Lute-playing Dean keen to lead research effort by example
Published on 07 July, 2011
Newly-arrived Dean Professor Sue Court is keen to lead by example at CQUniversity's School of Humanities and Communication by sustaining her own active research interests as a music historian focused on the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods.
As a professional standard guitarist and lute player, she already has an affinity with our Dean of Performing Arts Professor Matthew Marshall, who is also a renowned performer on guitar.
Like Matthew, Sue hails from New Zealand. She started her academic journey with a music degree in Wellington.
Wanting to study classical guitar at a high level, Sue went to London for lessons and was soon performing in classical music venues and folk clubs. She joined the London Guitar Quartet and toured Britain and Europe in the late 1970s.
"While in London I discovered an interest in music of the 16th century and had additional lessons on the Renaissance lute. This led to an interest in researching original documents on this music in the British Library and then when I returned to New Zealand to teach a short course on classical guitar I stayed on for postgraduate research on early music. I was attracted by studying with Professor John Steele at Otago University, who had an international reputation in early music."
Sue's doctoral studies with John Steele included a year in Italy where she took up a scholarship to Rome University. Her archival work in libraries throughout Italy, including the highly ornamental Vatican Library, led to an abiding love of Italian history.
She now specialises in early opera, researching aspects such as the scenography and visual art associated with the first performances, as well as producing new editions of works which have languished in their unfamiliar forms of notation in European libraries.
"I've been bringing to light the very first operas written for the courts of Mantua, Florence and Medici... my book on an early opera from 1628 has just been published."
Sue is also working on a book on New Zealand's female composers and a music history textbook to be released as an e-book. She also hopes to find time to continue her hobby as a guitar-maker too.
In recent years, Sue has gained managerial experience as an associate dean and acting pro vice-chancellor at the University of Otago, providing valuable experience which she hopes to bring to the leadership of the School of Humanities and Communication.