ACADEMIC WORK
Jacob Kingsbury Downs (he/him) is Departmental Lecturer in Music at the University of Oxford, Organising Tutor (Director of Studies) in Music at Lady Margaret Hall, and Chair of Faculty in the Faculty of Music.
In 2024, he was named by the BBC and the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) as a New Generation Thinker.
He has previously been Research Associate at the University of Sheffield (UKRI/Research England, 2023), working on two projects headed by Nicola Dibben: the first focusing on music, intellectual property rights, and human–AI co-creation (MusicAI/MIMA); and the second on the impact of music on biospheric values and behaviours (MusEnv). Before this, he was briefly Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Cyprus (European Research Council, 2022), as well as providing research assistance for Carolyn Birdsall at the University of Amsterdam (Dutch Research Council, 2021).
His doctoral thesis (PhD, Sheffield, 2021), funded by the AHRC via WRoCAH, explored headphone listening through a phenomenological lens, with emphasis on individuals’ experiences of embodied space, mediated social relations, and the materiality of technology. It passed with no corrections. He also holds two degrees in Music from the University of Oxford: a BA (2015, first-class) and an MSt (2016, distinction).
He has taught at undergraduate and postgraduate levels at the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and Sheffield on a range of courses and modules including topics in music philosophy, music psychology, and music management.
CREATIVE WORK
Jacob is also an experienced arranger, orchestrator, composer, and music engraver. Previous clients include Jools Holland (transcription, engraving) on his 2021 album Pianola, featuring Lang Lang; Nitin Sawhney (arranging, engraving, editing) on projects including retrospective shows at the Royal Albert Hall, new commissions for the likes of Barbican Hall and the National Youth Orchestra, and the 2022 feature film What’s Love Got to Do with It?; Bill Ryder-Jones (arranging, orchestrating) on a new commission for the BBC Concert Orchestra under André de Ridder at the Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, as well as for a bespoke show on the occasion of the opening of Liverpool’s Tung Auditorium; Erland Cooper (arranging, orchestrating, co-writing, engraving, musical direction) on a range of projects, most recently his 2023 album Folded Landscapes; Anna Phoebe (arranging, engraving) on her ongoing multimodal science communication projects Sea Souls and Between Worlds.
As a conductor’s assistant, he has worked under Hannah Peel during her work with Paul Weller for his orchestral shows at London’s Royal Festival Hall, with responsibilities including advising on aspects of orchestration and score editing. He has also previously acted as a composer’s assistant for artists including Erland Cooper and Anna Phoebe.
Jacob is also an accomplished musician, with recent studio and live credits including Bill Ryder-Jones (piano, viola), Erland Cooper (piano, harpsichord, viola, voice, synthesizer), and Anna Phoebe (piano, voice, viola). He has performed at a range of prestigious venues and festivals including Barbican Hall, the Glasshouse (f.k.a. the Sage Gateshead), the Royal Albert Hall’s Elgar Room, Union Chapel, Milton Court Concert Hall, and WOMAD Festival.
PERSONAL LIFE
Jacob was born in 1993 in Devon. After stints in Cambridge, London, Brussels, Manchester, and Deal, Jacob currently lives in Oxford.
Jacob Kingsbury Downs 