Performances and Public Presentations 2007-2024

2024

• Monday 22 January 2024: 'Born under the Sign of St Cecilia: Jane Austen and Music', online lecture for Inspirare Arts Foundation, India. 

• Thursday 21 March 2024: Adelaide launch of She Played and Sang at Flinders University Library, with Professor Anna Goldsworthy.

• 5 June: York Festival of Ideas (online)

• 18 June: Jane Austen Played and Sang - recital at Urrbrae House, University of Adelaide Waite Campus.

• 23 June: Talk online for JASNA DC.

• 25 June: Take for Probus Western Australia, Royal Perth Golf Club.

• 20 July: Book event and concert at Jane Austen's House Museum, Chawton.

• 12 August: Book event at Heffers Bookshop, Cambridge.

• 17 August: Book event at Edinburgh Bookshop, Edinburgh.

• 21 September: Concert at Jane Austen Festival, Bath, September 2024.

• 25 September: Book event at Hodges Figgis Bookshop, Dublin.

2023

• Sunday 23 April 2023: 'Jane Austen's Four Last Songs': a program based on the songs her young relatives remember her singing in her last years. 3pm, St David's Anglican Church, 492 Glynburn Road, Burnside, South Australia. Repeated at Lyceum Club Adelaide on 2 May and at Living Choice Fullarton on 23 August. Concert program available here; vocal tracks on YouTube here.

• June to August 2023: presentations to various UK branches of the Jane Austen Society.

• 7 July 2023: Antiquity and Italian Song in Jane Austen's Music Collection, paper presented at International Society for Eighteenth Century Studies Conference, Rome, 3-7 July 2023.

• July 2023: Fellowship at Institute of Advanced Studies in the Humanities, Edinburgh University, including a lecture and a recital at the Scottish Arts Club.

• August 2023: The Austen Family Music Books and Jane Austen's Musical Relationships, paper and associated recital presented at International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres (IAML), Cambridge University.

• 27 September 2023: Lecture: Jane Austen's Four Last Songs at The Johnston Collection, East Melbourne. Also at the Jane Austen Society of Melbourne in October 2023.

• Saturday 11 November - 'Scotch' and 'Irish' music in Jane Austen's collection - Musicological Society of Australia (SA) Study day, University of Adelaide.

• Saturday 18 November - Caroline Austen and her aunt's love of music - Jane Austen Society of Adelaide, WEA, 223 Angas Street, Adelaide. 

• Tuesday 28 November - 'Jane Austen’s music books from near and far' - Bibliographical Society of ANZ conference (online).

• Friday 1 December - "'I flung away my spinning wheel" - the representation of sexual and romantic consent in 18th century music, art, and fiction' (with Lani Gerbi). Conference paper and short lunch-hour concert at Musicological Society of Australia conference (Adelaide, 29 November to 2 December). 

2022

• Saturday 28 May 2022; ''Capacity, and Taste, and Application, and Elegance': Music in Jane Austen. Presentation to JASNZ (online). Link to event on Eventbrite.

• Thurday 21 July 2022, "Wishing the Juvenilia Away: Austen's Advice to Caroline", Literary Juvenilia, Material Imagination and ‘Things’: Virtual Conference 20–22 July 2022.

• Saturday 19 November 2022: "Wishing the Juvenilia Away: Austen's Advice to Caroline", Jane Austen Society of Adelaide, WEA Adelaide, 1.30-3pm.

2021

• 'There is no understanding a word of it': European vocal music in Austen's musical and literary world: Presentation for JASNA 2021, October, Chicago (Included in post-conference 'AGM On Demand' recording plus round-table Q&A in January 2022).

• Tuesday 3 August 2021, Jane Austen's Music: presentation at Lyceum Club, Adelaide. 

• Monday 17 May, 2021, "Confinement and Captivity in Jane Austen’s Musical and Literary worlds," Rejuvenation of LIterature and Language Webinar, Reva University (Bangalore) in collaboration with ISPELL (Indian Society for the Promotion of English Language and Literature). Link to video on YouTube  - link to poster

2020

• Friday 7 August, Jane Austen and the Music of the French Revolution, Flinders University History Seminar Series 

• Saturday 29 August, Music in Jane Austen's Life and Work - Organised by The Department of English, Maniben Nanavati Women's College, Mumbai, and New Alipore College, Kolkata. Online talk - Recording available on YouTube

• Saturday 19 September, Forgiveness in Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen Society of Adelaide. 

