DoctorFrancis Yapp

Francis Yapp works on how music builds and sustains community. His research began in historical musicology, investigating concert life, audiences, and the place of liturgical practice in eighteenth-century Paris — including the reception of French cello sonatas and sacred motets performed at the Concert Spirituel — and recovering neglected New Zealand musical history, including Arthur Lilly's forgotten 1916 and 1918 wartime music festivals. This historical work shared a consistent underlying interest: how music functions to build community and shape identity, whether in eighteenth-century Paris or early-twentieth-century New Zealand. That same question increasingly extends into community music: how participatory musical practice sustains local musical life, and what universities can learn from it. His work in community music led directly to the Community Music minor he established at UC in collaboration with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, and continues to draw on the historical grounding of his earlier research.