Dr Leah Kardos
Faculties, deparments and locations
- Kingston School of Art
- Department of Performing Arts
- School of Arts
- Kingston Hill
Senior Lecturer in Music
- Email:
- l.kardos@kingston.ac.uk
About
I am a senior lecturer in music at Kingston/KSA. In addition to lecturing & research student supervision, I am the director of the Visconti Studio, which I helped to establish in 2016, and I chair the associated research group. I organise and host events, professional sessions, research projects and knowledge exchange activities in the studio space. This academic year I am the interim Course Leader of MA Music and MMus Composing for Film & TV.
I founded and manage the Kingston University Stylophone Orchestra, a music ensemble sponsored by British instrument manufacturer Dubreq. It is made up of Kingston University staff, students, alumni and members of the local community and is part of Kingston's PACE research group (Performing Arts Community Engagement). Our debut album Stylophonika was released in early 2022 on Spun Out of Control records. Our limited edition cassette Live at Visconti Studio was released in 2023.
I create music, commercially and for/as research. I'm interested in the communicative arts of record production, popular and contemporary music aesthetics and criticism, and exploring inclusive interdisciplinary approaches to creative practice.
I release and publish my music with Bigo & Twigetti and UPPM. My first monograph Blackstar Theory: The Last Works of David Bowie was published by Bloomsbury Academic in early 2022. My 33 1/3 book about Kate Bush's Hounds of Love comes out 14 November 2024. I am a regular contributor to The Wire magazine.
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy (Creative Practice) - University of Queensland, 2009-2014.
- Post-Graduate Certificate of Education - University of Greenwich, 2008.
- BMus(Hons) - University of Queensland, 1998-2002.
- A.Mus.A (Associate Music Diploma (Australia)) - AMEB, 1997, Pianoforte, Distinction.
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
Domains
I am interested in interdisciplinary creative practice, music technologies, studio craft and any music research where the recording is treated as the primary text. I also enjoy creative practice research and exploring related ways of making music creation, education, and discourse inclusive and accessible to people from various backgrounds regardless of experience or privilege.
Qualifications
- Creative practice research
- Composition
- Music Technology & Education
- Recording & Production
Specialisms
- Studio-based creative practice
- Popular musicology
- Musicology of recording & production
- The music of David Bowie
- Music practices research with technologies
Scholarly affiliations
- University of Queensland, Australia (alum)
- NYU Steinhardt, Music Technology (visiting scholar 2015)
- Western Kentucky University, Music (visiting artist 2014)
Publications
Blackstar theory : the last works of David Bowie
Kardos, Leah (2022). London, U.K.: (Bloomsbury Academic)
Book Review of 'Switched on : Bob Moog and the Synthesizer Revolution' by Albert Glinsky
Kardos, Leah, 2023, Technology and Culture (64), 3, pp 1003-1005
Making room for 21st century musicianship in higher education
Kardos, Leah, 2018, Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education (17), 1, pp 1-14
Book Review of: 'Playing with something that runs : technology, improvisation, and composition in DJ and laptop performance' by Mark J. Butler
Kardos, Leah, 2017, The World of Music (new series) (6), (2017) 2, pp 157-159
Bowie musicology : mapping Bowie's sound and music language across the catalogue
Kardos, Leah, 2017, (31), 4, pp 552-563
How music technology can make sound and music worlds accessible to student composers in Further Education colleges
Kardos, Leah, 2012, British Journal of Music Education (29), 2, pp 143-151
The analogue music studio : education and research as heritage-in-process
Kardos, Leah and van Elferen, Isabella (2024). In: Volioti, Georgia, (eds.) and Barolsky, Daniel G, (eds.), Recorded Music in Creative Practices : Mediation, Performance, Education. London, U.K.: Routledge, pp 212-228
The curious musician
Kardos, Leah (2017). In: Ruthmann, S. Alex, (eds.) and Mantie, Roger, (eds.), The Oxford handbook of technology and music education. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, pp 317-322
Activating Digital Creativities in Higher Music Education
Kardos, Leah (2015). In: Burnard, Pamela, (eds.) and Haddon, Elizabeth, (eds.), Activating Diverse Musical Creativities: Teaching and Learning in Higher Music Education. London, U.K.: Bloomsbury Publishing, pp 223-240
PLANET BOWIE: Multiple creativities in practice
Kardos, Leah(2015). 11 Nov 2015 : Cambridge, U.K.
Can you hear me? Analysing the recurring sonic and musical gestures in David Bowie’s recorded works
Kardos, Leah(2015). In: The Stardom and Celebrity of David Bowie, 17-18 Jul 2015 :Melbourne, Australia
You can’t hide beat : a collection of David Bowie cover versions created using samples from his own famous recordings
Kardos, Leah(2015). In: The Stardom and Celebrity of David Bowie, 17-18 Jul 2015 :Melbourne, Australia
The sonic vernacular : considering communicative timbral gestures in modern music production
Kardos, Leah(2015). In: 138th Audio Engineering Society Convention, 07 - 10 May 2015 :Warsaw, Poland
Exploring the temporalities of a musical idea
Kardos, Leah(2014). In: Music and/as Process Conference, 31 May - 01 June 2014 :Caterbury, U.K.
The invented identities and multiple creativities of David Bowie
Kardos, Leah(2013). 08 Nov 2013 : Cambridge, U.K.
Waiting at Rosamond Rd
Kardos, Leah and Alexander, Ariane (2015).
Three Preludes
Kardos, Leah (2013).
Kick for String Orchestra
Kardos, Leah (2013).
The Closeness of Distance
Kardos, Leah (2012).
Folio of compositions and critical commentary
Kardos, Leah (2014), PhD thesis, The University of Queensland
Gallery of work
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KUSO and Tony Visconti in the studio (Dec 2019)
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KUSO at the Stanley Picker Gallery (April 2019)
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Presenting Bowie Musicology (ACMI Melbourne 2017)
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Winterschool 2019 with producer Chris Kimsey and Sol Collective
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Producer Chris Porter with Flight Brigade and student interns (2017)
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Performing Feather Hammer, 2012
Photo by Justin Hannaford
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Performing Machines, 2015
At the Servant Jazz Quarters, London
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d-Voxx performing at Visconti Studio (21CMP Study Day 2017)
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Interviewing Tony Visconti (Dec 2016)
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Interviewing Tony Visconti and Woody Woodmansey (Feb 2018)
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Kingston University Stylophone Orchestra (photo by Marcus Clackson 2021)
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promo for Stylophonika (by Marcus Clackson 2021)