• Saturday 10 October, Juvenile Songs and Lessons: Music Culture in Jane Austen's Teenage Years on Vimeo - Online Presentation ("Special event"), Jane Austen Society of North America Annual meeting October 2020

• Saturday 17 October, Concert - 'Jane Austen: the French Connection', Adelaide University Library. Recording available on SoundCloud - click here to view program

• November-December, 'The Hindoo Girl's Song: A Shady Story from British India' (with Umme Salma), in Dark Enlightements, the David Nichol Smith Seminar 2020

2019

• Saturday 13 April. Jane Austen and the Music of the French Revolution, at Jane Austen Society Adelaide. 

• Wednesday 1 May, 3.30pm. The Home and the World in Mansfield Park and Ghare Baire at Centre for Literature and Writing (CLAW), Edinburgh Napier University.

• Thursday 2 May, 5.15pm. Marianne and Willoughby, Lucy and Colin: betrayal, suffering, death and the poetic image. St Andrew's University. https://events.st-andrews.ac.uk/events/english-research-seminar-9/

• Saturday 18 May, 2pm. Jane Austen and the Music of the French Revolution. Jane Austen Society, Hampshire branch, Jane Austen's House Museum, Chawton. Click here for information and bookings.

• Monday 10 June, 10.15am. ‘These happy effects on the character of the British sailor’: Family Life in Sea Songs of the late Georgian period.'  Seminar at Università degli studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy.

• Wednesday 12 June, 10.15am. Jane Austen and the Music of the French Revolution. Università degli studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy.

• Wednesday 24 July, 2-5pm. Illustrated lecture: ‘"These happy effects on the character of the British sailor": Sea songs in Jane Austen’s music collection' – Jane Austen Study Afternoon. National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, with Professor Kathryn Sutherland (Oxford) and Dr Emma Clery (Southampton University).

• Friday 25 November, 2.30-4.30. 'Jane Austen: A Knowledge of Music.' Talk associated with Museum of Sydney 'Songs of Home' exhibition. https://sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/events/talk-jane-austen-knowledge-music

2018

• Thursday 8 February, 'A Most Luxurious State: Men and Music in Jane Austen’s Novels', Hyderabad University, India.

• Thursday 10 May, Jane Austen's Songs of the Sea, South Australian Maritime Museum, Port Adelaide. Repeat of November 2017 performance. 

• Sunday 13 May, Jane Austen's Songs of the Sea at 'A Day with Jane' at Ayers House, Adelaide - excerpts from the Maritime Museum concert.

• Monday 19 November, 'Yasmine Gooneratne: Jane Austen, Australia and Sri Lanka', Association for the Study of Australian Literature conference, Haputale, Sri Lanka.

• Friday 30 November, 'Jane Austen and the French Revolution', Australian Society for French Studies conference, Perth, Western Australia.

• Sunday 9 December, 'Marianne and Willoughby, Lucy and Colin: betrayal, suffering, death and the poetic image.' Musicological Society of Australia conference, Perth, Western Australia.

2017

• Sunday 16 July 2017, 'Dirges and Sad Ditties' from the Austen family music collections. Immortal Austen Conference, Mead Hall, Flinders Street Baptist Church, Adelaide. Click here to view concert program.

• Tuesday 18 July 2017,'Dirges and Sad Ditties' from the Austen family music collections. Flinders Street Baptist Church, Adelaide. Admission free (Flinders Street Baptist Church lunchtime concert series)

• Wednesday 9 August 2017, 'Immortal Austen: Readings and Music'. Noel Stockdale Room, Central Library, Flinders University (Flinders University Lunchtime Concert Series)

• Tuesday 26 September 2017, 'Marianne and Willoughby, Lucy and Colin: betrayal, suffering, death and the poetic image.' Seminar at Università degli studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy.

• Saturday 4 November 2017, Jane Austen's Songs of the Sea, South Australian Maritime Museum, Port Adelaide. Click here to view concert program.

2016

• Sunday 14 August 2016, A Day with Jane - Emma Knight's Productions, Ayers House, Adelaide

2015-2016 

Presentation - 'A Most Luxurious State': Men and Music in Jane Austen's Novels

• Sunday April 2015, Jane Austen Festival,  Albert Hall, Canberra

• Tuesday 12 April 2016, Johnston Collection, Melbourne

2014 

Presentation - 'No Moral Effect on the Mind': Music and Education in Mansfield Park

• Sunday 13 April, Mansfield Park Symposium, 9.30am-12.30pm, Jane Austen Festival, University House, ANU, Canberra (short version)

• Saturday 5 July, 1pm, Mansfield Park Study Afternoon, Jane Austen Society of Australia, Brisbane

• Wednesday 27 August, 10.15am, Johnston Collection, Melbourne

• Sunday 7 September,  Jane Austen Conference, UK

Tuesday 16 September, Jane Austen Festival, Bath, UK

Summary: This talk is in two parts. Firstly, I will talk about the way Austen uses music and musicianship in Mansfield Park to illuminate but not to define her characters, and how 18th century ideas about women’s education feed into the novel. In the second section, I will discuss the Austen family music collections, particularly the music manuscripts in Jane Austen’s hand, and give some examples of the music that she played and sang.

