Staff profile

Rafael (Ardi) Echevarria is a musicologist and music theorist specialising in nineteenth-century musical form and musicological debates surrounding analysis. Ardi is a PhD candidate at Durham University, supported by the Northern Bridge Consortium and the Ramsay Centre. He earned First Class Honours (2019) and Masters (2022) degrees from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and was Visiting Fellow (2024) at Harvard University. Ardi has presented his research at numerous international conferences and taught at the Sydney Conservatorium and Durham. He is currently chair of the Formal Theory Study Group, student representative for the Society for Music Analysis, secretary for the Musicological Society of Australia’s Sydney chapter, chair of the SMA’s Formal Theory Study Group, and lead Early Career Researcher representative for the Centre for Nineteenth-century Studies.

Invited Talks

• “Constellations of Music Theory in Adorno’s Philosophy”, Online Colloquium & Research Seminar at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany, 10 February 2025.

• “Breakthrough and the New Formenlehre,” Friday Lunch Talk at the Department of Music, Harvard University, Cambridge, US, 16 February 2024.

• “From Deformation to Reformation: Sonata Failure and the Analysis of 19th-century Music,” Research Seminar Series at the School of Music, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, 19 May 2022

Conferences

• “The Contemporary Defence of Music Analysis: On the New Formenlehre’s Socio-political Importance,” Paper presented at the BFE/RMA Research Students’ Conference, Aberdeen, UK, 9–11 January 2025.

• “Breakthrough’s Formal Deconstruction: Reassessing Deformation and Modernism in the fin-de-siècle Symphony”, Paper presented at the 47^th Annual Meeting of the SMT, Florida, US, 7–10 November 2024.

• “Adorno’s ‘materiale Formenlehre’ and his Philosophy of Music Analysis”, Paper presented at the 9^th Conference of the Royal Musical Association Music & Philosophy Study Group, London, UK, 11–12 July 2024.

• “Excavating the New Musicological Critique of Music Theory and Analysis”, Paper presented at the Second Biennial International Conference of Music and the University, Surrey, UK, 4–6 July 2024.

• “Revisiting Breakthrough and the Symphonic Poem within the New Formenlehre”, Paper presented at the Society for Music Analysis Annual Conference (EdMAC), Edinburgh, UK, 1–3 July 2024.

• “Reconceptualizing Breakthrough’s Theoretical Foundations in Beethoven and Schumann’s Symphonies”, Paper presented at the Northeast Conference of Music Theorists, Boston, US, 19–20 April 2024

•  “Form, Program, and Genre in Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll”, Paper presented at the University of Toronto Graduate Music Conference, Toronto, Canada 2–3 March 2024

• “Breakthrough’s Conceptual History: From Materiale Formenlehre to the New Formenlehre”, Paper presented at the Yale Graduate Music Symposium, Connecticut, US, 22–23 February 2024.

• “Deconstructing Adorno’s Durchbruch: From Materiale Formenlehre to the New Formenlehre,” Paper presented at the 23. Jahreskongress der Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie (GMTH), Freiburg, Germany, 22–24 September 2023.

• “Towards a Theory of Breakthrough,” Paper presented at the Society for Music Analysis Annual Conference (OxMAC23), Oxford, UK, 6–8 July 2023

• “Wagner’s Musical Gift: Siegfried Idyll and the New Formenlehre,” Paper presented at the SMA Theory and Analysis Graduate Student’s Conference, Liverpool, UK, 13–14 April 2023.

• “Beethoven, Schumann and the Foundations of Breakthrough,” Paper presented at the BFE/RMA Research Students’ Conference, Newcastle, UK, 10–12 January 2023.

• “On the Use and Disadvantages of History for the New Formenlehre,” Paper presented at the 8th Conference of the Royal Musical Association Music & Philosophy Study Group, London, UK, 7–8 July 2022.

• “Breakthroughs in Sonata Theory: Analysing Deformations and Historical Narratives,” Paper presented at the 44^th MSA National Conference, Sydney, Australia, 9–11 December 2021.

• “In Search of Processual Form: On the Concept of Becoming,” Paper presented at the SMA Theory and Analysis Graduate Students Conference, London, UK, 12 November 2021.

• “The Deformational Titan: Mahler 1/IV and History Within the New Formenlehre,” Paper presented at the International Conference on Musical Form, Newcastle, UK, 21–23 June 2021.

• “Musical Modernity and Dialectical Deformations: Listening under the New Formenlehre Paradigm,” Paper presented at the 43^rd MSA National Conference, Melbourne, Australia, 3–5 December 2020.

• “Transformational Theory or Audacious Analysis? How Philosophy Influences Neo-Riemannian Theory,” Paper presented at the 42^nd MSA National Conference, Melbourne, Australia, 3–5 December 2019.

Scholarships and Awards

• Northern Bridge Consortium: Doctoral Training Partnership Studentship
• Harvard University (GSAS) – Durham University Exchange Program
• World Universities Ramsay Postgraduate Scholarship
• Eleanor Sophia Wood Postgraduate Research Travelling Scholarship
• Australian Government Research Training Program Stipend Scholarship
• University of Sydney Honours Scholarship
• David Harold Tribe Postgraduate Research Fellowship – Symphony
• Busby Musical Scholarship
• Musicological Society of Australia Student Delegate Conference Paper Award – Second Prize

Professional Service

• Formal Theory Study Group (FTSG): Chair

•  Society for Music Analysis: Student Representative

•  Centre for Nineteenth-century Studies (CNCS): Early Career Researcher (ECR) Lead

•  Musicological Society of Australia, Sydney Chapter: Secretary

• Music Theory
• Musical Form
• Musicology
• Nineteenth-century Music
• Music Philosophy

Journal Article

• Echevarria, R. (2018). Parsing Parsifal: Wagner’s Erotic Kunstreligion