Skip navigation

Dr Amelie Addison

Lecturer

Amélie Addison grew up in Gateshead, benefiting from local Music Service tuition. She studied cello at Royal Conservatoire Scotland (Glasgow) and TrinityLaban Conservatoire (London), specialising in historically-informed performance of eighteenth-century chamber and sacred music. Amélie enjoyed a varied career as an instrumental, theory, musicianship and ensemble tutor, and a freelance performer.

Amélie completed her doctorate (University of Leeds, 2023) on Tyneside-born theatre composer William Shield, reconstructing his itinerant early career from local archives, discussing how his Border heritage influenced his adaptations of 'national airs' in popular songs, and considering how his compositional style contributed to the political, topical and cultural resonance of his theatre works. She has presented aspects of her research on Shield to the North East Forum for Eighteenth Century and Romantic Studies, English Folk Dance and Song Society, Royal Musical Association, International Society for Eighteenth Century Studies and Society for Theatre Research.

Amélie was awarded the British Society for Eighteenth Century Studies / Northumbria University Fellowship 2023/24, during which she undertook further research into William Shield’s links with traditional fiddlers and pipers, and the absorption of his compositions into traditional music archives, in Tyneside, Durham and Northumberland. She also held a postdoctoral fellowship from Leeds Arts & Humanities Research Institute, focused on studying the repertoire and lived experiences of touring circus bandsmen in the 1890s.

Amélie was a Be Curious Associate in public engagement at the University of Leeds, presenting family-friendly activities inspired by her research on circus drummer Teddy King as part of the tricentenary celebration of civil engineer John Smeaton at Armley Mills Industrial Museum, and at the University's Be Curious festival.

Amelie Addison

Amélie's research interests include: the biography, networks and compositions of William Shield and his contemporaries; the lived experience and repertoire of musicians in circus and other popular touring entertainments during the long nineteenth century; historical performance practice, contextual analysis and scholarly editing of baroque and classical string chamber music, theatre, song and dance music; intersections between traditional, popular and composed musics, in professional, sociable and domestic contexts; transmission and translation of music through oral tradition, manuscript and print across geographical and social borders; music as labour, and representation of musicians in culture and politics; music education and pedagogy, including experiential approaches to music theory; theology of music; poetry of place and identity.

  • Music PhD June 22 2023
  • Music June 30 2010
  • Music BA (Hons) June 30 2005
  • Diploma in Cello Performance DipABRSM


a sign in front of a crowd
+

Northumbria Open Days

Open Days are a great way for you to get a feel of the University, the city of Newcastle upon Tyne and the course(s) you are interested in.

Research at Northumbria
+

Research at Northumbria

Research is the life blood of a University and at Northumbria University we pride ourselves on research that makes a difference; research that has application and affects people's lives.

NU World
+

Explore NU World

Find out what life here is all about. From studying to socialising, term time to downtime, we’ve got it covered.


Latest News and Features

CCE1 generic
the logo for Sounds Good Audiobooks
The 2024 International Volunteer Cooperation Organisations (IVCO) conference was hosted by Northumbria University.
A person going into an MRI scanner
Partition
Community Practitioners in Belfast
More news

Back to top