As part of our December concert season, the University Chorus and Orchestra will be giving the UK premiere of Winter Nights, a marvellously-colourful seasonal cantata by the Canadian composer, Stephanie Martin.
Associate professor of music at York University’s School of the Arts, Media, Performance, and Design in Toronto, Stephanie also directs Schola Magdalena, a women’s ensemble for chant, medieval and modern music, and is also conductor emeritus of Pax Christi Chorale, and former director of music at the historic church of Saint Mary Magdalene in Toronto. We’re delighted that Stephanie will be flying in for the performance – so no pressure at all…!
Winter Nights sets a series of poems including a vivacious setting of Tennyson’s ‘Ring Out, Wild Bells’ and Thomas Campion’s ‘Now Winter Nights Enlarge’ as part of an evocative sequence supported by string orchestra. The piece revels in a richly-colourful harmonic landscape, with contrasting rhythmic energy, closing with a wonderfully pastoral-like setting of the lines
The summer hath his joys
And winter his delights;
Though love and all his pleasures are but toys,
They shorten tedious nights.
Alongside the cantata, the orchestra will be performing a seasonal pot pourri of works including movements from Tchaikovsky’s glittering Nutcracker Suite, Prokofiev’s Troika, Delius’ Sleigh Ride and the concert-suite from Polar Express to reflect the Christmas spirit.
More details and tickets online here.
The night started off with Tranquil Abiding by Jonathan Harvey, of which I had never heard of before, but was very excited to see after hearing the Head of Music Performance, Dan Harding, express his interest in this piece! [True: I love this piece! Ed.} Harvey’s music conveys his interest in Eastern spirituality into music writing, with this piece relating to meditation where the ‘mind is not observing the rest of the universe but is at one with it’. This was a great piece to start the Proms with, as the small orchestra moved as one to create a slow, breathing rhythm, easing the audience into a state of relaxation. At first upon hearing it, both my mum and I felt it was horror movie-esque, however after reading the programme, this made sense, as it represented the thoughts diverting the mind, as the piece then stills itself creating the sense of calm. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this piece live and seeing how the orchestra moved independently to then ending as one breathing entity. I highly recommend seeing this contemporary piece if ever given the chance!
The second half was occupied by Gustav Holst’s, The Cloud Messenger, another piece I was also unaware of before. The Chorus were singing an adaptation of a 4th/5th century poem, whereby the cloud was asked to send a message to the narrator’s wife. Consisting of seven verses, it talks about the natural wonders the cloud will see on its journey and is overall a beautiful poem. A contralto solo was also performed by Jess Dandy, who had an incredible voice and added to the tenderness of the poem. This piece is rarely performed, as in its first performance (1913), apparently the chorus fell apart! I am glad to say this reputation was not followed this night, and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it and following along with the words sung by the chorus.
I was cast in the role of Trunky, the brave elephant, within an amazing company of five other actors, including an off-stage swing, and an incredible creative team. We began rehearsing in the latter part of April and took to the stage in May for previews, a rainy but enjoyable press day, and a beautiful run after that.
I’m continuing with acting projects and looking forward to my next time on the stage!
With no audition required and no need to read music, this is a chance to come along on a Thursday evening and enjoy singing with others; the choir is open to staff, students and to members of the local community too. The first rehearsal will be Thursday 26 September in Colyer-Fergusson Hall from 7-9pm. Membership this year is free to students and staff, with a small fee for external members.
What I’ve started saying instead, is that we build a community. Every year. From scratch. We’re an extra-curricular provision, so entirely dependent on who walks through the doors of Colyer-Fergusson each September – students and staff alike. And some of our ensembles are also open to alumni and members of the local community, too. And our job – perhaps the most vital aspect of our activity – is to bring all these musicians together and build a community to which they can belong, in which they can participate.
This is especially important when it comes to welcoming first-year and international students, people who might be anxious about being away from home, wondering how they will find a group of friends, how they are going to fit in – and for overseas students, even more so. For those who are worried about making social connections, about finding their feet, the music-making community here at Kent offers a ready-made opportunity to do all those things.
And for students returning in their second or third year, who were involved the year before, it’s a chance to get back to rehearsing and performing with the group of friends they made last year, and meet new ones. Music is open to staff, too; you’ll find members of administrative staff or heads of departments sitting alongside students amongst the strings or woodwind sections in the Orchestra, or sat alongside them on the choral-risers each Monday night when Chorus meets. Along with external members of the community, who come from Folkestone to Faversham, from Whitstable to Wye, and elsewhere, all these musicians come together in the shared endeavour of rehearsing and performing, that creative odyssey that impacts so much on people’s wellbeing.
On my desk as I write, I have all the thank-you cards that we received a few weeks ago, from students who are graduating, for whom the recent Summer Music Week has been the final opportunity to be part of it all. Similar sentiments echo throughout: ‘Thank you for making me so welcome;’ ‘the experience of making music here has changed my life;’ ‘being part of the musical community has been a rewarding experience for me;’ ‘thank you for creating such a nurturing environment;’ ‘thank you for making a safe space for everyone.’ They talk of transformative experiences, opportunities that will stay with them for the rest of their lives, memories they will value, friendships formed.
When I arrived at the University in September, I did not know how important the Music Society was going to be during my year abroad. I have always loved music and I have been playing the viola for more than 10 years now. My favourite part of playing an instrument is being able to create music together, specially in orchestras. I did not want to stop playing for a year and after doing some research I discovered that Kent Uni had a big music programme. I only needed to solve one problem, how to obtain a viola for a year. Thankfully, Sophie and Dan helped me with all the process and I was able to play in the String Sinfonia and in the Orchestra.
