Jamie Savan (PI) is Professor of Performance-led Research in Music at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Birmingham City University, where he leads the AHRC-funded research project ‘Aural Histories: Coventry c.1451-1642’. His research interests are principally in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century performance practice and applied organology. As a performer he is best known for his work as founder-director of The Gonzaga Band and a member of His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts.
Helen Roberts (RA) is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire working on ‘Aural Histories: Coventry c.1451-1642’, with research interests in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century English performance practices. As a professional cornettist, Helen has worked with period instrument ensembles in the UK, Europe and North America and is a member of His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts. Helen is managing editor of Septenary Editions and runs the improvisation and ornamentation practice app Passaggi.
Magnus Williamson (CI) is Professor of Early Music at Newcastle University, Chairman of the British Academy series Early English Church Music, and co-investigator on Aural Histories (AHRC), Henry VIII on Tour (AHRC) and Bee-ing Human (Leverhulme Trust). His published research investigates musical sources and contexts from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century, as well as the role of improvised and composed keyboard music in the Renaissance.
Andrew Kirkman (CI) is Peyton and Barber Professor of Music at the University of Birmingham. He works on sacred music of the late Middle Ages, which he performs with his ensemble The Binchois Consort, and has written also on diverse topics including Shostakovich and David Bowie. His most recent monograph, Music and Musicians at the Collegiate Church of St-Omer: Crucible of Song, 1350-1550, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2020.
Christian Frost (CI) qualified as an architect in 1990 following the completion of his studies at the University of Cambridge. He worked in practice, at home and abroad for over ten years before becoming a full time academic in 2001, when he began to research the history of the foundation of Salisbury. This resulted in the publication of his book Time, Space and Order: The Making of Medieval Salisbury (Peter Lang, 2009). In 2013 he became Professor of Architecture at the Birmingham School of Architecture developing the school’s research culture and continuing to publish on subjects related to festivals and architecture. Since 2019 he has been Head of Architecture at London Met.
Simon Hall (CI) is Head of Music Technology at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. He is an active composer, producer, recording engineer and bass trombone player as well as educator. He has worked across a range of genres in a range of capacities, with artists as diverse as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pierre Boulez, Louis Andriessen and Heiner Goebbels to Johnny Mathis, Barry Manilow and Jamelia. Simon brings his expertise in sound recording and audio engineering to the Aural Histories project and is working closely with the practice-led research and acoustics leads on creating digital research spaces.
Islah Ali-MacLachlan (CI) is Associate Professor and subject lead for acoustics, covering musical, environmental, and building acoustics. He has a PhD in Music Research (Birmingham City University), PGDip (IOA) in Acoustics and Noise Control (Derby University), and BSc(Hons) Industrial Design (Technology) (Napier University of Edinburgh). He is a member of the Institute of Acoustics and sits on their board of education. His research interests are in computational ethnomusicology, concentrating on the use of signal analysis techniques applied to musical playing styles. He also researches in the field of acoustics, with an interest in projects involving environmental and building acoustics. He is an active musician and live engineer, and education director of a major UK folk festival.