musicologists, composers and performers who are leading figures in their fields.  They offer expertise in a notably diverse range of areas, including nineteenth- and twentieth-century music, new music, electroacoustic music, performance, composition, ethnomusicology, analysis, aesthetics and cultural/critical theory.  We attract students from all over the world and strive to make our department a supportive and intellectually stimulating environment in which they can fully realise their academic potential.