Shadi Seifouri

Shadi Seifouri is a Harding Distinguished and William Barclay Squire Scholar in Musicology at Christ’s College, Cambridge. Her doctoral dissertation, supervised by Professor Benjamin Walton, interrogates the operatic fine-print of objecthood during the 1850s–1920s by reappraising the cultural status of stage props. Her thesis maps an interdisciplinary history of Italian, French, and German nineteenth-century opera by excavating material and musical indexes of identity. Shadi was also a convenor of the 2022-2024 Music Faculty colloquium and frequently works as an undergraduate supervisor. 

Prior to her doctoral studies, Shadi completed the 9-month MPhil in Musicology at Robinson College, Cambridge, supported by a Cambridge Trust and a Harding Distinguished Postgraduate Scholarship from the School of the Arts and Humanities (SAH-HDPSP). Shadi was a co-convenor of the weekly Faculty colloquium series, as well as being elected the MPhil Academic Representative and a member of the Student-Staff committee. 

She is also a graduate of King’s College London, where she was awarded a first-class degree and the Adam’s Prize for the highest grade in a BMus dissertation, supervised by Dr Flora Willson. Shadi also attended the Royal Academy of Music for classical piano and holds distinctions for piano Grades 1-8.  

Outside of academic work, Shadi was selected as one of BBC Radio 3’s Next Generation Voices. The project focused on developing incentives with radio executives to increase the appeal of classical music for younger audiences. She is also a piano teacher for beginners through to advanced levels, an opera reviewer, and a freelance bookbinder.

Conference Papers Given:

• Robinson College Postgraduate Research Conference; Cambridge (2022)
• 5th Transnational Opera Studies Conference (TOSC@), Universidade Nova Lisboa; Torino (2023)
• Callas 100 Conference: Opera, Celebrity, Myth, Teatro Regio di Torino; Torino (2023)
• ERSS Christ's College; Cambridge (2024)
• MCR Conference, Christ's College; Cambridge (2024) 
• Royal Musical Association (RMA) 150th Conference, British Library & Senate House; London (2024)
• American Musicological Society (AMS), Hilton Palm Hotel; Chicago (forthcoming, November 2024)

Conference Conveynor :

• 8th Conference of the Royal Musical Association Music and Philosophy Study Group, King's College London (2021)
• 6th Transnational Opera Studies Conference @ Cambridge (TOSCA) (forthcoming, July 2025)