About Amanda
- PhD Supervisor
- Module coordinator for PG modules Repertoire Project and The Freelance Musician
- Tutor for PG module Research Lecture Recital
- PG Mentor
- Elective tutor
- Theory tutor
- Artist Development tutor
- Performance Studies tutor
- Lecturer on MCP1 Module
- Personal Tutor for UG
- Staff Representative for Staff Engagement Working Group
Dr Amanda Babington is a Senior Lecturer at the Royal Northern College of Music and Executive Officer for the Royal Musical Association. She has published several articles on Handel, and her edition for the Hallische Händel-Ausgabe of Handel’s Dettingen Te Deum and Dettingen Anthem was published by Bärenreiter in 2016. She is regularly invited to give talks at Göttingen International Handel-Festival, and her book Handel’s Messiah: the Creative Process was published in 2024.
Amanda is also a musette player, baroque violinist and recorder player, specialising in historically informed performance. Artistic Director of Baroque In The North, she has played and recorded with many of the leading British and European period-instrument ensembles.
Her debut musette album, Music for French Kings, was well-received on its release in 2022, and featured on BBC Radio 3’s Early Music Show. She appears on several recordings with Les Talens Lyrique and Ex Cathedra, as well as a recording of newly-edited and previously–unrecorded music by Giovanni Ruggieri (Aberdeen Early Music Collective, Vox Regis, 2018) and another of music by Gottfried Finger (Harmonious Society of Tickle Fiddle Gentlemen, Ramée, 2019). Her second musette album, Friends in High Places will be released in 2026 on the First Hands Records label.
Amanda was Director of the University of Manchester Baroque Orchestra, 2006-2023, Visiting Performance Fellow at the University of Aberdeen 2010-2019, and has given masterclasses at various universities and conservatoires in the UK, and at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music in Riga.
Research
Current and Future Research
Amanda is currently researching Musette repertoire at the Second Stuart Court in Exile (Rome), some of the findings of which will be presented in her forthcoming musette album, Friends in High Places.
Research Areas
- Handel
- Editing
- Performance Practice
- Musical culture in the North East of Scotland in the 18th century
- French Baroque music
External Research Roles
- Executive Officer, Royal Musical Association (2022 – present)
- Artistic Director, Baroque In The North (2019 – present)
- Academic Tutor at Junior Royal Northern College (2015 – 2022)
- Lecturer, Liverpool Hope University (2013 – 2014)
- Visiting Performance Fellow, University of Aberdeen (2011 – 2021)
- Director, University Baroque Orchestra, University of Manchester (2006 – 2023)
- Self-employed Performing Musician (2003 – present)
Funded Research Projects
- The National Lottery Community Fund
- RMA Small Research Grant
- Music & Letters Award
Teaching
Undergraduate Teaching
- Theory and Musicianship
- Music, Culture and Performance
- Performance Studies
- Research Electives
- Artist Development
Postgraduate Teaching
- Repertoire Project (Module coordinator)
- Freelance Musician (Module coordinator)
- Research Lecture Recital (Module tutor)
Research Supervision
Current supervision of PhDs:
- Peggy Nolan
- Gen Li
- Parisa Pirzadeh
Research Outputs
Written Outputs
Perspectives from a Conservatoire on Editing Lesser-Known Music, 1600–1820
Glatthorn, A., Babington, A., Davies, H., O’Farrell, A.-M. & Swayne, A., 2027, (In preparation) Musicology Australia.Handel’s Messiah: the Creative Process
Babington, A., 7 Jun 2024, 1st ed. Jenny Stanford Publishing. 306 p.Handel Offerings
Babington, A., 2019, In: Early Music. 47, 4, p. 604-607 4 p.‘Handel the Tutor’
Babington, A., 2014, In: Brio Journal. 51, 1, p. 16-22Musical References in the Jennens-Holdsworth Correspondence (1729-46)
Babington, A. & Chrissochoidis, I., 21 Aug 2014, In: Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle. 45, 1, p. 76-129Practice Research/Compositions
Friends in High Places
Babington, A. (Composer), van Troyen, B. (Performer), Babington, C. (Performer), Francis, D. (Performer) & Shaw, M. (Performer), 21 Aug 2026Professional Activity
Public Presentations and Performance
Baroque & Beyond
Babington, A. (Speaker / presenter), Babington, C. (Performer) & Francis, D. (Performer)
Baroque & Beyond
Babington, A. (Speaker / presenter), Babington, C. (Performer) & Francis, D. (Performer)
18th Century Symposium
Babington, A. (Participant)
Eighteenth-Century Music Symposium
Babington, A. (Speaker / presenter), Duncan, C. (Speaker / presenter), Glatthorn, A. (Speaker / presenter) & Vickers, D. (Speaker / presenter)
Baroque & Beyond
Babington, A. (Speaker / presenter)
International Bagpipe Conference
Babington, A. (Participant)
Baroque & Beyond
Babington, A. (Speaker / presenter)
January Jubilation
Babington, A. (Speaker / presenter)
June Jollity
Babington, A. (Speaker / presenter)
International Händel Festspiele Göttingen
Babington, A. (Speaker / presenter)