Professor Bradley has been with the Department of Musicology since 2018, and she is the first Dent Medal recipient representing a Nordic University since it was first awarded in 1961.
“The prize recognises an outstanding contribution to the field of musicology in its broadest possible definition, so I am especially pleased to represent both the study of medieval music as well as the Institute of Musicology and the University of Oslo,” Bradley says.
A growing interest in medieval musicology
She finds the honour both affirming and inspirational for her own work, and for the study of early music more generally.
“Medieval musicology can often be perceived as a minority sub-field, but this award testifies to a growing interest in and to the importance of understanding and analysing the first notated musics from the western world,” she explains.
“It is my great pleasure to be able to congratulate Professor Catherine A. Bradley on this prestigious award. Her academic accomplishments are an outstanding example of world class research in the humanities, and a tribute to the spirit of excellence we strive to nurture at the Faculty,” says Dean Frode Helland at the Faculty of Humanities.
The award committee points out how Bradley’s work ranges from the earliest written traces of the motet repertory and into the fourteenth century, a period of major musical change, taking in several related genres.
Read the full RMA announcement
The award will be announced officially at the Royal Musical Association annual conference in September 2023, and the medal will be presented at the 150th anniversary conference of the Royal Musical Association at the Senate House and British Library in London in September 2024, where Professor Bradley will deliver the Dent lecture.
About Catherine A. Bradley
Catherine A. Bradley completed her undergraduate degree at Oxford and her Ph.D in Cambridge. She has held positions at the University of Oxford, Stony Brook University, and the University of Oslo, where she is now Full Professor since 2020.
For 2020–2025 she gained a European Research Council Consolidator Grant for a project on the Benedicamus Domino. She is active as a peer reviewer, journal co-editor, member of editorial boards, Ph.D. examiner and expert evaluator.
Her 2018 monograph, Polyphony in Medieval Paris: The Art of Composing with Plainchant (Cambridge University Press), won the American Musicological Society Early Music Award.
The Benedicamus Domino Conference takes place in Oslo on September 7th and 8th.
About the Dent Medal
The Dent Medal, struck in memory of the distinguished scholar and musician Edward J. Dent (1876-1957), has been awarded by the Royal Musical Association annually since 1961 to recipients selected for their outstanding contribution to musicology.