Several of this year’s students had the opportunity to work with saxophonist and composer Trish Clowes, following her mesmerising Lunchtime Concert on Weds 13 March.
Together with pianist Stanley Ross, Trish gave a marvellously inventive, lyrical performance as part of our Lunchtime Concert series, in a programme filled with colour in works including pieces by Marcel Dupré, Nikki Iles and Lili Boulanger. The duo came to Colyer-Fergusson as part of their UK tour promoting the release of their new album, Journey to Where.
After the concert, Trish and Ross stayed on to work with some of the students exploring improvisation, rhythm, and the physicality of the ‘groove;’ players included several of this year’s Music Award Holders.
“I had a fantastic time at the workshop with Trish,” reflects Sara, singer-songwriter and Secretary to the Music Society this year (pictured below), reading Philosophy and Religious Studies . “We focused on getting into the rhythm and groove of music, using our bodies as metronomes of a sort – a key component in jazz. It was really nice to let loose, and explore ways of creating rhythm in ways we wouldn’t usually as classical musicians.
It was an incredibly fun hour spent making music alongside instruments I wouldn’t usually connect with. It was an extremely insightful and entertaining workshop, with lots of take home messages I can’t wait to put into practice in the future!”
Thanks to Trish and Ross for both a fabulous performance, and for sharing their experience and insights with the students.
This year’s annual Colyer-Fergusson concert, in honour of Sir James Colyer-Fergusson, saw the combined ranks of students, staff, alumni and members of the local community coming together to present Brahms’ inventive Symphony no.4, alongside Fauré’s Requiem, performed to the mark the centenary this year of the composer’s death.
Conducted by Your Local Correspondent, and joined by soprano soloist Julie Bale and baritone soloist Ben Bevan, the concert was a resounding success, greeted with an enthusiastic ovation from the audience who stood and applauded as the final notes of the Requiem receded down the Nave.
Her exam included repertoire by Telemann, Enesco and Chopin, and took pace at St Peter’s Methodist Church in Canterbury, accompanied by first-year Music Performance Scholar, Ronja Haller.
Charlotte will be playing in Concert Band next week in the spring gala concert – many congratulations to her on her success.
A morning devoted to Faure’s sublime Requiem was followed by an afternoon working on Brahms’ epic Symphony no.4 with the orchestra alone.
It was a pleasure to welcome back a few familiar faces as some alumni who will be joining us for Saturday’s concert came back to Colyer-Fergusson to take part in the rehearsal.
Directed by Floriane Peycelon, the ensemble delivered a programme focusing primarily on women composers, with a scintillating Suite for Strings by Libby Croad; a movement from the wonderfully colourful Piano Quintet by Louise Farrenc, for which the ensemble was joined by first-year pianist, Ronja Haller; an enigmatic compositional response to Tallis’ If Ye Love Me by local composer Juliet Lewis (who also conducted the piece); before the programme closed with a full-blooded string orchestral ‘reimagining’ of music from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, with the closing Lament featuring final-year student, Jack Chan, on solo viola.
A great programme and an enthusiastic audience; many thanks to the church’s Coffee Concert series for welcoming us.
