Rachael Durkin

Dr Rachael Durkin is a Senior Lecturer at Northumbria University, Newcastle. Her research focuses on the history of musical instruments (organology) and music-making. She is the author of the first scholarly study of the viola d’amore (Routledge, 2020), and lead editor of The Routledge Companion to Music and Modern Literature (Routledge, 2021).

Following her undergraduate degree in music, she was awarded her PhD from The University of Edinburgh in 2015. Having previously lectured at The University of Edinburgh and Edinburgh Napier University, she joined Northumbria in 2019 as one of the founding members of Music where she lead the performance and pedagogical strands of the Foundation and Music BA(Hons) programmes. Her research focuses on the history of musical instruments from the angles of musicology/organology studies and material culture studies, and music-making. Current areas of interest include the life and legacy Charles Clagget (1733–1796); the rise and demise of the Georgian assembly rooms; the work of author-musician William Crawford Honeyman; and wider consideration of musical instruments in literature.

Rachael was appointed as a Trustee of Hebrides Ensemble in 2021.