Tutor information
Jonathan Darnborough
Jonathan Darnborough is Director of Studies in Music and Departmental Lecturer in Music at Oxford University Department for Continuing Education. He is a composer and pianist and has worked in continuing education throughout his career. He was a prize-winner in the 1992 Franco-Italian Piano Competition in Paris and he has performed throughout Britain, as well as in Europe, the USA and Indonesia.
Courses
Explore the piano repertoire in a lively mixture of talks and workshops, with all students having regular opportunities to play. This term focusses on interpretation but technical issues will be discussed in the workshops. Open to players of all levels.
A course for anyone who loves music but wants to understand it better. We explore classical, jazz, pop, folk and world music in a non-technical way from the point of view of the listener, aiming to give a deeper sense of involvement in the music.
From Cristofori’s revolutionary idea of creating a keyboard instrument with hammers, the piano has become a central element in music making. This course explores the evolution of the instrument and its repertoire over three centuries.
How does a composer create a piece of music? This is a course for anyone who has ever wondered how all those great works came into being. No prior musical knowledge is required for the full enjoyment of the course.
Wagner's Ring Cycle is still one of the greatest challenges in the operatic repertory, for performers and listeners alike. We will study each of its four operas in depth and trace the connections between them.
Explore the piano repertoire in a lively mixture of talks and workshops, in which all students will have regular opportunities to play. We will focus on technique, but workshop sessions will also cover interpretation. Open to players of all levels.
The aim of musical analysis is to understand how music exerts such a powerful effect on us. This course introduces some of the main approaches as we attempt to bridge the gap between our intuitions about music and our intellectual knowledge of it.