Kerry Bunkhall Email & Phone Number

Final year PhD candidate in Musicology at Cardiff University under the supervision of Dr Caroline Rae and Prof Clair Rowden. Prior to my PhD, I gained a Master's degree at Oxford Brookes University, my thesis investigating Janáček’s final opera From the House of the Dead (1930) through a study of the ways he invoked audience empathy for the inmates and analysing the psychological embodiments of his music. My wider research interests include opera and French music in the twentieth century, particularly focusing on the ways in which music has been used to express ideas on religion, politics and manifestations of psychological states.My doctoral research project, ''Blanche and Dialogues les Carmélites: Martyrs for Poulenc’s Sins?', explores potential motivations for Francis Poulenc’s re-embracing of his Catholic faith within the context of the nouvelle théologie and thoughts on sexuality in France during the Third Republic. It proposes Dialogues des Carmélites (1956) as the primary vehicle for Poulenc’s redemption and absolution with the recurrent themes of sin and guilt alongside the almost autobiographical character of Blanche de la Force. Twitter: @kerrybunkhall