ABOUT

Emma Kavanagh is Assistant Professor of Historical Musicology at University College Dublin. Her research focuses on opera and musical culture in France between the Revolution and the First World War, with a particular interest in the Belle Époque (1871-1914). Her research is published in Dix-Neuf and Cambridge Opera Journal, with review articles in Romance, Revolution and Reform and Nineteenth-Century Music Review. She is now working on her first book project, provisionally titled Music, Work, and Social Movement in Belle Époque Paris, 1871-1914. Emma is also interested in the work of women composers, and recently published an online press collection with the France: Musiques, Cultures network dedicated to the criticism of Louise Bertin’s final opera, La Esmeralda (1836).

Prior to her current role at UCD, Emma held an Ingénieure post at Aix-Marseille Université, a French Embassy Visiting Fellowship at Sorbonne Université’s Institut de Recherche en Musicologie, and a Career Development Fellowship at Lincoln College, Oxford.

As well as her scholarship and teaching, Emma enjoys any opportunity to combine research with forward-facing work in broadcasting and public engagement. She also writes programme notes for the BBC and its affiliated orchestras, including for the 2024 and 2025 seasons of the BBC Proms. Emma maintains a freelance music career as a choral singer and violist, performing in concerts, services, and recordings for various student and professional ensembles.