Dr Alexander Kolassa

Professional biography

I joined the Open University as a Lecturer in Music in October 2018, and in that time I have written teaching material on music theory and analysis, and on music in video games. I have also contributed to modules in music technology, performance, and the wider humanities, and I have given lectures on the blues, Mozart, and more. As Qualification Lead for Music I have been closely involved in the running of our dedicated music degree.

I completed my PhD in music composition at the University of Nottingham in 2015, and before joining the OU I worked on research projects at University College London and the University of Cambridge. I also taught for a little while at the University of Nottingham, where I designed modules in composition and musicology for undergraduates and postgraduates. 

I have wide ranging musical interests and have toured Mexico as a conductor, bringing to life a little known local opera that I edited, rehearsed, and performed with students. My own work as a composer has been performed nationally by professional and amateur ensembles (including the Okeanos Ensemble, the Orlando Consort, and the University of Nottingham Philharmonia), and my multimedia score for the immersive drama 'The Memory Dealer' contributed to its winning a Royal Television Award in Digital Innovation. I research and write about a range of topics in music and media, publishing in books and peer-reviewed journals, as well as speaking at conferences around the world.

Research interests

My research concerns the intersections of musical modernism, medievalism (which is to say, the modern medieval imaginary), and popular culture: in the concert hall, on stage, and on screen. I have co-edited the books Recomposing the Past: Representations of Early Music on Stage and Screen (Routledge 2018) and History as Fantasy: Sound, Image, and Media (Routledge 2024). Further to this, I have published on an eclectic range of (interconnected) subjects in music: this includes authoring journal articles and chapters on subjects like British musical modernism and opera (including on composers Peter Maxwell Davies and Harrison Birtwistle), as well as on music and intertextuality, film (Ken Russell's The Devils; Aleksei German's Hard to Be a God), television (Game of Thrones; Childre of the Stones), videogames (Bloodborne), and immersive New Media (The Memory Dealer). I am working on a book project about the influence of medievalism on British twentieth century musical modernism.