Michael Burden

Biography

Michael Burden is Professor of Opera Studies at the University of Oxford, and Fellow in Music at New College, where he has been Dean since 2001. He was Chair of the Music Faculty, 2015-18 and President of the British Society of eighteenth-century studies, 2009-13. The Barr-Smith Library is in the process of receiving his theatre collection, which includes plays, prompt books, and ephemera.
His research topics range from Henry Purcell to Metastasio; he is also active in the study of theatrical staging, which led to the collected volume Staging History, and an accompanying exhibition at the Bodleian Library. Much of his research has been directed towards to the London Stage Calendar 1800-44, an online resource that will transform scholarly endeavour in study of stage performances.
He has a particular commitment to historical dance, and with Jennifer Thorp, organises the annual Oxford Dance Symposium; their joint publications include the ground-breaking volumes Ballet de la Nuit Rothschild B1/16/6 and The Works of Monsieur Noverre Translated from the French: Noverre, His Circle, and the English Lettres sur la danse.
These activities mesh with the performance of opera, and through New Chamber Opera, he researches, promotes and directs opera (particularly obscure ones!) from all periods and in all styles.