Dr Percy Leung

Percy Leung is a cultural and music historian of modern Europe. He holds degrees from St Andrews (PhD), Cambridge (MPhil) and Durham (BA) Universities, and he is a fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society and the Royal Society of Arts, as well as an associate fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Percy is currently Lecturer in Modern Western/Central European History at Liverpool John Moores University. Previously, he taught at the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and St Andrews, the Humboldt University of Berlin and Queen Mary University of London, where he received an award for teaching excellence.

Percy's research focuses on the social, cultural and political impact of classical music on European societies from 1870 to 1991, a period that moved from the Belle Époque to war, barbarism and ideological extremes. His research interests comprise three strands. Firstly, he specialises in Anglo-German comparative music history between 1914 and 1945, investigating why, despite being on opposite sides in the two World Wars, Germany and Britain shared a profound cultural and musical affinity, and how both countries utilised music as part of their cultural diplomacy, supporting their efforts in colonisation, decolonisation and state-building. Secondly, Percy focuses on the interrelations between music and politics in twentieth-century authoritarian states, especially in Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Francoist Spain and Soviet Russia, studying how music was manipulated by these regimes to serve as a propaganda weapon and how it functioned as a medium for protest and resistance. Thirdly, Percy has a strong interest in the history of musical institutions, in particular symphony orchestras and opera houses – both professional and amateur. By analysing their programming, audience demographics and performance practices, Percy uses them as prisms to investigate socio-political issues, especially those concerning gender, race and class, in twentieth-century Europe.

At present, Percy is turning his doctoral thesis into a monograph. His PhD offers a comparative study of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra during the First World War, examining how their music-making and their performances were affected between 1914 and 1918, how they attempted to support their countries and societies throughout the conflict, as well as how the groups of people associated with them – namely soloists, conductors, orchestral players, critics and concertgoers – contributed to, and also reflected, the identity of classical music in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Germany and Britain.

Percy teaches on the following modules at LJMU:

Level 4 -
4101HIST: Exploring History
4102HIST: The Faces of Britain
4104HIST: Modern European History

Level 5 -
5101HIST: Debates in History
5102HIST: Research Paper
5128HIST: International Fieldwork: Modern Germany

Level 6 -
6106HIST: 'We would not know there was a war on': Life on the British Home Front During the Second World War
6128HIST: Nazi Germany: Dictatorship and Genocide

Languages

English
German
Chinese (Cantonese)
Chinese (Mandarin)

Degrees

University of St Andrews, United Kingdom, Doctor of Philosophy
University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, Master of Philosophy
Durham University, United Kingdom, Bachelor of Arts (Hon)

Academic appointments

Lecturer in Modern Western/Central European History, Liverpool John Moores University, 2023 - present
Teaching Associate, Queen Mary University of London, 2022 - 2024
Assistant Lecturer, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 2020 - 2021