Professor Irving is an internationally recognized Mozart scholar. He has published five books on Mozart, including an international best-selling biography, The Treasures of Mozart, and scholarly texts on Mozart’s Piano Sonatas and Concerti. He is also a performer, specialising in 18th-century historical performance practice as a fortepianist, clavichordist and harpsichordist.
He is Vice President of The Royal Musical Association and Trustee of the Horniman Museum, as well as being a member of various advisory boards, such as the British Library Journal. He is an Associate Fellow of The Institute of Musical Research, a Fellow of The Royal Historical Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
His most recent book, Understanding Mozart’s Piano Sonatas, is published by Ashgate: http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9780754667698
Professor Irving’s current research is centred on a British Academy funded project exploring the performance of Mozart’s keyboard works on the clavichord (comprising a CD recording and an associated web resource). He is also writing a chapter on 18th-century musical topics and historically informed performance for forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Topic Theory.