Xin Ying  Ch’Ng Music PhD Researcher

I completed my bachelor’s degree in Malaysia with a focus in Classical Music Performance before coming to the UK. Switching from performance to musicology was challenging, but one that I really enjoyed doing and being in a university that encourages research really helps. I received my MMus in Musicology at the University of Southampton under the supervision of Prof Jeanice Brooks. My master’s dissertation focuses on the singer, Kathleen Ferrier and her influence in Britten’s opera, The Rape of Lucretia. In the same year, I was very fortunate to receive a partial grant from the University of Southampton to continue my PhD studies.

I am now a 2nd year PhD candidate at the University of Southampton under Prof Jeanice Brooks and Dr Thomas Irvine. My research includes the negotiation of singers and voices (Kathleen Ferrier, Alfred Deller and Peter Pears) in the mid-20th century Britain. Music in 20th century underwent a myriad of changes. I am fascinated by how music can be used as a mirror to reflect socio-cultural backgrounds through inter-disciplinary engagement of various disciplines. My understanding of voices and its manifestations probes beyond the surface of history but provides access to a different idea of identity construction. What particularly interests me is the involvement of performers and how both their physical and authorial ‘voices’ contribute to the fabric of music historiography. My research suggests understanding the connotations behind the claims of ‘Englishness’ made towards the singers’ voices. Using their voices as tools to map out questions of national identity and nationhood, I am able to bring cultural understandings unprecedented before in British musical historiography.

Contact: xycn2g11@soton.ac.uk