David Conway (music historian)

This article is about the British music historian. For the British academic philosopher, see David Conway (academic). For the Irish novelist, see David Conway (author).
David Conway

David Allen Conway (born 17 February 1950) is a British music historian, academic and writer.

Early life

Conway was born in London. His sister was Barbara Conway who became a journalist. He was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, and studied economics and psychology as an undergraduate at King's College, Cambridge.[1] He obtained a PhD degree under the supervision of John Klier at University College London,[2] where he has been an Honorary Research Fellow since 2008.[3]

Career

In the 1980s, Conway and his Czechoslovak-born wife Nadia were elected councillors of the London Borough of Enfield.[4] From 1991 to 2016, he acted as a Senior Expert for the European Commission in development aid projects in the countries of the former Soviet Union.[3] His 2012 book Jewry in Music was published by Cambridge University Press. It "analyses why and how Jews, virtually absent from western art music until the end of the eighteenth century, came to be represented in all branches of the profession as leading figures – not only as composers and performers, but as publishers, impresarios and critics."[5] The book was positively reviewed by musicologist Tina Frühauf and on the BBC Radio programme Music Matters.[6][7]

Conway is a founder and director of the music festival Levočské babie leto in Levoča, Slovakia.[8] Since 2018 he has been Chair of the opera company HGO (formerly Hampstead Garden Opera).[9]

In the academic year 2019–20 Conway was a Polonsky Visiting Fellow at Oxford University.[10][11] He contributes to journals including Slavonic and East European Review, The Wagner Journal and Jewish Renaissance.[12]

Publications

Conway's publications include:

  • Jewry in Music: Entry to the Profession from the Enlightenment to Richard Wagner (2012). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-316-63960-3.
  • "A New Song" in The Cambridge Companion to Jewish Music, ed. Joshua Walden (2015). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-62375-0.[13]
  • "The Real Faust: Heine's Faust Ballet Scenario 1846–1948", in The Oxford Handbook of Faust in Music, ed. Lorna Fitzsimmons and Charles McKnight (2019). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-993518-5.[14]
  • "Spontini's Complaint", in Judaism in Opera, ed. I. Schmid-Reider and A. Cahn, Regensburg: Conbrio Verlag (2017).ISBN 978-3-940768-68-1.[15]

References

Notes

  1. ^ Campbell (1998), p. 561.
  2. ^ Thesis precis, University College London. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  3. ^ a b Institute of Jewish Studies, University College London. Retrieved 10 May 2017
  4. ^ Gove (1995), p. 107
  5. ^ Conway (2012), p. i.
  6. ^ Frühauf, Tina (2013), "Jewry in Music: Entry to the Profession from the Enlightenment to Richard Wagner by David Conway (review)", Notes, 69 (3): 535–537, doi:10.1353/not.2013.0006, S2CID 161668249
  7. ^ BBC Music Matters, 18 February 2012 (at 27' 25"). Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  8. ^ "About us", Levočské babie leto website. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  9. ^ "Hampstead Garden Opera - About Us - People". Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  10. ^ "Current Visitors", website of Oxford University Centre of Hebrew and Jewish Studies (on Wayback Machine). Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  11. ^ "Oxford Seminar: Between Sacred and Profane - Jewish Musical Cultures in Early Modern Europe", academia.eu website, accessed 21 May 2020].
  12. ^ Publications list at UCL Discovery. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  13. ^ The Cambridge Companion to Jewish Music, Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  14. ^ The Oxford Handbook of Faust in Music, Oxford University Press. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  15. ^ Judaism in Opera, Conbrio Verlag. Retrieved 29 June 2017

Sources