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MA Music (with Performance): Performance pathway

UK

20

What will I learn?

The Performance Pathway will equip you with practical, theoretical, and professional skills and knowledge in music performance at an advanced level, nurturing your holistic development as a performer, and preparing you for a career within today's music industry.

Full time staff include Director of Performance Ceri Owen, an award-winning collaborative pianist and scholar - who leads the pathway - as well as scholar-performer and early music conductor Andrew Kirkman. Tailored instrumental or vocal tuition is delivered through one-to-one lessons with leading professional performers employed either directly by the University of Birmingham or through the faculty at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. You also receive the opportunity to take advantage of the early performance opportunities afforded by the Centre for Early Music Performance and Research (CEMPR). Other performance staff in the Music Department include Simon Halsey, renowned chorus master of the CBSO and Berlin Radio Choir, and orchestral conductor Daniele Rosina.

You will develop and refine your skills as a performing musician through a combination of expert individual tuition on your instrument or voice, together with performance classes, seminars, and tutorials. You will be introduced to research in music performance studies and guided in how to draw on historical and contextual perspectives to inform and nourish your musical understanding and your individual creative and professional practice. You will also have opportunities to develop professional skills and knowledge needed to foster a music career and identify transferable skills for adjacent career trajectories.

Performance constitutes perhaps our fastest growing and most exciting venture, with ambitious plans developing from the £16 million Bramall Music Building, a facility equipped with the acoustically peerless Elgar Concert Hall - one of the most flexible concert halls of its type in any UK university - and Dome Room, designed by Birmingham Symphony Hall acoustician Nick Edwards. The recently opened University Music Hub offers a superbly equipped recording studio and flexible rehearsal spaces which are ideal for recording.

At Birmingham, Postgraduate Taught and Postgraduate Research students also have the opportunity to learn graduate academic languages free of charge, to support your studies.

Employability

Your degree will provide excellent preparation for your future career, but this can also be enhanced by a range of employability support services offered by the University and the College of Arts and Law.

The University's Careers Network provides expert guidance and activities especially for postgraduates, which will help you achieve your career goals. The College of Arts and Law also has a dedicated careers and employability team who offer tailored advice and a programme of College-specific careers events.

Which department am I in?

Department of Music

Study options

Full Time (1 year)

Tuition fees
£25,290.00 (US$ 32,781) per year
This is a fixed fee

*Price shown is for indicative purposes, please check with institution

Start date

September 2025

Venue

University of Birmingham

Edgbaston,

Birmingham,

B15 2TT, England

Entry requirements

For international students

We usually ask for a good Honours degree (2:1), or equivalent, in Music or a related subject with a substantial musical component. Degrees in other subjects will be considered where candidates have significant professional musical experience and relevant qualifications. Students need to have an IELTS 6.5 with no less than 6.0 in any band is equivalent to: TOEFL: 88 overall with no less than 21 in Reading, 21 Listening, 22 Speaking and 21 in Writing; Pearson Test of English (PTE): Academic 59 in all four skills; Cambridge English (exams taken from 2015): Advanced - minimum overall score of 176, with no less than 169 in any component.

*There may be different IELTS requirements depending on your chosen course.

Pathways options

Offered by other partners

This university accepts pathways courses from
  • Kaplan International College (KIC) London
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About University of Birmingham

The university is known globally for its pioneering research – students benefit from trailblazing discoveries that impact international society.

  • One of the world’s top research-intensive universities
  • Based in Europe’s youngest city
  • 5 colleges offering hundreds of study options
  • Plenty of dedicated international student support

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