Bio

Judith Valerie Engel is an Austrian concert pianist, musicologist, and feminist scholar. In 2025 she completed a DPhil (PhD) in Historical Musicology at the University of Oxford as a Stone-Mallabar Music Scholar at Christ Church (College). Currently, she is finishing up a DMA at the University of British Columbia as one of the university’s Public Scholars, and funded by the Infrastructure and Integration Lab at the Department of Sociology.

Judith Valerie first started studying the piano at the age of five with Russian pianist Prof. Mag. Nina Igudesman. From the age of 17 renowned pianist and pedagogue Prof. Pavel Gililov was her teacher. Under his supervision she completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree with highest distinction at the Mozarteum University Salzburg, where she was recipient of the university’s merit-based scholarship. From the age of nineteen she also took private lessons with Austrian pianist and music scholar Prof. Paul Badura-Skoda. During her masters, she spent a semester abroad at the Sibelius Academy Helsinki, studying with Teppo Koivisto, and attended Lied-Duo lessons with Helmut Deutsch in Salzburg. Before coming to Oxford, Judith Valerie was pursuing graduate studies at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, in the piano studio of Dr. Terence Dawson, winning multiple awards and scholarships.

Judith Valerie’s research in musicology focusses on the intersection of gender and feminist studies and music. Working as a university lecturer at the Mozarteum University Salzburg in 2019, she created and taught a seminar on gender studies in music. Her research at Oxford focusses on Viennese composer Marianna Martines, paying particular attention to socio-political factors that helped and hindered a ‘Classical’ woman composer. During her first year at Oxford, she received a TORCH grant from the Oxford Humanities Division for a Public Engagement with Research project called ‘Siren Voices’, in collaboration with local activist group TransOxford. Furthermore, Judith Valerie undertakes undergraduate teaching in musicology at various Oxford colleges and is a sought-after piano teacher at the Faculty of Music Oxford. In 2022 she became an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA). Judith Valerie regularly presents her research at academic conferences, as well as sharing her findings in public forums by writing op-eds, magazine articles, and giving public seminars and lecture recitals.

In December 2014 Judith Valerie conducted and played the first Salzburg performance of Marianna Martines’s piano concerto in A major. In 2016 she played the first Helsinki performance of the concerto at the Sibelius Academy. Various concert tours took her to over a dozen countries around the world and to some of the most beautiful concert halls, such as the Konzerthaus Vienna, the Sheldonian Theatre Oxford, the NCPA Mumbai, the Chan Centre Vancouver, the Konzerthaus Dortmund, the opera house Bühne Baden, and many others. Her recordings have been highly acclaimed and aired on Austrian, German and Dutch radio and TV stations. In 2019 Judith Valerie starred in a documentary on Marianna Martines, produced by Austrian National TV. She is actively promoting the music of women composers throughout history in her concerts and research. Recent artistic projects included an exploration of women’s musical agency in European salon culture and a collaboration with Zimbabwean Mbira virtuoso John Pfumojena, exploring their respective ‘Classical’ heritage and traditions in music.