Neal Peres Da Costa
Neal Peres Da Costa
Lead Chief Investigator University of Sydney
DipEarlyMus Guildhall MMus City Uni London PhD Leeds BMus (Hons)
Associate Dean Research
Professor of Historical Performance
Neal Peres Da Costa is a passionate advocate for the reestablishment of artistic sovereignty in classical music performance. He is a world-renowned performing scholar, authority on keyboard performing practices of the Baroque, Classical and Romantic eras. Neal is known for groundbreaking research publications—including his highly-acclaimed monograph Off the Record: Performing Practices in Romantic Piano Playing (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012) considered a ‘go-to’ text globally; a 9-volume co-edited Urtext/performing edition of Brahms’ Sonatas for solo instrument and piano (Bärenreiter-Verlag, 2015/16); a suite of book chapters that contribute extensively to knowledge of nineteenth-century piano performance styles, and several groundbreaking recordings including Schumann’s song cycle Dichterliebe with tenor Koen von Stade for the UK label Deux-Elles described as “fascinating, startling and slightly confrontational” (BBC Record Review), and Mozart’s K 488 Piano Concerto with ARCO (licensed by ABC Classics) hailed as “a triumph of academic and artistic expertise” (classikon, 2024).
Neal has worked extensively with several ensembles in Australia including Ironwood, Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra (ARCO) of which he is Artistic Advisor, Bach Akademie Australia, Australian Haydn Ensemble, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. Winner of the 2008 Fine Arts ARIA for Bach’s Sonatas for Violin and Obbligato Keyboard (ABC Classics, 2007) with Richard Tognetti and Daniel Yeadon, Neal’s discography also includes many other recordings on the ABC Classics label; and with the British ensemble Florilegium (which he co-founded in 1991) Neal recorded extensively on the Dutch label Channel Classics.
Neal is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities. He is graduate of the University of Sydney, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the City University (London), and the University of Leeds (UK) where he was awarded a PhD. Neal is currently Associate Dean of Research and Professor of Historical Performance at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (SCM), University of Sydney. Since 2017, he has undertaken diverse research as lead Chief Investigator on three prestigious Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Projects including currently The shock of the old: Rediscovering the sounds of bel canto 1700–1900. He is SCM’s academic lead for the NeuroMusic Collaborative, a vital multidisciplinary research project in collaboration with the University of Sydney’s Brain and Mind Centre, investigating the efficacy of music training for healthy brain aging in aged people.