In the autumn term, we welcome new faces to extra-curricular music-making here at Kent, and this year that included exchange student and trumpet-player from France, Juliette Brouzeng-Lacoustille. We were delighted to be able to provide an instrument for her to use, thanks to the generous Barry Wright Legacy, which supports overseas students who want to get involved in music; here, Juliette reflects on her time.
When I moved to England, I didn’t think I’d be able to pursue my passion: music. But thanks to the university’s music department, I was able to do it.
I was able to join the university Concert Band and its weekly rehearsals because the department provided me with a trumpet. It was a very rewarding experience that allowed me to share my passion with other students at the university, to meet new people and to blossom in the extra-curricular environment.
I would like to thank Sophie Meikle and Dan Harding, as well as the members of the university’s music department, without whom the pursuit of my passion would not have been possible.
and the term came to a rousing conclusion with the Big Band’s annual Christmas Swingalong, conducted again by the evergreen Ian Swatman sporting a Christmas Hull City jumper.
And making her debut with the big band was first-year singer, Tayo Fanifosi, whi delivered several crowd-pleasing festive numbers.
I’m hoping to enter the legal field, but apart from that, I’ve love to be a donor for the Music Performance Scholarship in the future, to continue this kind act. People really benefit from the scholarship, and I do think the scholarship improves the uni as a whole.
Moonbeam Theatre are a non-profit company who create multi-sensory theatre for children with profound and multiple learning disabilities and special educational needs. We’ve been a graduate theatre company at the University of Kent since 2020 and have been facilitating workshops and shows ever since. We’ve had a busy year this year, taking our show DIVE on tour. DIVE is a multi-sensory under-the-sea adventure which encourages our participants to get involved in exploring the ocean setting of the performance. We’ve visited over 50 SEN schools, charities and community groups and this summer made our Edinburgh Fringe Festival debut.
Being a part of EdFringe was a real bucket list achievement, and having sold out shows was amazing! The reviews we’ve received from all our audiences have been incredible and we are already planning our next show, which is all about The Garden, to tour for 2024. As a University of Kent music department alumna, I am very pleased to say I even play my clarinet in the show! [Well done, Maddie: keep playing!]
But even more exciting is that we have just released the DIVE soundtrack on Spotify; as a company we wanted to make sure our audiences had access to the music so they could continue to experience DIVE in their own spaces or simply keep listening to the relaxing sounds of our ocean setting. To create the music we worked with our music producer, Adam Pattrick, who helped us put all our ideas together. The tracks were created to be ambient and calming, but watch out for the The Chatty Clam’s Hideout as that’s the exception!
You can take a listen to some of the pieces which will be included in the recital on a dedicated 
Jeska contacted her in March when she was looking for a cellist to add some final parts to her recordings. The album was recorded in different places, mixed and mastered in again other places, including Portugal and Luxembourg. Jeska and Aisha met up at Unison studios in Luxembourg to record the cello lines.
