Poppy Philligreen
Sound, Silence and Embodiment in Anchoritic Devotion
Bio
Poppy Philligreen is a performer and researcher based in Manchester. She is interested in finding ways her own practice as a contemporary/experimental saxophonist can be used to foster empathetic connections with individuals, particularly medieval women, whose experiences and voices are often absent or marginalised in historical record. Having studied saxophone at the RNCM with Carl Raven, she undertook an MRes at the University of Liverpool, which considered medieval nuns embodied and sonic relationships to manuscripts. In 2024 she began her PhD under the supervision of Professor Lisa Colton and Professor Sarah Peverley, examining the role of sound and music within anchoritic devotion through creative and practice-led methodologies.
Teaching and learning
I am currently a GTA on the module 'Making music in Culture'. I also have over a decade of experience as a woodwind teacher. Currently I teach saxophone, clarinet and flute for the charity Olympias as part of their 'Learn to Play' scheme, which provides provides children form socially and economically deprived backgrounds with free instrument lessons.
Outputs
Papers:
'Music and the (im)material body: A performance of text and flesh in MS xvi.N.3' - RMA/BFE Student Conference, January 2024
‘She will sing sweetly in heaven’: Embodied silences and their performance in anchoritic devotion' - RMA Embodied Research Methods in Sound and Music Study Day, June 2025, and NWMS PGR Symposium, August 2025
'Situating an anchoress sonically in (and out) of her cell' - UCD/University of Liverpool Modern Medieval Workshop, November 2025
Conference Reports:
Philligreen, Poppy, and Philip Taylor. “Early Music in Newcastle and Durham.” Early Music, 2025.
Supervisors
Professor Lisa Colton and Professor Sarah Peverley