2013 

Presentation - 'Capacity, and Taste, and Application, and Elegance': Music in Jane Austen's Life and Work

• Friday 19 April, 1.30pm, Pride and Prejudice Symposium, Jane Austen Festival, St John's, Reid, ACT 

• Saturday 18 May, 1.30pm, Jane Austen Society of Adelaide, WEA, 223 Angas Street, Adelaide

• Saturday 7 September, Pride and Prejudice Study Day, Jane Austen Society of Australia, Roseville, Sydney

  • since 2013 marks the bicentenary of the publication of Pride and Prejudice, I will discuss the way Austen uses music and musicianship in her novel to delineate her characters. In the second section, I introduce the Austen family music collections, particularly the music manuscripts in Jane Austen’s hand, and provide some idea of the music that she played and sang.

Concert - 'Thorough Bass and Human Nature: A Musical Tour through Pride and Prejudice'

Program | Media release | Flyer

• Sunday 17 March, 3pm, North Adelaide Baptist Church (Adelaide Fringe Festival) - with Raechel Damarell, Henry Jones, and Fiona McCauley - book at FringeTix

• Saturday 13 April, 10.30am, Johnston Collection, Melbourne - with Fiona McCauley - book through Johnston Collection website

• Sunday 14 April, 3pm, Kew Courthouse, Melbourne with Fiona McCauley - book through TryBooking

• Sunday 21 April, 2pm, Jane Austen Festival, St John's, Reid, ACT - with Fiona McCauley - Book through Festival website

• Tuesday 23 April, 5.30pm, Woolley Common Room, Sydney University - with Barbara Rennison and Fiona McCauley (free event - no bookings required)

• Sunday 28 April, 3pm, Elizabeth Farm, Paramatta, Sydney with Barbara Rennison, Fiona McCauley and Susannah Fullerton - book through Historic Houses Trust

• Tuesday 14 May, 1pm, Flinders Street Baptist Church, Adelaide - with Fiona McCauley (free event - no bookings required)

2012

• Sunday 26 February, Elizabeth Farm, Parramatta - informal performance at Friends afternoon tea party

• Sunday 29 April, All Saints Church, Hunter's Hill - participation in JASA concert

• Wednesday 19 September, 'Sweet Smells the Briar': Lovesongs and Lamentations. Jane Austen Festival, Bath - with Mike Parker, Harp - information at Jane Austen Festival, Bath - Captivity by Stephen Storace on YouTube

• Sunday 23 September,  'Sweet Smells the Briar': Lovesongs and Lamentations. Jane Austen Conference, Abingdon - with Mike Parker, Harp

• Sunday 4 November, 'Thorough Bass and Human Nature': a musical tour through Pride and Prejudice'. Friends of the State Library of SA, State Library of SA Hetzel Lecture Theatre - with Raechel Damarell and Fiona McCauley.

2011 

Concert - 'The Sweets of May'  

• 20 March, St Michael's Church, Mitcham, South Australia

• 17 April, St John's Church, Reid, ACT (Jane Austen Festival)

• 1 May, St David's Church, Burnside, South Australia (recording available on CD - email for details.

• 27 July, 1pm, Noel Stockdale Room, Flinders University Library, Bedford Park, South Australia (see flyer attached below)

• 18 September, Barossa Library (Seppeltsfield Winery, Dining Hall)

Presentation -  'Doomed Queens, Nuns, and Robbie Burns', Bibliographical Society of ANZ Conference Dinner, Thursday 3 November, Adelaide University Staff Club

2010

•  Jane Austen's Music II, Adelaide Fringe, 21 February 2010 

•  Jane Austen's Music II, Jane Austen Festival, Canberra, 16 April 2010 

•  Music played during Guildhall dinner, Jane Austen Festival, Bath, 18 September 2010 

2009

•  Jane Austen's Music, Jane Austen Festival, Canberra, 18 April 2009

2008

• Jane Austen's Music, Adelaide Fringe, 9 March 2008

• Jane Austen's Music, Lyceum Club, Adelaide, 12 November 2008

2007

• Jane Austen's Music, Fridays at the Library, Flinders University Library, 25 May 2007