57 Full-time PhD programmes in Music Composition

Discover your own path as a composer. They welcome traditional and innovative composition styles, offering you opportunities to combine instruments and the latest technology to produce new compositions. Learn more at the Musical Composition programme from University of Birmingham.

This Composition programme from Cardiff University, offers an opportunity to study with leading composers with internationally regarded expertise and experience in contemporary music composition.

Graduate with the skills you need to be able to perform, compose or teach at a high professional level with this Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition program from Victoria University of Wellington.

Develop your skills in notated composition, film scoring, music technology or sonic arts to a professional level with a PhD in Composition Arts postgraduate study from Victoria University of Wellington. 

The Composition Department at University of Rochester is devoted to teaching students who wish to pursue a professional and/or academic career in concert and computer music composition. 

The Graduate Composition and Theory Program at the University of California, Davis, provides an invigorating and liberating approach to the art of music composition. 

At the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, we offer our graduate students a DMA degree in Music Composition. 

The Composition Department at University of Rochester is devoted to teaching students who wish to pursue a professional and/or academic career in concert and computer music composition.  

Designed for students seeking the highest degree in the field, the Composition program offered by University of Memphis is a rigorous three-year course of study culminating in a doctoral dissertation. 

The Music Research programme offered by King's College London explores musical cultures, creative practice, composition, performance, and sound traditions from diverse historical and geographical contexts.

The Ph.D. degree in Music Theory - Composition from Kent State University prepares composers, research scholars and college/university teachers in the areas of music theory and composition. 

The D.M.A. Composition program at University of British Columbia is designed for composers who have already reached a high level of proficiency and artistry in their fields and who may wish to teach at the university level. 

The Music - Music Education program at Louisiana State University is offered to students who show promise as outstanding researchers and master teachers of music.

The Music - Musicology program at Louisiana State University is intended to develop in students the knowledge, concepts, and techniques for research in music and to prepare students for teaching music history at the college/university level. 

The Music - Composition program at Louisiana State University is offered to students who show promise as outstanding composers and creative innovators. 

The Music - Experimental Music and Digital Media program at Louisiana State University is designed to prepare students to be composers, performers or music researchers whose work explores music technology, digital media and experimentation in either professional or academic settings.

Our PhD Music (Electroacoustic Composition) programme at The University of Manchester will see you produce a portfolio of electroacoustic works and a written commentary under the supervision of our academics.

The Musical Arts program at Louisiana State University is designed to prepare students to be artist-performers and conductors, in either university settings or the professional arena.

For our Musical Composition PhD at the University of Sussex, you’ll research and develop new musical languages. You achieve this through building a portfolio of works accompanied by a reflective critical commentary.

The Doctor of Musical Arts (D.M.A.) in Music Performance and Composition at the University of Maryland is designed for graduate students who desire advanced professional study in composition, conducting or performance within the context of a major research university.