Dr. Anna Bull is a Senior Lecturer in Education and Social Justice, Co-director of The 1752 Group and a former professional pianist and cellist. We return to Zoom to speak with her about class and socioeconomic issues in the classical music industry, and pick her brains about what, if anything, can be done. She also tells us about her work on sexual harassment in music conservatoires, and why the master-apprentice model has created a particularly risky environment.

Anna’s monograph Class, control, and classical music was published in 2019 with Oxford University Press and in 2020 was joint winner of the British Sociological Association Philip Abrams Award.

She has recently co-edited a volume calledVoices for Change in the Classical Music Profession: New Ideas for Tackling Inequalities and Exclusions, and Anna was lead author on the report Slow Train Coming: Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in UK conservatoires. Her research published in 2022 for the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Music Studies network.

Anna is speaking at the Class Ceiling conference on 9th December 2025. Free and discounted tickets are available.

Read more of Anna's work:

Bull, A., & Prince, K. (2025). Addressing harassment and sexual misconduct experienced by postgraduate researchers. The 1752 Group.https://1752group.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/harassment_pgrs.pdf

Read an interview about the toolkit for addressing harassment and sexual misconduct among postgraduate researchers, and read Anna's comment piece in Nature about the toolkit.

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Things Musicians Don't Talk About is supported by the Royal Society of Musicians! Follow RSM on Instagram, X and Facebook.

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